RIO+20: sustainable development FAQs

From June 4 to 6 2012, the city of Rio will host the Earth Summit. This is the United Nations’ fifth international conference on the environment. It will bring together leaders from around the world, heads of state, politicians, researchers, ecologists, experts and union leaders. The aim is to try to reach agreement on the measures to be taken to safeguard our planet’s future.

Official logo RIO+20
 

Who is behind the Earth Summit?

In 1972, the United Nations (UN) organized the first United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED) in Stockholm. This led to the creation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which encourages sustainable development initiatives throughout the world. The participants also agreed to meet every 10 years to pursue joint, concerted initiatives. This is the aim of the Earth Summit.

Why is this conference called RIO+20?

After Stockholm, the event was held at Nairobi in 1982 and in Rio in 1992. In Rio, it was named the Earth Summit. The last event was held in Johannesburg in 2002. The UN has organized the 2012 conference to be held again in Rio, 20 years later. This is why the conference is called RIO+20. It will also be an opportunity to make an impression, to assess how far we have come and to draw up a road map for the next 20 years.

Who is taking part and how is RIO+20 being organized?

Almost 50,000 participants are expected to attend, including over a hundred heads of state, thousands of political and social stakeholders, experts, researchers, etc. In attendance also will be heads of environmental associations, large corporations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and opinion groups, all coming to bear witness and advance their points of view. Together, all these participants will debate and define their positions during major strategic conferences, themed workshops and behind the scenes at the Summit. Texts will be adopted, measures suggested and conventions signed.

Who is chairing RIO+20?

Rather than a chair, the Earth Summit has an organizing secretary general. For RIO+20, it is Sha Zukang, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who will perform these duties. To assist him in organizing this event, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, has appointed Brice Lalonde from France and Elizabeth Thompson from Barbados as executive coordinators. They will draw up the program with representatives from each continent.

What is the program and what are the aims of RIO+20?

The two major themes of this summit are the green economy in the context of sustainable development and eradicating poverty. More specifically, the program will encompass fighting inequality, reforming the indicator of gross domestic product (GDP), extending carbon taxes, correcting the effects of free trade to take account of the environment, and setting up a world environmental organization similar to the World Health Organization (WHO) in health.

What major decisions have already been made?

The Stockholm conference in 1972 raised awareness of environmental issues and instigated international environmental law. Twenty years later, the Rio summit opened the debates to civil society. An action plan, Agenda 21, was launched to support local authority initiatives and a convention on climate change was adopted. This led to the 1997 Kyoto protocol, which imposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The summits in Nairobi (1982) and Johannesburg (2002) facilitated contact and exchanges of points of view between developed and developing countries.


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