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The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, Earth Summit (Portuguese: Eco '92) was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.

Overview[link]

172 governments participated, with 108 sending their heads of state or government.^[1] Some 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) attended, with 17,000 people at the parallel NGO "Global Forum" (a.k.a. Forum Global), who had Consultative Status.

The issues addressed included:

• systematic scrutiny of patterns of production — particularly the production of toxic components, such as lead in gasoline, or poisonous waste including radioactive chemicals
• alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels which are linked to global climate change
• new reliance on public transportation systems in order to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and the health problems caused by polluted air and smog
• the growing scarcity of water

An important achievement was an agreement on the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. Another agreement was to "not carry out any activities on the lands of indigenous peoples that would cause environmental degradation or that would be culturally inappropriate".

The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature at the Earth Summit, and made a start towards redefinition of measures that did not inherently encourage destruction of natural ecoregions and so-called uneconomic growth.

Twelve cities were also honoured by the Local Government Honours Award for innovative local environmental programs. These included Sudbury in Canada for its ambitious program to rehabilitate environmental damage from the local mining industry, Austin in the United States for its green building strategy, and Kitakyūshū in Japan for incorporating an international education and training component into its municipal pollution control program.

The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents:

• Rio Declaration on Environment and Development^[2]
• Agenda 21^[3][4]
• Forest Principles

Moreover, two important legally binding agreements were opened for signature:

• Convention on Biological Diversity^[5]
• Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Critics, however, point out that many of the agreements made in Rio have not been realized regarding such fundamental issues as fighting poverty and cleaning up the environment.

Green Cross International was founded to build upon the work of the Summit.

See also[link]

• Ecology summit
• Precautionary principle
• The Environmental Institute
• United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972
• Earth Summit 2002 "Rio+10" held in Johannesburg
• United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development also known as Rio 2012 or Rio+20, hosted by Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, as a 20-year follow-up to the historic 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).
• Global Map
• Regional Forum on Environment and Health in Southeast and East Asian countries

References [link]

External links [link]

• Documents from the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also known as UNCED or the Earth Summit) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1992
• video: George Hunt reviews UNCED 1992
• video: Severn Suzuki, 13 years old, speaks for Environmental Children Organization UNCED 1992
• Address at Rio Earth Summit, Dalaï Lama
• Agenda 21 at Spencer Hofmans' Center for a World in Balance
• A critical New Internationalist keynote about the 1992 Rio Earth Summit

Sara Canning
Sara Canning in 2011.
Born	Sara Canning (1987-07-14) July 14, 1987 (age 24) Gander, Newfoundland, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2008–present

Sara Canning (born July 14, 1987) is a Canadian actress. She co-starred on The CW television series The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, and starred in the 2009 feature film, Black Field. She will next star in the Canadian television series Primeval: New World.

Early life[link]

Canning was born in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada, the daughter of Wayne and Daphne Canning, and was raised in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, Alberta.^[1][2] She competed as a figure skater in her childhood and early adolescent years, and became interested in theatre as a student at F.R. Haythorne Junior High.^[3] Canning starred in several stage productions while attending Bev Facey Community High School, and acted in shows at her hometown stage at Festival Place.

Canning made her professional acting debut in George Orwell's 1984 at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton at the age of 18. She began studying general arts at the University of Alberta, and considered going into journalism. Still interested in performing, Canning left university and moved to Vancouver at 19, to pursue a career in acting.^[2] She graduated from a year-long acting program at the Vancouver Film School.^[3]

Career[link]

Canning found an agent and began acting in television series and in TV films produced in Vancouver. She worked in a restaurant and would take time off to film.^[4] Her first role was playing Nicky Hilton in Paparazzi Princess: The Paris Hilton Story in 2008.^[5] In 2009, she guest-starred on Smallville and Kyle XY, and then starred in the based-on-real-events TV movie, Taken in Broad Daylight. Canning played Anne Sluti, a 17-year- old girl who is abducted by a demented criminal (James Van Der Beek).

Canning filmed a television pilot for The CW series The Vampire Diaries. She then starred in the feature film Black Field, directed by Danishka Esterhazy, a gothic 19th Century period piece. Canning shot the drama near Tyndall, Manitoba, Canada in May 2009, for close to 20 days.^[6] She played Maggie McGregor, the older of two Scottish sisters struggling take make their way on the Canadian Prairies. The film premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2009.^[7] Three weeks after filming Black Field, The Vampire Diaries was picked up as a television series.^[2]

Canning co-starred on The Vampire Diaries as Jenna Sommers, the aunt and guardian of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and her younger brother Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen).^[8] Canning was the same age, or younger, than her fellow cast members who played high school students.^[9] Makeup artists and the wardrobe team worked to make her look older than she usually did.^[10] Canning also downplayed her Canadian accent for the role. Her character's love interest, Alaric, was played by Matthew Davis.^[10] Canning appeared on the second season of The Vampire Diaries from 2010–2011, but her character was killed in the episode, "The Sun Also Rises".

As of 2011, Canning was working on a short film noir. She shot the Lifetime network film, Hunt for the I-5 Killer, in Vancouver that year, and signed on to play the lead in Blitzed, a Canadian horror film.^[11][12] Canning will star in the Hallmark Movie Channel film, Hannah's Law, alongside Greystone Holt. The Western began filming in Calgary, Alberta in October 2011.^[13] She will appear in the romantic comedy, I Think I Do, which began filming in Edmonton in January 2012. Canning stars as Audrey, who runs an event planning business alongside her two older sisters (Mia Kirschner and Jenny Cooper).^[14] The film will air on the W and Lifetime networks in 2013.^[15] Canning will also star alongside Niall Matter in Primeval: New World, a Canadian spin-off of the sci-fi television series Primeval.^[16]

Canning is also interested in writing and directing. As of September 2010, she was co-writing a love story set in the Western time period.^[4]

Personal life[link]

Canning relocated to Atlanta, Georgia to film The Vampire Diaries. She stated to Parade that she found the Southern U.S. had "a much different culture than the west coast of Canada", but it became like her "second home".^[9] Canning lived in Atlanta for two years and returned to Vancouver after finishing the series.^[17]

Filmography[link]

Series Regular: Seasons 1-2

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sara Canning

• Sara Canning at the Internet Movie Database