THE RIO DECLARATION

The Rio Declaration is a set of 27 principles covering environmental protection and responsible development. These legally non-binding principles define the rights of people to development, and their responsibilities to safeguard the common environment. The Declaration recognises that the only way to have long term social and economic progress is to link it with environmental protection and to establish equitable global partnerships between governments and key actors of civil society and the business sector.

The Declaration includes many progressive approaches like the polluter-pays-principle (the polluter bears the costs of pollution) or the precautionary principle (carry out environmental assessments to identify adverse impacts and eliminate any potential harms from a project before it is started). It advocates that today's development shall not undermine the resource base of future generations and that developed countries bear a special responsibility due to the pressure their societies place on the global environment and the technologies and financial resources they command. Strong environmental policies are inevitable but should not be used as an unjustifiable means of restricting international trade and shutting off the Northern markets for Southern countries. However, nations shall eradicate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption.

The earlier title "Earth Charter" was later appropriately downgraded as its contents were watered down and negotiated away. Effectively, its 27 principles are almost all weaker than the equivalent document signed in Stockholm 20 years ago. Critics say, it is a piece of worthless eco-clap-trap.

The original idea of establishing an Earth Charter has not been forgotten but taken forward by the an independent NGO body, the so-called Earth Charter Initiative -- one of the many ideas what may be the result of the upcoming World Summit.