United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development

In 1992, the first conference of its kind, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly referred to as the Rio Conference or Earth Summit, succeeded in raising public awareness of the need to integrate environment and development. The conference drew 109 heads of state to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to address what were dubbed urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development.[5] The Earth Summit influenced subsequent UN conferences, including Rio+20 and set the global green agenda. "The World Conference on Human Rights, for example, focused on the right of people to a healthy environment and the right to development; controversial demands that had met with resistance from some Member States until the Earth Summit."[6]

Major outcomes of the conference include the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a climate-change agreement that led to the Kyoto Protocol, Agenda 21, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It also created new international institutions, among them the Commission on Sustainable Development, tasked with the follow-up to the Rio Conference and led to the reform of the Global Environment Facility.[7]

Ten years later, Earth Summit 2002, informally nicknamed Rio+10, was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, with the goal of again bringing together leaders from government, business and NGOs to agree on a range of measures toward similar goals. At Rio+10, sustainable development was recognized as an overarching goal for institutions at the national, regional and international levels. There, the need to enhance the integration of sustainable development in the activities of all relevant United Nations agencies, programs and funds was highlighted. The discussion also encompassed the role of institutions in stepping up efforts to bridge the gap between the international financial institutions and the multilateral development banks and the rest of the UN system.[7]

Major outcomes of that conference include the Johannesburg Declaration and almost 300 international partnership initiatives meant to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

The conference had three objectives – to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, to assess the progress and implementation gaps in meeting previous commitments, and to address new and emerging challenges.

The official discussions had two main themes, how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people out of poverty, including support for developing countries that will allow them to find a green path for development; and how to improve international coordination for sustainable development by building an institutional framework.

In the months leading up to the beginning of the conference, negotiators held frequent informal consultations at UN headquarters in New York City, and in the two weeks before the conference was scheduled to begin, they managed to reach consensus on the sensitive language in the then proposed outcome document for the summit.[8]

According to historian Felix Dodds in his 2014 co-authored 2014 book entitled, From Rio+20 to a New Development Agenda: Building a Bridge to a Sustainable Future, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20 formal preparatory process, can be divided into three phases.

Phase one took place from May 2010 to January 2012 – when preliminary intergovernmental discussions and negotiations began, and national, regional, and local level preparations were being made. This stage ended with the January 2012 publication of the draft document, "The Future We Want"[9][10] The 1st Preparatory Committee was held from 16 to 18 May 2010, immediately after the conclusion of the eighteenth session and the first meeting of the nineteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. The 1st Intersessional – which was not a negotiation session – featured panel discussions, from academia, non-governmental organizations as well as Delegates and UN system representatives – was held from 10 to 11 January 2011 at UN Headquarters, New York. The 2nd Preparatory Committee was held from 7–8 March 2011, at United Nations Headquarters in New York, immediately following the Intergovernmental Policy Meeting for the 19th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development.[11] The 2nd Intersessional was held from 15 to 16 December 2011 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.[12]

Phase two – from March 2012 to April 2012 – began with the first informal negotiations and concluded with the April 2012 release of co-chairs streamline text of "The Future We Want".[9] The 3rd Intersessional was held from 5–7 March 2012 at United Nations Headquarters in New York.[13]

Phase three – from 9 April 2012 to 15 June 2012 – began with the second round of negotiations starting on 9 April 2012, and ending with the 15 June 2012 closing of the Third Preparatory Committee meeting, when negotiators were already in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.[9] Th three-day intense meetings with hundreds of "heads of states from around the world" met in Rio de Janeiro after the 3rd Preparatory Meeting had concluded.[2]

According to a 13 June 2012 Washington Post article, the "giant, 10-day-long" Conference underway in Rio de Janeiro which would end on 22 June 2012, was "expected to draw 50,000 participants, including delegates, environmental activists, business leaders, and indigenous groups." For the final three days of the conference, "about 130 heads of state from around the world were expected to be present."[2][1]

Billed as the biggest UN event ever organized – with 15,000 soldiers and police guarding about 130 heads of state and government, from 192 countries, and the more than 45,000 individuals gathered in Rio de Janeiro – the 10-day mega-conference was intended to be a high-level international gathering organized to re-direct and renew global political commitment to the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social improvement and environmental protection; focusing on reducing poverty while promoting jobs growth, clean energy and more fair, sustainable uses of resources; goals first established at Earth Summit in 1992.[3][14][15]

The conference centered around Agenda 21, the outcome document from Earth Summit 1992. That document was considered revolutionary in that it essentially created the term sustainable development and created the global environmental agenda for the next 20 years. The representatives of participating governments gathered in Rio to discuss what was then the draft text of the outcome document.

Rio+20 sought to secure affirmations for the political commitments made at past Earth Summits and set the global environmental agenda for the next 20 years by assessing progress towards the goals set forth in Agenda 21 and implementation gaps therein, and discussing new and emerging issues.[16] The UN wanted Rio to endorse a UN "green economy roadmap", with environmental goals, targets and deadlines, whereas developing countries preferred establishing new "sustainable development goals" to better protect the environment, guarantee food and power to the poorest, and alleviate poverty.[17]

Rio+20 attracted many protests, and more than 500 parallel events, exhibitions, presentations, fairs and announcements as a wide range of diverse groups struggled to take advantage of the conference in order to gain international attention. The British online newspaper The Guardian reported that, "Downtown Rio de Janeiro was partly shut-down as an estimated 50,000 protesters, some of whom were naked, took to the streets."[18]

World leaders in attendance at Rio+20

A few key global leaders – mostly G20 leaders and namely United States President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and UK Prime Minister David Cameron – did not attend the conference and blamed their absence on the ongoing European sovereign-debt crisis. Their collective absence was seen as a reflection of their administrations' failure to prioritize sustainability issues.[23] "In not attending, the prime minister is sending out a powerful signal that the UK government does not see sustainability as a priority", Joan Walley, chair of the UK environmental audit committee said to The Guardian.

• Albania – Prime Minister Sali Berisha[24]
• Antigua & Barbuda – Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer[25]
• Argentina – President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner[26]
• Australia – Prime Minister Julia Gillard[27]
• Bolivia – President Evo Morales,[28] see Bolivian government proposal Harmony with nature
• Brazil – President Dilma Rousseff[28]
• Bulgaria – President Rosen Plevneliev
• Chile – President Sebastián Piñera
• China – Premier Wen Jiabao[29]
• Costa Rica – President Laura Chinchilla Miranda[27]
• Denmark – Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt[27]
• Ecuador – President Rafael Correa[30]
• France – President Francois Hollande[31]
• Grenada – Prime Minister Tillman Thomas[32]
• Haiti – President Michel Martelly[33]
• India – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh[29]
• Indonesia – President Susilo Yudhoyono[32]
• Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad[27]
• Lithuania – President Dalia Grybauskaitė
• Nepal – Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai[34]
• Nigeria – President Goodluck Jonathan[35]
• Norway – Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg[36]
• Portugal – Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho[37]
• Russia – President Dmitry Medvedev[28]
• South Africa – President Jacob Zuma[38]
• South Korea – President Lee Myung bak[39]
• Spain – Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy[40]
• Sri Lanka – President Mahinda Rajapaksa[41]
• Sweden – Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt[42]
• Turkmenistan – President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow
• Uruguay – President Jose Mujica[30]
• Zimbabwe – President Robert Mugabe[40]

among others

Demonstration at Rio+20. Picture shows effigy of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff with a chainsaw and embracing a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

Activists took initiative at Rio+20 by staging numerous protests. Activists joined forces to stand up to what they said was exploitation and degradation of the Earth, as well as the negation of the rights of indigenous peoples. National Geographic said that activists that support protecting the environment, are particularly relevant in Brazil, as deforestation threatens Amazonian ethnic groups every day.[43]

In addition to holding signs and shouting chants, the crowds took a theatric route to convey their messages. Firstly, they poked at Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, claiming she has given in to the global North's corporate hand.[44] Rousseff's controversy has arisen over her steadfast desire to further industrialize Brazil, and its economy. Additionally, the crowds assembled for a ritual and symbolic "tearing up" of the plenary's negotiated text,[45] conveying their disapproval.

Thousands of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) gathered at the Flamengo Park in Rio. They criticized the draft negotiating text, particularly for its failure to mention planetary boundaries or nuclear energy, in light of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.[16] Organizations, such as Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature, as well as members of indigenous communities, activists and artists participated. The Danish artist Jens Galschiøt, the leader of the group AIDOH, and the Group 92 used his Freedom to Pollute sculptures to focus on global warming and its resulting increased flow of refugees. About 20,000 flyers about Freedom to Pollute were distributed during Rio+20 and a related television program was produced in Denmark.

Demonstration against the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

There were some demonstrations protesting the participation of the President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad along with the Iranian delegation.[46][47] The controversy of Iranian attendance at the summit surrounds the fact that Iran has serious environmental issues, which it has refused to address, continuing human rights violations and is refusing to cooperate with the IAEA over its contentious nuclear program.[48] Ahmadinejad was met with demonstrations, attended by thousands of people, on his 20 June arrival in Rio,[49][50]

with some protesters waving banners with the slogan "Ahmadinejad go home".[51]

RIO +20 Logo in Hindi created by CCLP Worldwide Team

During RIO +20 event and preparatory events UNCSD included stakeholders who were invited to organize side events, promote the RIO event, submit literature and help the Rio secretariat with translation work. The logo and promotion of RIO +20 was available in languages used in United Nations. Civil societies also translated the logo image and literature in other local and National languages.[52]

Ecology and Environment Inc., a New York-based Environmental Engineering and Consultation company partnered with UNCSD to create Project Earth Network, an online platform where schools around the world could showcase their remarkable environmental projects. In coordination with the Rio+20 event, the platform hosted a World Environment Day Global School Contest in which 7th graders at the International School of Ulaanbaatar (ISU) in Mongolia were declared the Global Winners for their awareness campaign on the environmental impact of plastic shopping bags, including research on plastic bag manufacturing processes, development of videos documenting plastic bag waste, and a school presentation at which reusable cloth shopping bags were sold to approximately 50 percent of the community.

Sarasota, Florida's Brookside Middle School won in the World Environment Day contest's North American sub-category for its mangrove propagule growth project while International School of Brussels in Belgium won the European sub-category, for their creation of a sustainable food source and composting program. The Middle-Eastern sub-category winner was Hridith Sudev, a seventh grader from Indian School Salalah in Oman for his organization, 'Project GreenWorld International', which helped promote sustainable awareness across the region through interactive projects. Hridith Sudev later went on to become an inventor and the organization has become a global environmental presence. The World Environment Day contest followed an Earth Day "Green Schools" contest regionally focused toward 6th to 12th grade students in the Western New York area.

The idea behind the platform was to encourage sustainability in students across the world. Despite the huge response, the platform was taken down two years later due to technical and economic constraints but has since remained as a positive legacy through the activities of students who were first recognized by the network.

• Earth Summit
  • Agenda 21
  • Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
• Durban III The conference opened on 22 September 2011
• Planetary boundaries
• Sustainable Development Goals
• The United Nations Ocean Conference

Wikimedia Commons has media related to United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development.

• United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
• Rio+20 Portal. Building the Peoples Summit
• Rio + 20: An Endangered Species?, March/April 2012 journal Environment
• Rio+20 and Sustainable Development: 12 Things to Know Asian Development Bank
• The Future We Want
• International Conference on Sustainable Development
• Only One Earth – the Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development, the history from Stockholm to Rio by Felix Dodds, Michael Strauss with Maurice Strong
• From Rio plus 20 to the New Development Agenda by Felix Dodds, Jorge Laguna-Celis, Liz Thompson

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