Earth Summit 2012, the fourth Summit of its kind, represents another milestone in ongoing international efforts to accelerate progress towards achieving sustainable development globally.
The following objectives and themes of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development will be addressed by the Earth Summit, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 20-22.
Objectives:
- Securing Political Commitment to Sustainable Development
- Assessing Progress Towards Internationally Agreed Commitments
- New and Emerging Challenges
Themes
According to the earthsummit2012.org website: “The world has changed since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the international community is now facing a number of critical and interrelated problems. Since 2007 the world has witnessed a major global food crisis, serious volatility in oil prices, increasing climate variability and the worst global financial crisis for almost a century.
“We are fast approaching a point beyond which the avoidance of catastrophic climate change will become significantly less likely. The majority of the planet’s ecosystems are degraded or under severe pressure as a result of human activity. If global economic growth continues at the current rate, humanity will have to find at least another two planets by the end of the century to sustain consumption patterns.
“Facing these myriad problems, it is critical that global leaders come together to define a sustainable development pathway that secures a reasonable standard of living for the global population whilst preserving our ecosystems and resources. The current development paradigm cannot continue – reversing over 150 years of unsustainable economic development will require new thinking and innovative solutions, and it is hoped that the Earth Summit in Rio in 2012 will provide the time and space to do this.”
On 24th December 2009 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution agreeing to hold a ‘Rio+20’ Earth Summit in 2012. The resolution outlines four areas of focus for a UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012:
- Review of Commitments
- Emerging Issues
- Green Economy in the context of Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development
- Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development
For further info see http://www.earthsummit2012.org/