Global environmental issues require UK intervention

Safe limits on the amount of waste, pollution and biodiversity loss that natural systems can tolerate continue to be breached, undermining the ability to use natural resources to support further growth.

The forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012, 'Rio+20' follows on from the first pivotal Earth Summit there in 1992 and will focus on the 'green economy' and the relevant UN institutions.

Engagement and discussion between Government and civil society groups, businesses and individuals, about the Summit's objective - to kick-start a renewed commitment to sustainable development - is vital.

The Millennium Development Goals, which aimed to improve the quality of life for some of the world's poorest people, are unlikely to be met by their 2015 end-date and do not fully capture the sustainability challenges facing the world.

MPs recommend that:

• new 'Goals' (Sustainability Goals and Consumption Goals) should be agreed at Rio +20, to shift the effort towards the sustainable development and sustainable consumption contributions that the UK and other developed countries now need to make;
• the Prime Minister attends the conference in June to show the Government's commitment to the aims of Rio+20 within the UK and beyond; and
• the Government also appoints a 'special envoy' to engage the public and co-ordinate Government departments' inputs as part of an ongoing process: before, during and after the Summit itself.

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