The Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS), organized annually by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) since 2001, is an international undertaking that provides a platform for the exchange of knowledge on all aspects of sustainable development. Over the past ten years, DSDS has emerged as one of the most important forums on global sustainability issues, which brings together important heads of the State and Central Governments, academicians, and policy makers to deliberate over environmental issues. The theme of DSDS 2012 is Protecting the Global Commons: 20 years post Rio. The debates at this DSDS will revolve around the commons and take stock of the situation since the Rio summit of 1992.

DSDS 2012: Protecting the Global Commons: 20 years post Rio

‘Commons’ are the resources that are not owned by anyone, but shared by a community. These include the earth’s atmosphere, ocean floor, Antarctica, and the outer space. The Rio summit, at the Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992 included several conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, and forestry. The outcome of the summit was a list of sustainable development practices called ‘Agenda 21’.

However, the obvious discord between the ‘global north’ and the ‘global south’ still persists and the consensus that the countries reached on sustainable development has not been fully realized. Therefore, it has become imperative to take an unbiased stock of the existing situation and chart out a roadmap for the future. This is the intent of the next DSDS, and given the nature of the debate, the summit will be an important milestone in the context of global negotiations in the realm of sustainable development.