RIO+20 (UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio de Janeiro, June 13-22, 2012), billed as a once in a generation chance to save the planet, was a huge disappointment even an embarrassment given that almost 200 countries were present, with many leaders including from Brazil, France, Australia and India attending. A friend at Rio likened the meeting to “a rally race of back seat drivers. Everyone is sitting in the back seat and no one is taking responsibility.” This meeting was named after the one held 20 years ago (the 1992 Rio Earth Summit) which launched a number of landmark agreements and treaties, including one to limit the extinction of species and acceptance of the human right to safe drinking water. There had been very little progress since then. According to the UN Environment Program (UNEP) June 2012 Report, only four of the world's 90 most important green goals and objectives have seen significant progress. There has been “little or no” improvement on goals to address 24 key problems, including decimated fish stocks, climate change and deteriorating coral reefs. “Nature”, the world's pre-eminent scientific publication, graded the implementation of three of its many vital treaties climate change, biological diversity and combating desertification, with a resounding “F”.
Looking back, I must say the agreements that had emerged from Rio 1992 were thoughtful, far-sighted, public spirited and focused on global priorities. Yet, they have not saved us because of poor political support and ineffective implementation all round. This time, Rio+20 produced final documents filled with weasel phases and untidy compromises. As I read them, buried among the caveats in the endless clever use of words and gobbledegook, the final approved document: The Future We Want is so diluted and tentative that it makes, I am afraid, the entire exercise quite meaningless. Someone tweeted soon after agreement was reached: “Nobody in the room adopting the text was happy. That's how weak it was.” Expectations were simply set too high despite a long string of clear indications on the endless difficulties encountered in reaching ambitious deals among so varied interests and so diverse groups of nations. And, the loud political “noise” from the evolving European debt crisis in particular distracted attention from the main focus on real issues. It will take more than the volumes of words crafted to restore public confidence in the Summit's outcome, or the lack of it. In the end, the world just got a bad deal at Rio+20.
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