At a time when the headline issues are economic growth and financial crises, few countries would willingly commit themselves to new treaties and conventions. Unsurprisingly, therefore, a significant occasion such as the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development produced no new binding agreements that could ensure the future well-being of the world’s natural capital and its people. Rio’s unfinished agenda is to measure human well-being and sustainability using a good set of tools, rather than a narrow metric such as GDP, and reach a consensus on development. Obviously, any measure that does not fully calculate the cost of present development to future generations is flawed. The Rio+20 conference in Brazil failed to measure up to this task. It was bigger than its predecessor summit, but achieved less. Twenty years ago, the Rio Summit produced Agenda 21 and its major principle of common but differentiated responsibilities for the rich and poor countries in dealing with environmental and development imperatives. That this foundational principle is retained in the Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want” provides some hope that equitable approaches will continue to guide global efforts.
