SWCS view

Excerpt

The post-mortem is still underway on the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio in June. Opinions differ significantly on conference achievements.

The 12-day Global Earth Summit brought together an estimated 30,000 delegates, nongovernmental participants, journalists, and leaders from more than 170 nations. Their purpose was to draw up a set of international agreements and a charter of environmental principles that would slow environmental degradation-degradation that many scientists say is threatening the future of our planet.

Some participants, mainly from the West, predict that the conference will be a decisive event in the history of mankind. They believe the Earth Summit consecrated the concept that human development and protection of the earth's environment are intertwined. They note that the conference has made the world aware that the questions of environment and development cannot be treated separately. They also point to Agenda 2 1, a prescription for wide-ranging environmental and economic reform, and to conventions on global warming and biodiversity as tangible accomplishments.

But many environmentalists and Third World leaders argue that the conference did little to disrupt the status quo. They point out that there are no targets or legal …