More than a hundred countries now support a French proposal to create a ‘World Environment Organisation’ at the upcoming 20th anniversary conference of the Rio Summit, France’s ecology minister sai
Environment Matters interviews Glenn-Marie Lange, program leader, WAVES, and team leader, Policy and Economics, at the World Bank’s Environment Department, on the progress made in establishing global accounting systems that incorporate natural capital.
In 1992 the historic UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, popularly known as the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil witnessed unprecedented political will and commitment among governments to make a paradigm shift to sustainable development.
The WHO has published a discussion paper on the linkages between health and biodiversity, climate change and desertification, the representation of health in the three Rio Conventions, and the opportunities for more integrated and effective policy.
The environmental changes that have swept the planet over the last twenty years are spotlighted in a new compilation of statistical data by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), released in a report entitled "Keeping Track of our Changing Environment: From Rio to Rio+20".
The various mechanisms evolved through global negotiations to deal with shared environmental problems, such as climate change, fall short because they are not located within a larger debate on dealing with human well-being and instead focus only on limiting damage. The United Nations is best placed to support a common understanding on patterns of resource use that are in principle common for all by generating strategic knowledge, also leading to deepening coherence of the global agenda.
