Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development is a pivotal document that emerged from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, commonly known as the Earth Summit. This declaration comprises twenty-seven principles aimed at guiding global efforts toward sustainable development, emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, and social issues. It builds upon earlier frameworks, such as the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and the Brundtland Commission's report, which highlighted the urgent need for sustainable development.
Key principles of the Rio Declaration assert that human beings are central to sustainable development and that both current and future generations have the right to development that meets their needs. The declaration also emphasizes the importance of addressing poverty, prioritizing the needs of the least developed countries, and recognizing the critical roles of women, youth, and indigenous peoples. Additionally, it supports the precautionary principle to safeguard the environment against potential harm, even in the absence of complete scientific certainty.
Overall, the Rio Declaration represents a significant step toward integrating environmental considerations into development practices, advocating for a holistic approach that recognizes the rights of diverse communities and the necessity of a healthy planet for future generations.
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Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
THE DECLARATION: Statement of principles designed to guide sustainable development around the world
DATE: June 13, 1992
The Rio Declaration offers a bold plan to mobilize local, national, and global action and so represents a unique step forward on the road toward sustainable development.
The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development is a relatively short statement of twenty-seven principles produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, a milestone event that brought together more heads of state and chiefs of government than had any other meeting in the history of international relations. Other participants in the conference included government officials and senior diplomats from around the world, delegates from United Nations agencies and other international organizations, and thousands of representatives of nongovernmental organizations.
The Rio Declaration sought to reaffirm the principles that had been laid out in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and to build on them. The Earth Summit also issued a document known as Agenda 21, a vast program for the twenty-first century that was approved by consensus among world leaders representing more than 98 percent of the world’s population. This document upholds the idea that environmental, economic, and social development are not isolated from one another and builds on the 1987 report by the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future, which placed the concept of “sustainable development” as an urgent imperative on the global agenda. In its preamble, the Rio Declaration recognizes “the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth, our home.”
Some of the declaration’s principles have come to be regarded by legal scholars as the formulation of the “third generation of human rights.” These rights are generally regarded as aspirational soft laws, which are hard to enact in a legally binding way because of the principle of state sovereignty and the preponderance of would-be offenders. They include a broad and disparate range of human rights: group and collective rights, the right of self-determination, the right to economic and social development, the right to a healthy environment, the right to natural resources, the right to information and communication, the right to participation in cultural heritage, and the right to intergenerational equity and sustainability. These are typically contrasted with civil and political rights (known as first-generation human rights) and social, economic, and cultural rights (second-generation human rights). First-generation human rights deal essentially with liberty and participation in political life; they include freedom of speech, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, and voting rights. Second-generation human rights are those concerned with equality and ensuring that members of the citizenry enjoy equal conditions and treatment. They include the right to be employed, the right to housing and health, the right to social security and unemployment benefits, and so on.
Among the Rio Declaration’s principles, the following are particularly noteworthy. Principle 1 states that “human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.” Principle 2, concerning the right to development, says that this right “must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet the developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.” Principles 5 and 6 address, respectively, the eradication of poverty and the priority to be given to the least developed countries. Principle 15 focuses on the application of the precautionary principle as a way of ensuring protection of the environment: “Where there are threats of serious and irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” Principles 20, 21, 22, and 23 deal, respectively, with the vital roles of women, of youth, of indigenous peoples, and of people under oppression. Principle 25 of the declaration addresses the interdependent nature of peace, development, and environmental protection.
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