The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Rio Summit, Earth Summit (or, in Portuguese, Eco ‘92) was a major conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992.
178 governments participated, with 118 sending their heads of state or government.Some 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended, with 17,000 people at the parallel NGO Forum, who had so-called Consultative Status.
The issues addressed included:
*systematic scrutiny of patterns of production — particularly the production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste;
*alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels which are linked to global climate change;
*new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by polluted air and smog;
*the growing scarcity of water.
An important achievement was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. Another was agreement to “not carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally inappropriate”.
The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature at the Earth Summit, and made a start towards redefinition of money supply measures that did not inherently encourage destruction of natural ecoregions and so-called uneconomic growth.
Twelve cities were also honoured by the Local Government Honours Award for innovative local environmental programs. These included Sudbury, Ontario in Canada for its ambitious program to rehabilitate environmental damage from the local mining industry, Austin, Texas in the United States for its green building strategy, and Kitakyushu in Japan for incorporating an international education and training component into its municipal pollution control program.
The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:
*Rio Declaration on Environment and Development;
*Agenda 21;
*Convention on Biological Diversity;
*Forest Principles;
*Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Both Convention on Biological Diversity and Framework Convention on Climate Change were set as legally binding agreements.
Critics, however, point out that many of the agreements made in Rio have not been realized regarding such fundamental issues as fighting poverty and cleaning up the environment.
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Severn Suzuki from ECO speaking at an UN Conference in Rio 1992. Sadly 15 years on an not much has changed. Unfortunately I am not optimistic about the matter and feel like we’re on our way to apocalipse – but it is my duty to at least try and spread the message and post this video here – who knows who’s watching?
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Raised in Vancouver and Toronto, Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been camping and hiking all her life. When she was 9 she started the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), a small group of children committed to learning and teaching other kids about environmental issues. They were successful in many projects before 1992, when they raised enough money to go to the UN’s Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Their aim was to remind the decision-makers of who their actions or inactions would ultimately affect. The goal was reached when 12 yr old Severn closed a Plenary Session with a powerful speech that received a standing ovation.
BBC News Article on Environmental Issues – Interested? Join the debate at 
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Scott Sherman on “Introductions, Footprints, and Empowerment,” as part of the Education for Sustainable Living Program (ESLP). 
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