In June 1997 world leaders gathered at the United Nations (UN) headquarters, New

York, to review achievements in meeting the environmental commitments made at

the Rio World Earth Summit on Environment and Development in 1992. At the

meeting five years earlier leaders of rich and poor states collectively focused on

emerging global conflicts between demands for economic growth and development

and the need to conserve the world’s depleted natural resources, this resulting in

the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest

Principles, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention

on Biological Diversity and an ambitious program of more general environmental

reforms known as Local Agenda 21 (LA21). The Earth Summit involved 172 countries

and 108 heads of state or government committing to these ambitious programs and

conventions and a number of associated environmental and development changes to

implement over the following decade. To keep up the momentum achieved at Rio

representatives from participating countries agreed to report back five years later.