Approximately 170 governments participated with over 2 400 representatives from NGOs. The issues addressed at this historic conference included:

• Scrutiny over patterns of production, particularly regarding toxic components;
• Alternative sources of energy to replace the use of fossil fuels, linked to global climate change;
• New reliance on public transportation systems to reduce vehicle emissions, congestion in cities and health problems caused by air pollution;
• The growing scarcity of water.

One of the most important achievements to come from the Summit was the Climate Change Convention which in turn led to the Kyoto Protocol. 


The Earth Summit resulted in the following documents which have become among the most important documents for sustainable development of our time:

• Rio Declaration on Environment and Development – a statement of principles that emphasized the coordination of economic and environmental concerns.
• Agenda 21 – which set forth global measures to protect the planet's environment while guaranteeing sustainable economic growth.
• Convention on Biological Diversity - which committed signatory nations to the protection of endangered species and cooperation on genetic and biological technology.
• Forest Principles - recommending preservation of world forests and monitoring of development impact on timberlands.
• Framework Convention on Climate Change – which set guidelines for regulating emissions of gases believed to cause global warming.

The Convention on Drought and Desertification was adopted later, but is also considered as one of the three Rio Conventions together with the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The conference also spawned a new functional commission of ECOSOC, the Commission on Sustainable Development, which has a mandate to monitor international treaties on the environment, provide policy direction, and coordinate action within the United Nations system to achieve the goals of Agenda 21.