What happened in between the original Earth Summit in 1992 and Rio+20 Rio+20 Rio+20 was a UN conference of the highest possible level, including the heads of state and government or other high-level representatives. It was coordinated by UN Department of Social and Economic Affairs (DESA). Rio+20 was a follow up of two important events: the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg. The conference took place 20 to 22 June 2012 and was accompanied by a number of side events (People’s Summit, Dialogue Days, Trade Union Assembly on Labour and Environment, etc.). One of the outputs of Rio+20 was the Sustainable Development Goals. in 2012 – 20 years later?