Earth Summit
— Enc Env Ethics & Philosophy, Callicott, Froedeman 2009

"Earth Summit." Volume 1, pages 223-225 in Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, editors, J. Baird Callicott and Robert Frodeman (Detroit: Macmillan Reference, Gale, 2009). Online at: http://hdl.handle.net/10217/38986

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), or the Earth Summit, convened in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 in the hopes of launching a number of more environmentally responsible international agreements. The Conference brought together the largest number of world leaders ever assembled. The conference produced Agenda 21, perhaps the most complex and comprehensive international document ever attempted. Initially, there was hope for four international conventions: (1) Forests, (2) Biotechnology, (3) Biodiversity, and (4) Climate, though only the latter two survived the negotiating process The Summit solidified two new principles of international order: an equitable international economic order, and sustainable development.