Earth summit

earth summit
rio+20
UNFCCC

1. EARTH
SUMMIT

2. •The United Nations Conference on 
Environment and Development (UNCED) 
also known as the Rio Summit, Rio 
Conference, and Earth Summit ,
•A major United Nations conference was 
held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 
1992.

3. •172 governments participated, with 116 sending 
their heads of state or government. 
•2,400 representatives of non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) attended
•17,000 people at the parallel NGO "Global 
Forum" (also called Forum Global), who 
had Consultative Status also attented.

4. •Twelve cities were also honoured by the Local 
Government Honours Award for innovative local 
environmental programs. 
•These included Sudbury in Canada for its 
ambitious program to rehabilitate environmental 
damage from the local mining industry, 
•Austin in the United States for its green 
building strategy
• Kitakyūshū in Japan for incorporating an 
international education and training component 
into its municipal pollution control program.

5. The issues addressed included:
•systematic scrutiny of patterns of production —
particularly the production of toxic components,
such as lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste
including radioactive chemicals
•alternative sources of energy to replace the use
of fossil fuels which are linked to global climate
change
•new reliance on public transportation systems in
order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in
cities and the health problems caused by polluted air
and smoke
•the growing scarcity of water

6. resulTs:
•The Earth Summit resulted in the following 
documents:
1.Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
2.Agenda 21 with regards to sustainable development
3.Forest Principles
•Moreover, important legally binding agreements 
(Rio Convention) were opened for signature:
1.Convention on Biological Diversity
2.Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
3.United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

7. Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD), known informally
as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty. The
Convention has three main goals:
•conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);
•sustainable use of its components;
• equal sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD)
Convention to combat desertification and mitigate the
effects of drought through national action programs that
incorporate long-term strategies supported by international
cooperation and partnership arrangements.

8. ACHIEVEMENTS:
•An important achievement was an agreement on
the Climate Change Convention which in turn led
to the Kyoto Protocol.
•Another agreement was to "not to carry out any
activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that
would cause environmental degradation or that
would be culturally inappropriate".
•The Convention on Biological Diversity was
opened for signature at the Earth Summit.

9. Rio+20 or the Earth Summit
2012
•In 2012, the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable
Development was also held in
Rio, and is also commonly
called Rio+20
• It was held from 13 to 22
June.

10. •The objectives of the Rio+20 Summit are:
1.to secure renewed political commitment to
sustainable development;
2.to assess progress towards internationally
agreed goals on sustainable development
3.to address new and emerging challenges.
•The Summit also focused on two specific
themes:
1. a green economy in the context of poverty
eradication and sustainable development
2.an institutional framework for sustainable
development.

11. 7 CrITICAl ISSuES:
1.Disasters:
• caused by earthquakes, floods, droughts, hurricanes,
tsunami can have devastating impacts on people,
environments and economies.
• With a quickening pace of natural disasters taking a
greater toll on lives and property, and a higher degree of
concentration of human settlements, a smart future
means planning ahead and staying alert.
2.Oceans
•oceans and seas have been vital role for trade and
transportation. Careful management of this essential
global resource is a key feature of a sustainable future.

12. 3.Water
•Clean, accessible water for all is an essential
part of the world we want to live in.
•Water scarcity, poor water quality and
inadequate sanitation negatively impact food
security, livelihood choices and educational
opportunities for poor families across the world.
4.Food
•how we grow, share and consume our food.
•A profound change of the global food and
agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish
today's 925 million hungry and the additional 2
billion people expected by 2050.

13. 5.Cities
• hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity,
social development and much more
•Common city challenges include congestion, lack of
funds to provide basic services, a shortage of adequate
housing and declining infrastructure.
• The challenges cities face can be overcome in ways
that allow them to continue to thrive and grow, while
improving resource use and reducing pollution and
poverty.
6.Energy
•Sustainable energy is needed for strengthening
economies, protecting ecosystems and achieving equity.
7.Jobs
•Economic action and social policies to create gainful
employment are critical for social cohesion and stability.

14. The United Nations
Framework Convention
on Climate Change
(UNFCCC)

15. • An international environmental treaty
negotiated at the Earth Summit, held in Rio de
Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992.
•The objective of the treaty is to "stabilize
greenhouse gas concentrations in the
atmosphere at a level that would prevent
dangerous anthropogenic interference with the
climate system".
•The UNFCCC was adopted on 9 May 1992, and
opened for signature on 4 June 1992
•On 12 June 1992, 154 nations signed the
UNFCCC

16. •The treaty itself set no binding limits on
greenhouse gas emissions for individual
countries. In that sense, the treaty is considered
legally non-binding.
•Instead, the treaty provides a framework for
negotiating specific international treaties (called
"protocols") that may set binding limits on
greenhouse gases.
•The parties to the convention have met annually
from 1995 in Conferences of the Parties (COP)
to assess progress in dealing with climate
change.
•The 20th COP took place in Peru in 2014.
• As of March 2014, UNFCCC has 196 parties.

17. •In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol was
concluded and established legally binding
obligations for developed countries to
reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
•The 2010 Cancún agreements state that
future global warming should be limited to
below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) relative to the pre-
industrial level.

18. Later negotiations:
•Kyoto Protocol
•At the 1st Conference of the Parties
(COP-1), Parties decided that the aim of
Annex I Parties stabilizing their emissions
at 1990 levels by the year 2000 was "not
adequate", and further discussions at later
conferences led to the Kyoto Protocol.
•The Kyoto Protocol sets emissions targets
for developed countries which are binding
under international law.

19. •The Kyoto Protocol has had two commitment periods,
the first of which lasts from 2005-2012, and the second
2012-2020
•All (43)Annex I Parties, excluding the US, have
participated in the 1st Kyoto commitment period.
•37 Annex I countries and the EU have agreed to second-
round Kyoto targets.
•These countries are Australia, all members of the
European Union, Belarus, Croatia, Iceland, Kazakhstan,
Norway, Switzerland, and Ukraine.Belarus, Kazakhstan
and Ukraine have stated that they may withdraw from
the Protocol or not put into legal force the Amendment
with second round targets.
•Japan, New Zealand, and Russia have participated in
Kyoto's first-round but have not taken on new targets in
the second commitment period. Other developed
countries without second-round targets are Canada
(which withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol in 2012) and
the United States.

20. •Bali action Plan
•As part of the Bali Action Plan, adopted in
2007, all developed country Parties have
agreed to "quantified emission limitation
and reduction objectives, while ensuring
the comparability of efforts among them,
taking into account differences in their
national circumstances."
•42 developed countries have submitted
mitigation targets to the UNFCCC
secretariat, as have 57 developing
countries and the African Group

21. •coPenhagen and cancún
•The Accord states that global warming
should be limited to below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F).
This may be strengthened in 2015 with a
target to limit warming to below 1.5 °C.
•114 countries have agreed to the Accord

22. •The ultimate objective of treaties is
to stabilize greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere at
a level that will prevent dangerous
human interference with the
climate system.

23. Thank You.