Energy and Environment

Synergies

The 1992 Rio Earth Summit provided a global spotlight on the worlds destructive consumption patterns, and called for development that is sustainable. A key outcome of Rio was Agenda 21, a wide ranging blue print for achieving sustainable development worldwide. To support the environmental aspects of Agenda 21, three international agreements, the Conventional on Biological Biodiversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) were agreed upon. All the three conventions have since entered into force and are in different stages of implementation, below is a summary of their status.

Status of the RIO Conventions

Synergies between the 3 Rio Agreements

While each agreement addresses specific environmental concerns all three share the common goal - to achieve - sustainable development. Furthermore the processes of climate change, biodiversity loss and desertification are interrelated. For instance climate change affects drylands in that climatic variations can lead to prone and recurrent droughts; raise temperatures that can lead to evaporation. This threatens biological diversity and can result in increases the vulnerability of poor populations to food and water. Drylands degradation influences local climate changes and global carbon circle. Biodiversity and desertification are inter-related; the drylands provide a habitat for major animal and plant species. Dryland degradation thus affects agricultural productivity, natural vegetation - and loss of plant and animal species. Biodiversity loss can lead increased prssures on degraded lands, as local populations become more vulnerable they could over exploit their habitat.