Rio+20 Conference's Search for Green Solutions Hampered by Deep Divisions
Expectations for action are low despite UN assessment that the world's environment is declining rapidly
June 12, 2012 | Jonathan Watts | Source: The Guardian
Twenty years after trying and failing to halt humanity's destruction of our planet, the governments of the world will gather again in Rio this month for a "once-in-a-generation" Earth Summit that will open with great fanfare but low expectations of success.
With a new United Nations study warning that the deterioration of the environment is accelerating, more than 130 national leaders will attend the Rio+20 conference from 20-22 June to try to thrash out a new blueprint for a "green economy" and a stronger system of global governance.
Despite the urgency of the task, negotiators have been hamstrung even before the event starts by the European financial crisis, US election campaign and longstanding differences between rich and poor countries. David Cameron, the British prime minister, and German chancellor Angela Merkel will send deputies. US President Barack Obama has yet to confirm. In their likely absence, the political weight will be tilted towards the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China, all of which will be represented by national leaders.
The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is much bigger than its two predecessors – Stockholm in 1972 and Rio in 1992 – but it has also been criticised for being vaguer and less ambitious. The last Earth summit resulted in the landmark conventions on climate change and biodiversity, as well as a host of other influential documents.
This time, however, organisers do not expect any legally binding treaties. Instead the central aim is to start a process so that by 2015, the international community can agree on a set of global sustainable development goals – with targets for consumption and production, a mechanism for periodic follow-up and reports, and specific actions for key areas such as water, food and energy.
The need for change was underscored by the latest Global Environment Outlook, which showed the world's environment is declining rapidly. In the past two decades, carbon emissions have increased 40% and biodiversity loss has risen 30%. The world community has missed all but four of its 90 most important environmental goals, with prominent failures on climate change, fish stocks and desertification, said the grim assessment, published by the UN Environment Programme. Without a new path of development and a change in consumption patterns, the pressure on ecosystems and poor communities is set to intensify as the global population is projected to rise from the current 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050.
