Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fifteen years later, the report of the World
Commission on Environment and
Development—commonly called the Brundtland
Commission after its chairwoman, Gro Harlem
Brundtland—firmly combined economy and
environment through its promotion of
'sustainable development', a concept which
required development to be both economically
and environmentally sound so that the needs of
the world's current population could be met
without jeopardizing those of future generations.
The Brundtland Commission also proposed a
major international conference to deal with such
issues. This led directly to the Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and its parallel conference
of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)—the
Global Forum.
The theme of economically and
environmentally sound development was carried
through the Summit to the final Rio Declaration
of global principles and to Agenda 21, the major
document produced by the conference, and
basically a blueprint for sustainable development
into the twenty-first century. That theme also
appeared in other documents signed at Rio,
including a Framework Convention on Climate
Change brought on by concern over global
warming, a Biodiversity Convention which
combined the preservation of natural biological
diversity with sustainable development of
biological resources, and a Statement of Forest
Principles aimed at balancing the exploitation
and conservation of forests. Discussions and
subsequent agreements at the Global Forum
included an equally wide range of concerns (see
Table 1.1).
There can be no assurance that these efforts
will be successful. Even if they are, it will be some
time—probably decades—before the results
become apparent, and success may have been
limited already by the very nature of the various
treaties and conventions. For example, both the
Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 were the result
of compromise among some 150 nations.
Attaining sufficient common ground to make this
possible inevitably weakened the language and
content of the documents, leaving them open to
interpretation and therefore less likely to be
effective (Pearce 1992b). The failure of the
developed nations to commit new money to allow
the proposals contained in the documents to go
ahead is also a major concern (Pearce 1992a).
Perhaps this lack of financial commitment is a
reflection of the recessionary conditions of the
early 1990s, but without future injections of
funds from the developed nations, the necessary
environmental strategies will not be implemented,
and Third World economic growth will continue
to be retarded (Miller 1992). Other documents
are little more than statements of concern with
no legal backing. The forestry agreement, for
example, is particularly weak, largely as a result
of the unwillingness of the developing nations to
accept international monitoring and supervision
of their forests (Pearce 1992a). The end product
remains no more than a general statement
acknowledging the need to balance the
exploitation of the forests with their
conservation. Similarly, the Framework
Convention on Climate Change, signed only after
much conflict among the participants, was much
weaker than had been hoped—lacking even
specific emission reduction targets and deadlines
(Warrick 1993).
Faced with such obstructions to progress
from the outset, the Rio Summit is unlikely to
have much direct impact in the near future.
When change does come it is unlikely to come
through such wide-ranging international
conferences where rhetoric often exceeds
commitment. It is more likely to be achieved
initially by way of issue-specific organizations,
and the Earth Summit contributed to progress
in that area by establishing a number of new
institutions—the Sustainable Development
Commission, for example—and new
information networks. By bringing politicians,
non-governmental organizations and a wide
range of scientists together, and publicizing
their activities by way of more than 8,000
journalists, the Summit also added momentum
to the growing concern over global
environmental issues, wiithout which future
progress will not be possible.
