Environmental conference addresses global sustainability

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.