Earth Summit 2012

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The world has changed since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development and the international community is now facing a number of critical and interrelated problems. Since 2007 the world has witnessed a major global food crisis, serious volatility in oil prices, increasing climate variability and the worst global financial crisis for almost a century.

We are fast approaching a point beyond which the avoidance of catastrophic climate change will become significantly less likely. The majority of the planet’s ecosystems are degraded or under severe pressure as a result of human activity. If global economic growth continues at the current rate, humanity will have to find at least another two planets by the end of the century to sustain consumption patterns.

Facing these myriad problems, it is critical that global leaders come together to define a sustainable development pathway that secures a reasonable standard of living for the global population whilst preserving our ecosystems and resources. The current development paradigm cannot continue – reversing over 150 years of unsustainable economic development will require new thinking and innovative solutions, and it is hoped that the Earth Summit in Rio in 2012 will provide the time and space to do this.

On 24th December 2009 the UN General Assembly passed a resolution agreeing to hold a 'Rio+20' Earth Summit in 2012. The resolution outlines four areas of focus for a UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012:

Review of Commitments
Emerging Issues
Green Economy in the context of Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Development
Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development

The resolution was welcomed by governmental and non-governmental stakeholders alike, many of whom had been advocating for a Rio+20 Summit for over a year. Stakeholder Forum played a key role in organising a number of events and bringing together key stakeholders at crucial points in the run-up to the Resolution.

Stakeholder Forum will continue to play a key role in the preparatory process for Earth Summit 2012, and will provide updates, background information and analysis on this website. The scope and focus of this website will expand significantly in the run-up to the Summit, so please visit regularly to keep up to date with recent developments.
In this section of the website you can find out more information about the milestones leading to Earth Summit 2012, the thematic areas to be addressed by a Summit, and the activities of the Major Groups. For more details on Stakeholder Forum's activities, please visit the 'Activities' section.