Documentation: Statement by his Excellency Dr Ahmad Mattar Minister for the Environment, Singapore at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development: Rio de Janeiro, 11 June 1992

1992 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-111
1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Stone

In 1989 the United Nations General Assembly voted to convene a Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, with the highest possible level of participation. One of the major items on the agenda—many maintain, the highest priority—is a treaty to cope with climate change. Toward that end, the Assembly established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee, which was to try to finish drafting an effective framework convention on climate change in time to be signed at the conference.


1993 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-111
Author(s):  
Marian Nash

On September 8, 1992, President George Bush transmitted to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted at New York on May 9, 1992, by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change and signed on behalf of the United States at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro on June 12, 1992.


2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-6
Author(s):  
Masa Noguchi

Homes need to be socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable in response to societal pressure on our common future. The concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ was first advocated by the World Commission on Environment and Development, dated back to 1987, and it was considered as ‘a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development, and institutional change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet needs and aspirations.’ In 1992, this notion was given additional impetus at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (or the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro where an initial international treaty on environment was produced; however, this had neither limits on green house gas emissions nor legal enforcement provisions for individual nations. In 1997, the text of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted eventually at the 3rd Conference of the Parties held in Kyoto, Japan. As of April 2008, 178 states signed and ratified the Protocol; in consequence, most industrialized nations and some central European countries agreed to legally binding the reductions of greenhouse gas emissions of an average of 6 to 8% below 1990 levels between the years 2008 and 2012.


1992 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 402-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolfo R. Taylhardat ◽  
Raymond A. Zilinskas

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Nasteska and V. Wee

In 1972, the first United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNCED) was held in Stockholm, Sweden. At the conference, government officials from industrialized and developing nations met alongside civil society organizations to create the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “This conference put environmental issues on the international agenda for the first time, and marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics. It has also been recognized as the beginning of modern political and public awareness of global environmental issues” (Baylis & Smith, 2005, pp. 454-455). Twenty years later, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro. One hundred and seventy two government officials participated, of which 108 were heads of state (United Nations, 1992, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, para. 1). This conference was one of the largest gatherings of heads of state, civil society organizations, and individuals in human history to date. Stakeholders met with the purpose of charting a course for a more sustainable future. From the conference emerged agreements, most notably Agenda 21, which created a framework for developing global, national, and regional plans for sustainability. The Rio Earth Summit has since stood as an example of what is possible when governments and citizens work together. The outcomes of this conference still affect human lives today, mainly through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings, which led to the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding agreement to cut down carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Earth Summit 2012 or Rio+20, is regarded as one of the most crucial events in United Nations history and has been referred to by the Secretary General of the United Nations (2011), Ban Ki-moon, as “the most important global meeting on sustainable development in our time" (The Future We Want, p 2).


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