Rio Declaration

Note Report ofthe United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, (a) Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (b) Agenda 21 to be found at http //www.un.org/esa/sustdev. 

Rinsing, for electroplating, 9 786-787 in ion exchange, 24 412 Rio Declaration, 24 162-163, 185, 188 selected principles from, 24 194-196 Riot control agents, 5 814, 823-824 Ripeners, in photographic crystal growth, 29 182... 

The so-called persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are the subject of the Rio Declaration (1994) and the Stockholm Convention (2001) these international agreements (yet to be ratified in all signatory countries, including the United States) call for the elimination from production of 12 persistent chemicals, including the chlorinated pesticides and PCBs mentioned above (all of which have already been eliminated from production in the United States). Current regulatory efforts in the European Union and the United States place emphasis on elimination or restriction of all PBTs (persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals). 

Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. (1992) Chapter 13, Managing Fragile Ecosystems Sustainable Mountain Development... 

Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Stockholm, Sweden United Nations 1992. Publication E. 73.II.A. 14. Online. Available HTTP (accessed 6 July 2003). 

Proponents of the risk-based approach emphasize that decisions should be made on the basis of what is known. There must be clear evidence that harm of a specified nature may be caused by a technology, harm of sufficient severity to justify the proposed restrictions on that technology. In contrast, it is less clear what a precautionary approach involves.1 2 It is often presented as being the taking of restrictive action when there is a lack of clear evidence or of scientific certainty. Principle 15 of the 1992 Rio Declaration on the Environment and Development puts it as follows ... 

Today, reference to the PP can be found in several international agreements and declarations. However, the description of the PP that has had the greatest impact can be found in the Rio Declaration from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, and the Swedish government repeatedly referred to it when it proposed the Unified Environmental Code of 1998 to the Parliament. How- 51... 

While the Swedish Government sees the PP as an instrument to restrict the overall use of manmade chemicals in society, the EU Commission reserves its implementation of the PP to risks that in the event of non-action may have serious consequences. The EU Commission s statement is similar to the second sentence of Principle 15 in the Rio Declaration, which reserves the use of the PP to threats of serious or irreversible damage. The words of the EU Commission and the Rio Declaration impose considerable restraints on when the PP should be applied, and the EU Economic... 

Precaution principle At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro the (nonbinding) Rio Declaration of 1992 was agreed on, with the following text ... 

UNESCO 2007. Rio declaration on environment and development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 3-14, 1992. Available at URL http //www.unesco.org/education/infomiation/nfsunesco/pdf/RIO E.PDF (accessed April 5, 2009). 

The Swedish expression of the principle is that actors should replace chemicals with less harmful ones when the costs are not unreasonable. While this may appear to be a little more than common sense, the principle and its application are quite controversial. The principle is not mentioned in the Rio Declaration and is not considered to be an established principle in international environmental law, although Agenda 21 (19.41) refer to the substitution of hazardous substances for less hazardous substances as the classical example of risk reduction. So why is the principle not established in international environmental law Several reasons exist. The application of the principle has several limitations. Apart from the cost issue, it can of course be difficult to evaluate whether a chemical is a better option than another one if none of them are properly tested, or if only one of them have been properly tested. 

In 1992, the US government ratified the precautionary principle by signing the Rio Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Article 15 of the Rio Declaration says, In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States [nations] according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. Cost-effective means lowest cost. 

All definitions of the precautionary principle are similar, essentially stating that when there is uncertainty and credible evidence of a risk, then precautionary actions should be taken. The most widely used definition of the precautionary principle is the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which states... 

UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program). 1992. Rio Declaration, World Conference on Envirorunent and Development, United Nations Environmental Program, Brazil... 

This increased awareness is evidenced, for example, by current European and US environmental policy, and by meetings such as The Earth Summit 92. Included amongst the achievements of the Earth Summit in 1992, were the Rio Declaration on Enviroiunent and Development (27 principles defining the rights and responsibilities of nations in this area), and Ageiida 21 (a blueprint for global actions to support the transition to sustainable developmem), which identifies ttie basis for action, objectives, activities, and the means of implementation to support the Rio Declaration. 

The Rio Declaration sets out the general principles seen as necessary for effective implementation of sustainable development, and includes ... 

The environmental necessity to stop this negative development by switching to alternative strategies independent of fossil resources nowadays is generally undisputed. Already in 1992, the United Nations Rio Declaration on Environment and Development explicitly specified the political intention and willingness of most countries to forcefully support the development of bio-based and biocompalible materials. Literally, Principle 4 of the Rio Declaration slates that In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it With the tools of life cycle assessment (LCA) and cleaner production studies, much effort is contemporarily devoted to quantifying the environmental impact and feasibility of processes for production of polymeric materials (Sudesh and Iwala 2008). 

The next major event in sustainable development was the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) that took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, also known as the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. This was the second worldwide meeting for discussing the nexus of environment and development. During this important event, the triple bottom line of Environment—Society—Economy (the three pillars of sustainable development) was adopted into international agreements related to climate change, biodiversity, and a unified declaration of environment and development. This was summarized in a global sustainable development action plan called Agenda 21 and in the Rio Declaration (27 principles for sustainable development). Some of the content of US conservation and environmental law coincided with those described by many of the principles of the Rio Declaration. 

Control (IPPC) License, (3) Restriction on Hazardous Substances Legislation, (4) Water Framework Directive, (5) Air Quality Framework Directive, (6) Strategic Environmental Assessment, (7) Wildlife and Habitats Legislation, (8) Kyoto Protocol, (9) Rio Declaration, (10) Tradable Permits, (11) Planning Laws, (12) Environmental Impact Statanent (ElS), and (13) Energy Use in Bnildings. Some of them are related to environmental engineering. 

Rio declaration on environment and development, made at UNCED 1992, ISBN 9 21 1005094 Principle 15... 

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