Action to promote sustainable development worldwide will be the focus of a special session of the United Nations General Assembly when it meets in New York from 23 to 27 June 1997.
Action to promote sustainable development worldwide will be the focus of
a special session of the United Nations General Assembly when it meets
in New York from 23 to 27 June 1997.
Earth Summit+5, as the special General Assembly session is called, is expected to draw the attendance of heads of State and Government. It will review and appraise implementation of Agenda 21, and other commitments adopted by the UN Conference on Environment and Development, popularly known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. Agenda 21 contains strategies for preventing environmental degradation and for establishing a basis for a sustainable way of life on the planet into the twenty-first century.
"The special session should take a hard, honest and critical look at what has been done and what has not been done since Rio", says Mr. Razali Ismail, President of the General Assembly. "We need to recall and re-emphasize the compact that brought about the Earth Summit."
The Earth Summit review will:
o Assess global progress made in sustainable development since Rio
o Show that sustainable development works by highlighting stories of successful efforts being made by people around the world
o Identify reasons why goals set in Rio have not always been met and suggest corrective action
o Highlight special issues -- such as finance and technology transfer, patterns of production and consumption, use of energy and transportation, scarcity of freshwater -- and identify priorities for future action
o Call on Governments, international organizations and major groups to renew their commitment to sustainable development.
In 1992, the representatives of the 172 Governments attending the Earth Summit agreed that urgent action was needed to promote economic and social development while preserving and protecting the environment.
Three key documents were adopted at the Summit:
o Agenda 21, a comprehensive plan for global action in all areas of sustainable development
o The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, a series of principles defining the rights and responsibilities of States
o The Forest Principles, guidelines
for the sustainable management of forests worldwide.
The United Nations established the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), which monitors and guides implementation of Agenda 21 and other Rio commitments.
As a result of the Summit, the United Nations:
o Convened a Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (May 1994)
o Negotiated the UN Convention on Desertification (which enters into force on 26 December 1996)
o Negotiated the UN Agreement on
Straddling and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks (opened for signing on 4 December
1995).
In 1995, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Forests was set up by the Commission to promote the sustainable management of forests worldwide.
Two international legal agreements -- the UN Convention on Biodiversity and the UN Convention on Climate Change -- were opened for signing in Rio and have since entered into force.
The UN Commission on Sustainable Development is at the centre of preparations for Earth Summit+5 and related events.
Two official preparatory meetings will be held in New York in 1997:
o The Ad Hoc Intersessional Working Group of the Commission on Sustainable Development, from 24 February to 7 March
o The Fifth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, from 7 to 25 April.
At these meetings, Governments will negotiate documents to be adopted by the special General Assembly session.
A number of events are being organized by Governments, UN agencies and major groups around the world to assess progress in preparation for the special General Assembly session.
The 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro was enriched by the participation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and major groups in numbers never before seen at United Nations events. Their involvement reflected the importance attached to the role of civil society in sustainable development, a role that continues to be emphasized by the Commission on Sustainable Development.
Agenda 21 identifies nine "major groups" as partners with Governments in the global implementation of the Rio agreements. They are:
o women
o farmers
o young people
o trade unions
o business and industry
o local authorities
o scientists
o indigenous peoples
o NGOs working in environment and development
During the official 1997 preparatory meetings being held in New York, a number of parallel events will be or-ganized by these major groups. The April meeting of the Commission will include a week-long series of dialogue sessions with major groups. Special panel discussions, exhibitions and other activities are planned during the special General Assembly session in June.
o Success stories -- examples of people around the world taking steps to implement Agenda 21 and make their communities more sustainable
o Trends report -- an analysis by the UN highlighting major trends in sustainable development over the past 25 years and their implications for the future
o Comprehensive report -- an assessment of achievements and failures since the Rio Conference, identifying emerging priorities for the next century
o Country profiles -- descriptions of what individual countries have done to translate the Earth Summit agreements into action.
The roots of Earth Summit+5 reach back to the UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, which put environment on the international agenda for the first time. By 1983, the relationship between economic development and its impact on the environment had become the subject of inquiry by the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, known as the Brundtland Commission.
In its 1987 report, Our Common Future, the Commission defined sustainable development as "that which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs", and called for strategies for integrating environment and development. As a result, the UN General Assembly decided in 1989 to hold a conference that would produce these strategies, and the UN Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
For further information, please contact:
CSD Secretariat
Division for Sustainable Development
Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development
United Nations
2 UN Plaza, 22nd floor
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel.: (212) 963-3170
Fax: (212) 963-4260 or 963-1267
E-mail: dsd@un.org or or
waller-hunter@un.org
Development and Human Rights Section
Department of Public Information
Room S-1040
United Nations
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel.: (212) 963-4295 or 963-1786
Fax: (212) 963-1186
E-mail: vasic@un.org
UN Media Accreditation
Department of Public Information
Room S-250
United Nations
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel.: (212) 963-6934
Fax: (212) 963-4642
Information relating to Earth Summit+5 is also available on the World Wide Web: http://www.un.org/dpcsd/earthsummit
Published by the UN Department of Public Information * DPI/SD/1864--December 1996