Transcript AGENDA 21, 1992 Introduction

AGENDA 21, 1992
Introduction
• The formal 12-day conference of government
delegations, called the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development
(UNCED) was held at the RioCentro
convention center in Rio's outskirts.
• The conference which culminated a process
of preparatory negotiations that included four
major international meetings of the
Preparatory Committee concluded with a twoday summit by many ministers and heads of
state, the true "Earth Summit."
Introduction
• Simultaneous to UNCED, a large gathering of
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) was
held in Flamengo Park, 40 kilometers from
the RioCentro conference site, under the
umbrella title of the Global Forum.
• The Global Forum was a mixture of extensive
NGO networking, street fair, trade show,
political demonstration, and general events,
and it involved about 18,000 participants,
plus more than 200,000 local residents who
visited the site during the conference.
Introduction
• The formal intergovernmental UNCED process
yielded documents signed by heads of state:
the "Rio Declaration," a statement of broad
principles to guide national conduct on
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Environmental protection and development
Treaties on climate change and biodiversity
A statement of forest principles
"Agenda 21," a massive document presenting
detailed workplans for sustainable development,
including goals, responsibilities, and estimates for
funding.
Introduction
• Although the resultant compromise declaration is
less inspiring and coherent than its original
proponents had hoped, its 27 principles include
key elements of the political agendas of both
industrialized and developing countries.
• Principles in the document include
– A state's sovereign right to exploit its own resources
in accordance with its own policies, without harming
the environment elsewhere (principle 2)
– The right to development (principle 3)
– Environmental protection as an integral part of
development (principle 4)
Introduction
– Sustainable development that requires reducing
"unsustainable patterns of production and
consumption," and that promotes "appropriate
demographic policies" (principle 8)
– Access to information and citizen participation
(principle 10)
– The polluter pays principle, including the
internalization of costs and the use of economic
instruments (principle 16).
Convention on Climate Change
• Because of UNCED's political prominence, many other
international environmental debates were merged into
the process, such as those of the conventions on climate
change and biodiversity, which were not negotiated at
UNCED but were signed in Rio following separate
negotiations.
• Formal international discussion of a convention on
climate change began in 1988 with the establishment of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),
an advisory body of scientists and officials that assessed
comprehensively climate science, impacts, and response
strategies.
• IPCC served as a forum for "prenegotiation," because
many of its participants expected it to be followed by
formal negotiations under the same authority
Convention on Climate Change
• The convention establishes a financial assistance
mechanism to support its implementation in
developing countries, to be administered by the
Global Environmental Facility on an interim basis.
• The convention established institutional mechanisms
for periodic review and an update of commitments,
including the scheduling of regular conferences.
• Finally, two new subsidiary bodies were established
by the treaty, one on science and technology and one
on implementation. Like IPCC but unlike the Montreal
protocol, membership in these bodies is restricted to
government representatives
Convention on Biodiversity
• Discussions for a convention on biological diversity, or
biodiversity, which concluded on 22 May 1992 in
Nairobi, were initiated in 1988 by the United Nations
Environment Programme's (UNEP) Governing Council.
• The treaty has three goals: the conservation and
sustainable use of biological diversity, and the fair
sharing of products made from genestocks
Convention on Biodiversity
• To advance these goals, the signatories must
– Develop plans for protecting habitat and species;
provide funds and technology to help developing
countries provide protection
– Ensure commercial access to biological resources
for development and share revenues fairly among
source countries and developers
– Establish safety regulations and accept liability for
risks associated with biotechnology development.
Forest Principles
• When an early attempt to negotiate a treaty on the
protection of global forests failed, the Preparation
Committee added a legally nonbinding declaration on
forests to its own agenda.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) had
discussed a forest treaty before the establishment of
UNCED and recommended in November 1990 that a
treaty be concluded in time for UNCED.
• Organized treaty negotiations never got under way,
however, in part because governments widely mistrusted
FAO but lacked an alternative forum.
• The final document merely commits governments to
keeping the principles "under assessment for their
adequacy with regard to further international
cooperation on forest issues."
Agenda 21
• Agenda 21 is the only document signed at
UNCED that attempts to embrace the entire
environment and development agenda.
• It is also the largest product of UNCED,
comprising 40 chapters and 800 pages and
states goals and priorities regarding a dozen
major resource, environmental, social, legal,
financial, and institutional issues. Each chapter
contains a description of a program and its cost
estimate.
• Agenda 21 is not a legally binding document but
a "work plan," or "agenda for action," with a
political commitment to pursue a set of goals.
Agenda 21
• The chapters of Agenda 21 are divided into four
major headings. The following is a list of the
chapters
– Section 1: Social and Economic Dimensions
– Section 2: Conservation and Management of
Resources for Development
– Section 3: Strengthening the Role of Major Groups
– Section 4: Means of Implementation