(CNN) -- Rio +20, a major international environmental conference held in
Brazil this month, is being billed by its organizers as a "once in a
lifetime" opportunity to safeguard our planet for generations to come.
For three days
from June 20, scores of world leaders and tens of thousands of people from all
over the world will descend on Rio de Janeiro in the hope of reaching consensus
on how to achieve this.
Some critics
have already dismissed the event as a hugely expensive talking shop that stands
little more chance of succeeding than previous environmental summits. Others
are more optimistic.
Here we look at
some of the key issues surrounding the conference.
What is Rio + 20?
Rio+20 is a three-day summit that takes place from
June 20 - 22, organized by the United Nations to tackle environmental issues.
Its name signifies it is being held in Rio de Janeiro 20 years after a similar
"Earth Summit" in the same city. The biggest U.N. conference in years,
it is being billed as a major effort to improve mankind's relationship with the
planet. Thousands of people are expected to attend.
Who will be there?
The 1992 event was attended by U.S. President George H.W. Bush and green
campaigners say this year's summit is so important it should attract his
successor. In reality, President Barack Obama is unlikely to show. British
Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the entire
European Parliament have also declined to turn up.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French
counterpart Francois Hollande have confirmed they will be going. U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon will also be there. Also present will be representatives of
so-called "stakeholder" groups deemed crucial for future environmental
decision making. These include organizations speaking for children, indigenous
peoples, workers, farmers and the business sector.
A huge security operation will also be deployed to
safeguard the summit. In all an estimated 50,000 people are expected from 190 countries,
including 130 leaders.
What will they talk about?
The summit will essentially look at how to
safeguard global economic growth without destroying the planet in the process.
It also aims to ensure that any new environmental policies will transcend
international borders. Within these goals, there are key areas of discussion,
including food security, water and energy -- and a focus on developing
countries.
Drafting an
agenda and getting everyone to agree to talk about it is has not been easy,
however. Ahead of the summit there have been weeks of haggling between
participants. With so many vested interests, organizers have struggled to
whittle down hundreds of pages of recommendations and goals into a manageable
document.
Why is it important?
The world's environment has continued to suffer
since the 1992 summit. The World Wildlife Fund's recent Living Planet report said the
ever-swelling global population is still consuming far more than can be
replenished.
The report said
there was a widening and "potentially catastrophic" gap between the
ecological footprints of rich and poor nations. Global consumption of natural
resources, carbon emissions and poverty have all continued to increase.
Although some contest such claims, scientific research points to a steady rise
in world temperature which, if unchecked, is forecast to have catastrophic
consequences for the planet.
What do organizers hope to achieve?
It is hoped that the conference will produce, or at
least lay the groundwork for, a set of sustainable development goals that can
be adopted worldwide. These will set targets for consumption and production and
put in place a system of checks to ensure they are met.
Reports quoting
documents leaked ahead of the summit suggest that countries will be asked to
sign up to 10 separate goals. These could include a deal on protecting oceans,
the establishment of a powerful global agency for the environment, financial
support to encourage sustainability for poorer nations and the appointment of
an ecological high commissioner.
Will they succeed?
Realistically, the best that can be hoped for is
that Rio +20 will be the start of a process that leads to some or all of these
goals being met. Few expect hard and fast policies to be put in place after
three days of discussion and the likelihood is that participants will sign up
to a document committing themselves to further action in the future.
What is open to
question is how effective that document will be given the struggle to build
consensus ahead of the conference. The absence of key players like Obama has
cast a shadow, as has the relative failure of the 1997 "Kyoto
Protocol" on limiting greenhouse gases, which was set in motion at the
1992 Rio summit.
There are also
numerous sticking points. Wealthy and poorer nations are likely to argue over
sharing the burden of cutting carbon emissions. There have been concerns over
the exclusion of references to basic human rights, such as access to water.
Environmental monitoring methods are also expected to spark dissent.
Pessimists say
any agreement will be negated by the compromises needed to win universal
approval. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon says he remains optimistic
that "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real progress towards the
sustainable economy of the future" will not be squandered in Rio.
Fonte:http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/08/world/americas/rio-20-earth-summit-explainer/index.html?hpt=ila_t4
