United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or Earth Summit, an 11-day meeting held in June, 1992, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss the global conflict between economic development and environmental protection. Representatives of 172 nations agreed to work toward the sustainable development of the planet, although most of the agreements were not legally binding. Sustainable development is the growth of population, industry, and agriculture in a way that will allow the present generation to meet its own needs without damaging those of future generations. Two binding declarations-to minimize global climate change (see global warming) and to stem the depletion of the world's inventory of biological diversity were signed by more than 150 countries at the conference, with others expected to sign later. Other documents concerned the financing of environmental and forest protection, technology transfer, and such diverse subjects as desertification and atmospheric pollution; the responsibilities and rights of nations in development-environment issues; and the sustainable management of the earth's forests.

See acid rain; air pollution; conservation of natural resources; ecology; environmentalism; pollution; solid waste; toxic waste; water pollution.

officially United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

Conference held in Rio de Janeiro (June 3–14, 1992) to reconcile worldwide economic development with environmental protection. It was the largest gathering of world leaders in history, with 117 heads of state and representatives of 178 countries. Biodiversity, global warming, sustainable development, and preservation of tropical rain forests were among the topics discussed. Five international agreements were signed amid tensions between the industrialized countries of the North and the poorer developing states of the South, who were reluctant to accept environmental restrictions without increased Northern economic aid. Follow-up meetings were held in 1997 at the UN General Assembly in New York and in 2002 in Johannesburg, S.Af. Seealso Rio Treaty.

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