AGENDA 21 & RIO SUMMIT

SUBJECT- ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

Mid Semester Assignment-III

SUBMITTED_TO_
AMITY LAW SCHOOL, MUMBAI
FOR THE PART FULLFILMENT
OF
B.A. LLB._(Hons)

By
Gaurav K Choudhary
Enrolment_No._A70611120025

UNDER_THE_GUIDANCE_OF
Dr. Rita Bansal, Assistant Professor-III

AMITY_LAW_SCHOOL

HOD-_Kushal Vibhute
SEMESTER_IV

ACADEMIC_YEAR:_2021-2022[Even Semester]

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 DECLARATION_BY_THE STUDENT

I declare that this assignment entitled “AGENDA 21 & RIO SUMMIT” is my own
work completed under the supervision of Rita ma’am. This assignment is based on my personal
study and/or research and that I have acknowledged all material and sources used in its
preparation, whether they be books, articles, reports, lecture notes, and any other kind of
document, electronic or personal communication. I also certify that this assignment has not
previously been submitted for assessment in any other unit, except where specific permission
has been granted from all unit coordinators involved, or at any other time in this unit, and that
I have not copied in part or whole or otherwise plagiarized the work of other students and/or
persons.

_Date: 20th March 2022

Student_name:_Gaurav_K_Choudhary

_ Enrolment_No.:_A70611120025

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CONTENTS

DECLARATION BY THE STUDENT..................................................................................... 2

AGENDA 21 MEANING .......................................................................................................... 4

EVOLUTION OF AGENDA 21 ............................................................................................... 4

STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS OF AGENDA 21 ................................................................ 6

RIO DECLARATION ............................................................................................................... 8

CONCLUSION & CRITICISM ................................................................................................ 9

REFERENCE ........................................................................................................................... 10

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 AGENDA 21 & RIO SUMMIT

AGENDA 21 MEANING

Agenda 21 was a part of the Earth Summit under the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development. It was made in favour of sustainable development. Agenda 21
is an action plan of the United Nation and it is non-binding in nature.

Agenda 21 is in reference to the 21st Century and that is what the number 21 stands for in
Agenda 21. The main focus of Agenda 21 is to attain sustainable development throughout the
world and to commit every local government of every country to make their own Agenda 21
plans to secure sustainable development.

It came into existence at the Rio Earth Summit in the year 1992 and the slogan for Agenda 21
was “think globally and act locally”.

EVOLUTION OF AGENDA 21

Rio +5 :-

This was the initial phase of the Rio Conference. Then Prime Minister of Norway Ms Gro
Horlem Brundtland talked about some of the most common problems that our world is facing.
The problems that came into the light were the growing and broadening gap of wealth between
rich and poor, increase in globalization and finally the worsening state of Earth’s environment.
It was talked and dealt in the year 1997.

As a result of pointing out such key trends and problems, our world is facing, the General
Assembly of the United Nations guaranteed additional actions regarding such. So Agenda 21
came into light.

Rio +10 :-

Earth Summit with the main theme as Summit on Sustainable Development took place in the
year 2002. It was introduced in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.

So what the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation intended to do that they completely

implemented the Agenda 21. Even though it was non-binding in nature but still it was
implemented throughout the world.

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Alongside implementing Agenda 21, the United Nations also planned to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals. The Millennium Development Goals was put alongside with
Agenda 21 and it was focused towards the newer generation of people.

Agenda 21 for culture-

Agenda 21 for culture is also known as Culture 21. So Culture 21 was brought into existence
in the year 2002-04. The main focus of creating Culture 21 ways to introduce local culture and
further promote it in an international ground. So once a culture is promoted that certainly means
it will eventually result in the economic growth of that country as well.

This time by the provisions of Culture 21, the United Nations focused much more on household
development of sustainable development. When Agenda 21 was introduced, the United Nations
did not focus more on culture.

Rio +20 :-

Rio +20 also known as Rio 2012 was another international conference on sustainable
development by the United Nations. Rio 2012 was a 10-day summit and this time the United
Nations focused on sustainable development along with economic development.

Rio 2012 mainly focused on three objectives and they are:

 Acquiring new political support from countries for sustainable development.

 Acknowledging the progress made in the last 20 years
 Trying to cover the gaps of all previous pledges.

Discussing all new problems and their solutions.

Rio +20 was the biggest UN event and it attracted the attention of several communities. It was
still a part of Agenda 21 which came into existence 20 years ago. But the absence of Barack
Obama, David Cameron, and Angela Merkel showed that sustainable development was still
not a priority.

The outcome of Rio +20 was the government of 192 countries renewed their policies regarding
sustainable development. The motto of Rio +20 was “what we want”. Some of the outcomes
of Rio +20 are as follows:

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The emergence of SDG or as known as Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainable
Development Goals planned to succeed in MDG or Millennium Development Goals.

The participant countries planned to find an alternative to the Gross Domestic Product as a
measure for the wealth of a country. The plan was to also include social and environmental
factors while measuring a country’s wealth.

The plan also wanted participant countries to implement a change in the taxation system. The
new proposed system discussed that low wage workers, labourers shall pay fewer taxes and
polluters and operators shall more tax.

Another outcome was all the participant nations confirmed that they would segment out
subsidies of fossil fuel.

Finally, all the participant nations talked about more than 400 voluntary programs.

STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS OF AGENDA 21

Agenda 21 is divided into four sections and each section clears out the plan for Agenda 21. So
the four sections are as follows:

Section I: Social and Economic Dimensions

Section I of Agenda 21 which talks about Social and Economic Dimensions can further be
divided into 7 parts and these 7 parts are as follows:

International collaboration to speed up sustainable development in developing countries and

the introduction of new policies:

The United Nations wanted all its member states to collaborate together and commit to new
partnership terms on international grounds which shall be constructive in nature and focuses
on a much more efficient world economy. It planned to introduce socialist ideas by having a
much more equitable world economy. The need for such collaboration was due to the fact that
speeding up of new changes and development required support on international grounds.
Another way suggested was the promotion of sustainable development through an open, secure,
non-discriminative multilateral trading system that is focused on sustainable development. The
main focus should be on commitment as commitment is required to meet sustainable
development.

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  Combating poverty
 Changing consumption patterns
 Demographic dynamics and sustainability
 Promoting and protecting human health
 Promoting sustainable human settlement development
 Integrating environment and development in decision making

Section II: Conservation and management of resources for development

The population will keep on increasing and that is a hard fact. There is an utter need for
conserving and properly managing the natural resources of the earth. There are many resources
of the earth which are very limited and with time they will get exhausted and humans will be
left with nothing. Siberian tiger and dodo birds have already gone extinct and there had been a
massive amount of deforestation. So it is safe to assume that humans lack management when
it comes to conservation of the environment and our biological diversity. The way to tackle all
of this is simply installing new legal mechanism and laws in the country that will make it an
obligation for the citizens and the government to conserve our natural resources before they
become nil. Also, there is a need for research for a newer and renewable form of energy which
will make it viable for humans to use such resources without the worry of them going extinct.
There is also a need to protect animals so that the food chain remains balanced and our bio-
diversity is not destroyed.

Section III: Strengthening the role of major groups

There is an absolute need to integrate women in all developmental activities. The Nairobi
Forward-looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women is needed to be implemented in
our society. The need for increasing the section of women involved in making policy or
decision is an absolute necessity as well. The other groups that also need to be considered are
the children and youth. It is also a requirement for integrating youth to participate actively in
the decision-making process because it is the youth that is the future generation and any long
term policy will affect them more than it would affect elders who are making such policy. So
there should be a considerate amount of contribution from the youth in making of any policy.
With the modernisation of our world, we must not forget about the indigenous people and their
community. They are the original inhabitants of the land and they share a special bond with
such land. They should be given the ability to participate fully in policies that are made

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regarding their lands because it is their right. Refusal to include them is nothing less than a
violation of human rights.

Section IV: Means of Implementation

There is a need for transfer of technology which is environment friendly. Such transfer will
assist in a better form of sustainable development in our society. Along with such transfer of
resources, there is a need for science for sustainable development. Scientists are already
improving their ideas behind climate change, rates in resource depletion and more. But such
science can also teach us the way through which we can develop new long term strategies
related to sustainable development and conservation of resources. Finally, there is a need to
create awareness among the people, promoting education and imparting training to the general
masses of people so that we can have a better sustainable lifestyle and development and we can
preserve our biodiversity.

RIO DECLARATION

There was a conference that took place in Rio de Janeiro in the year 1992. The conference went
from 3rd June to 14th June and the conference laid down few principles upon which Agenda
21, Rio +5, Rio +10, Culture 21, Rio +20, Sustainable Development Summit and Agenda 2030
is based on and those principles are as follows:

 Human beings should be concerned about sustainable development and every human is
eligible for a better life.
 States have the right to exploit their own resources and it is the responsibility of States
to ensure that their exploitation does not harm the environment of any other State.
 Environment protection shall be integrated into any new policy of a country.
 Least developed countries and poor countries shall be given required help and they shall
be given assistance in their time of need.
 There shall be international co-operation among States for the protection of the
environment and to seek a sustainable development of resources.
 To achieve such sustainable development, the State shall remove all unnecessary
practice which degrades our environment.

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CONCLUSION & CRITICISM

Agenda 21 faced many criticisms when it was introduced in the Rio Declaration in the year
1992. Especially in the United States, the people opposing Agenda 21 had to say that Agenda
21 is a means to force people out of their homes and cities. The SDG or the Sustainable
Development Goals were also criticised for the lack of having any fundamental priorities and
having too many goals and objectives.

Another criticism was that there was a lack of obligatory laws and most of the laws were left
upon the discretion of the member state countries and hence this made the whole of Agenda 21
and the Rio Declaration weaker.

The Agenda 21 is dynamic in nature and is identified that our environment needs protection.
But the fact that these plans lacked proper guidance and planning and development goes on to
show that we are in need of better policies which are clear and binding upon countries

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REFERENCE

 Agenda 21 .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform (un.org)

 Agenda 21 - Wikipedia
 Earth Summit - Wikipedia
 The Earth Summit: What Went Wrong at Rio? (wustl.edu)

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