The first Earth Summit. (includes related article) (Environment and Development: A Global Commitment)

TWENTY years after the first World Conference on the Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, the international community is faced with a serious dilemma. On the one hand it is more necessary than ever to increase economic activity in order to meet basic needs and ensure the well-being of a rapidly growing human family. On the other, human activities are making an unprecedented impact on the natural environment and on the global systems which sustain life on Earth, as is demonstrated by air and water pollution, the massive degradation of land resources, the destruction of landscapes, climate changes induced by the wasteful use of energy, the rapid disappearance of animal and plant species, and the depletion of the ozone layer.

In face of problems of such magnitude, inaction is out of the question. The General Assembly of the United Nations has thus decided to convene a new United Nations Conference, this time on Environment and Development (UNCED), which will be held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) from 1 to 12 June 1992. Many Heads of State and Government are expected to attend this first "Earth Summit".

* WHAT IS AT STAKE

The problem facing the Rio Conference is how to maintain the quality of the environment and to achieve environmentally sound, sustainable development in all countries. The following questions will be among those addressed:

* protection of the atmosphere (climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, transboundary air pollution);

* protection of land resources (combating deforestation, soil loss, desertification and drought);

* conservation of biological diversity;