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The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED)

The UNCED (also called Earth Summit/Rio Conference) took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
from 3-14 June 1992, 20 years after the Stockholm Conference attended by 176 states, more than
50 governmental organizations, 7000 of non-governmental organizations and more than 30,000
participants.
Contents of Rio Conference:
At the historic Rio Conference 5 new legal instruments to address global environmental
problems were adopted, two of them binding and three of them non-binding.
The two binding instruments include:
(i)
(ii)

The Framework Convention on Climate Change.


The Convention on Biological Diversity.

The three other non-binding instruments include:


(i)
(ii)
(iii)

The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.


Agenda 21
A non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus
on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of
Forests.

The Rio Declaration


The Rio Declaration represents a careful balance of the principles to be considered important to
the development and the developing countries and a compromise between the objective of
environmental protection and economic development.
The text of the Declaration was completed at the fourth session of its Pre Comm in April 1992
and was not reopened for negotiation at UNCED, despite threats from a number of countries to
do so. The final and solemn adoption of the Declaration of Environment and Development took
place on 13 June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, at the end of the Conference and was endorsed by the
UN General Assembly in December 1992.
The Declaration comprises of 27 principles which set out the foundation upon which states and
people are to cooperate and further develop international law in the field of sustainable

development. The Rio Declaration is partly a renewed version of the Stockholm Principles, yet it
also includes new principles which have not been universally accepted before, such as the right
to development.
Features/Characteristics of Rio Declaration:
As a Declaration, it does not have a legally binding instrument. However, it is relevant for
environmental law for different reasons
First, as its preamble state, it can be considered as a step towards:
international agreements which respect the interests of all and protect the integrity of the
global environmental and developmental system.
Second point is that it assertedly repeats and confirms international legal principles, which are
more and more generally, accepted as customary rules.
Third, it formulates new principles, which may be considered as emerging rules.
PRINCIPLE 1: Right to environment
Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a
healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.
PRINCIPLE 2: State Obligation
States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of
international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own
environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within
their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
PRINCIPLE 3: Right to Development (Sustainable Development)
Develop this principle for the first time in history.
The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and
environmental needs of present and future generations.
PRINCIPLE 7: common but differentiated responsibilities

States shall co-operate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health
and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global
environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities..
PRINCIPLE 11: Enactment of Effective Environmental Legislation
States shall enact effective environmental legislation. Environmental standards, management
objectives and priorities should reflect the environmental and developmental context to which
they apply. Standards applied by some countries may be inappropriate and of unwarranted
economic and social cost to other countries, in particular developing countries.
PRINCIPLE 13: Liability and Compensation
States shall develop national law regarding liability and compensation for the victims of
pollution and other environmental damage. States shall also co-operate in an expeditious and
more determined manner to develop further international law regarding liability and
compensation for adverse effects of environmental damage caused by activities within their
jurisdiction or control to areas beyond their jurisdiction.
PRINCIPLE 16: Polluter bear cost of pollution
National authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and
the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in
principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting
international trade and investment.
PRINCIPLE 18: Communicate with other state (harmful)
States shall immediately notify other States of any natural disasters or other emergencies that are
likely to produce sudden harmful effects on the environment of those States. Every effort shall be
made by the international community to help States so afflicted.

PRINCIPLE 19: Communicate with other state (harmful)

States shall provide prior and timely notification and relevant information to potentially affected
States on activities that may have a significant adverse transboundary environmental effect and
shall consult with those States at an early stage and in good faith.
PRINCIPLE 24: Prohibition of Weapon & Mass Destruction
Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. States shall therefore respect
international law providing protection for the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development, as necessary.
PRINCIPLE 27: Development of International law in sustainable development.
States and people shall co-operate in good faith and in a spirit of partnership in the fulfillment of
the principles embodied in this Declaration and in the further development of international law in
the field of sustainable development.

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