The Earth Brokers

Presents the first critical analysis of the Earth Summit and its mission document Agenda 21, providing core source material in an accessible style for students studying global politics, environment and development studies courses.

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After decades of failed development plans for the South and the mounting pressure of the environmental crisis all over the planet, the Earth Summit was billed as a dramatic new approach to solving the planet's problems. Recognizing that environment and development are inseparable was a fundamental step forward, but development quickly became much more important than environment. There was little recognition of the underlying cause of today' s crisis - the unsustainable economic models that most of the world is currently following.

The new order that emerged after Rio is identical to the old one. If this new order were merely a warmed-over version of the old, things might be expected to continue deteriorating at the current pace, if not accelerate, since the new mantra is that the environment may even be a profitable enterprise that will stimulate development. What is more, the new order is slowly creating a global management elite that is coopting the strongest people's movements, the very movements that brought the crisis to public attention.

This book offers a comprehensive and critical overview of the UNCEO process. Examining the origin, context, and the major participants, this book also helps readers understand the transformation of 'development' as well as the deep changes the Green movement has undergone.