The 'Earth Summit' agreements: a guide and assessment : an analysis of the Rio '92 UN Conference on Environment and Development - 9

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, in June 1992, was a unique event in the annals of international affairs.

The 'Earth Summit' brought more heads of state and government together than any previous meeting, and five separate agreements were signed by most of the participating governments.

It was billed as the world's greatest opportunity to resolve pressing problems of continuing poverty and environmental destruction and to set the world on a path of sustainable development.

Thirty thousand people descended upon the city, and the Summit received a blaze of publicity around the world.

Yet despite the vast efforts devoted to it, and the unprecedented press coverage which it received, to many the Earth Summit is still a mystery.