• Earth Summit - Rio de Janeiro
• Convention on Biological Diversity
• Rio + Five
• Rio + Ten
• Halting the Decline of Biodversity in New Zealand and Elsewhere

Earth Summit – Rio de Janeiro
In 1992, more than 100 heads of state and representatives from 178 countries met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – now commonly known as the Earth Summit.

The summit was an attempt to address the urgent problems of environmental protection and socio-economic development. Out of this came the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, – a negotiated strategy for ‘sustainable development’ – development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The Declaration’s 27 principles address how to meet our needs while ensuring that we leave a healthy and viable world for future generations.

Other major documents signed were the Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Leaders also endorsed the Rio Declaration and the Forest Principles, and adopted Agenda 21, a 300-page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century.

Citizen groups from around the globe also met in Rio and produced 46 of their own alternative conventions and agreements. While these are non-binding, these agreements show that people recognised that solutions for environment and development issues reside with local communities and within citizens' groups, and not just with governments.

Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity was a groundbreaking initiative adopted by the vast majority (168) of the world’s governments. It sets out commitments for maintaining the world's ecological health as we go about the business of economic development.

The Convention establishes three main goals: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.

New Zealand ratified the convention in 1993, and our New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy (2000) fulfils, in part, this commitment.

Rio + Five
Following the Earth Summit, the United Nations set up the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)  to monitor and report on how Earth Summit agreements were being put in place at local, national, regional and international levels.

The CSD co-ordinated a special session of the United Nations to review Earth Summit progress in 1997. Known as Earth Summit + 5, this special session took stock of how well countries, international organisations and sectors of civil society responded to the challenge of the Earth Summit.
 

Rio + Ten
Ten years after the summit in Rio de Janeiro, the CSD organised a follow up World Summit on Sustainable Development – known as the Johannesburg Summit 2002.

General feeling before Johannesburg was that progress since 1992 toward sustainable development had been extremely disappointing, with poverty deepening and environmental degradation worsening.

One hundred world leaders spoke at the Johannesburg Summit and more than 22,000 people participated, including more than 10,000 delegates, 8000 non-government organisations (NGOs) and representatives of religious, family and other similar groups, and 4000 members of the press.

The aims for Johannesburg were for today's leaders to adopt concrete steps and identify quantifiable targets for better implementing Agenda 21.

For the first time, outcome documents were not the sole product of the Summit. Commitments were made by governments, and also by NGOs, intergovernmental organisations and businesses, who launched more than 300 voluntary initiatives.

Some important new targets agreed on are to:

• use and produce chemicals by 2020 in ways that do not lead to significant adverse effects on human health and the environment
• maintain or restore depleted fish stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield on an urgent basis and where possible by 2015, and
• achieve by 2010 a significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity

Halting the Decline of Biodversity in New Zealand and Elsewhere
In 1993 the New Zealand Government ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity. It went on to make a commitment to prepare a national strategy setting clear goals for our native biodiversity in its Environment 2010 Strategy, released in 1995.

In 1998 the Government adopted ‘halting the decline of indigenous biodiversity’ as one of its 10 strategic priorities. The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy [1.2.2] was launched in February 2000 after wide consultation on a draft statement released in 1999.

As well as the Convention on Biological Diversity, New Zealand is a signatory to many other international conventions and processes that focus on environmental protection and species conservation.

For example, New Zealand participates in international organisations such as the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and under the World Heritage Convention, New Zealand manages three UNESCO world heritage sites.

New Zealand is helping to prevent international trade in endangered species through its work under the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES). New Zealand has also played a prominent role in the Antarctic Treaty, providing advice on issues relating to Antarctic fisheries, seabird bycatch and minimisng the impacts of tourism.

In 1999 New Zealand signed the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, which among other goals, aims to provide a coordinated international approach to the protection of migratory albatrosses and petrels from fishing practices, alien predators and loss of habitats.

New Zealand also supports biodiversity conservation in other countries, with a focus on the South Pacific region. One example is its support for the South Pacific Regional Environmental Programme (SPREP) in the form of assistance with species recovery programmes, animal and weed pest control, and the development of SPREP’s strategic plans.