Compare and contrast UNCED and WSSD.What do this organizations do to help the environment?

The United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
in June, 1992 with 172 nations participating in discussions. Primary concerns were the
effects on the environment of continued economic development by industrialized nations.
The primary outcome from the conference was known as Agenda 21, a unified statement
outlining plans and proposals to structure use of resources, treatment of wastes, and
alternatives to develop more ecologically sound methods of sustaining economies without
destroying the environment.

The World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) took place in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, ten years after the
Earth Summit. In this gathering, the focus was upon the political, economic and
geographic realities that were complicating or preventing the adoption and
implementation of the plans created at the Earth Summit. It became an opportunity to
reaffirm the concerns and needs expressed ten years earlier, but also highlighted the
different priorities of varied nations and how those concerns affected
actions.

When
the World Summit ended, governments congratulated each other for the successful outcome
of the summit. Civil Society described the summit as a missed opportunity to come up
with a meaningful plan of concrete targets, timeframes and funding for implementation of
Agenda 21.

Both conferences
attempted to promote ecologically responsible methods of supporting economic development
while minimizing destruction of the environment. The Earth Summit created more
resolutions for action; the World Summit tried to address reasons why those actions were
not being carried out.