New
York Times: This week the
Planet Under
Pressure conference in London brought together nearly 3000
people to discuss humanity's impact on Earth. "Without urgent
action, we could face threats to water, food, biodiversity and
other critical resources," wrote conference cochairs Lidia
Brito and Mark Stafford Smith in a formal declaration issued at
the end of the conference today. Among the suggestions are the
need for a new United Nations Sustainable Development Council
with its own secretariat and the need to replace the current
measure of national well-being, gross domestic product, with a
measure that better captures the impact of human economic
activity. Besides discussing the prospects for better
management of Earth and its resources, the conference was also
called to build momentum for the upcoming
United
Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, to
be held 20â22 June in Rio de Janeiro.
