ABSTRACT
In 1992, representatives of 180 of the world’s nations met in Rio de Janeiro at the UN Conference on Environment and Development. Among the submissions debated and considered at the “Earth Summit,” as it was called, was one addressing sustainable forestry, with the unwieldy title “Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of All Types of Forests” (UNCED 1992). This proto-convention was the result of several years of sustained, intensive negotiation and controversy and a product of growing concern during the 1980s and early 1990s about the future of the world’s remaining tropical forests (Hecht and Cockburn 1990).
