Panos Report Tracks (Lack of) Progress since Rio-92

Panos London and LEAD International have published a joint new report, which explores what six countries have achieved in sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. The report, called ‘Roads to the Summit’, focuses on India, Japan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States.

The report shows that each country has enacted an array of new, mainly environmental legislation, but has largely failed to go the extra mile to integrate environmental protection with development. Most of the countries being reviewed, moreover, do not appear convinced by the concept of sustainable development.

The report shows that the poorer countries lack the physical infrastructure, ideas and human capacity to integrate sustainability into their development planning. Richer countries, on the other hand, perceive sustainability to be expensive to implement.