The essentials
From the 1960s, concern grew that economic growth was damaging the environment. In 1972 the Club of Rome published "Limits to Growth", warning that resources would be strained by rising population and consumption. The same year, the UN Conference on the Human Environment was held at Stockholm, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) was set up.
The Brundtland Report, titled "Our Common Future" (1987), popularised the idea of sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The UN Conference on Environment and Development, known as the Earth Summit, was held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It produced the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity, forest principles and Agenda 21, a list of development practices for the twenty-first century.
Key points
- At Rio, differences appeared between the global North (developed countries), which stressed ozone depletion and global warming, and the global South (developing countries), which stressed the link between environment and development.
- The Rio Declaration set out the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: all states share responsibility for protecting the environment, but developed countries bear greater responsibility because of their larger historical contribution to pollution and their greater resources.
- The Kyoto Protocol (1997), adopted in Japan under the UNFCCC, set targets for developed countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- The Montreal Protocol (1987) aimed to phase out substances that deplete the ozone layer.
Common mistakes
- Thinking the Kyoto Protocol was signed at Rio. Rio (1992) produced the UNFCCC; Kyoto (1997) was a protocol under it.