Rio Summit, Reflections on the early years of the sustainable development movement

This Episode reflects on the outcomes from and consequences of the first United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (aka as the Rio Summit) we get ready to celebrate the World Environment Day 2026. This episode presents the first part of the conversation I had with Dr. Costantinos Berhutesfa Costantinos, who has more than 40 years of experience in the field of environment and sustainable development from grass roots movement to the United Nations. This episode reviews the major outcomes from the summit and their implementation including the Agenda 21 which started with a lot of hopes and promises that led to the emergence of tens of thousands of local sustainable development initiatives. It also highlights some of the main factors that led to the decline of such initiatives in the subsequent years.