A Portal on Sustainability

A History of Sustainability

04.05.2005 · Research Group on the Global Future

"(...) under the assumption of no major change in the present system, population and industrial growth will certainly stop within the next century, at the latest." This was the main conclusion of the report Limits of Growth, published by the Club of Rome in 1972. This early evaluation from the 1970s is much too pessimistic looked at from a present point of view and cannot be sustained in this drastic way anymore. However, it contributed to creating an atmosphere of awareness of future environmental problems that people would face in the years to come.

In the same year, the UN held the first international Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, which brought together industrialized and developing nations to discuss the right of all humans to a healthy and productive environment. The conference resulted in an action plan with detailed recommendations to national governments on how to influence human impact on the environment. From this event, the UN Environment Program, located in Nairobi, Kenya, was developed. It is now headed by the former German minister for the environment, Klaus Toepfer.

The political concept of sustainability was made known and popularized by the report “Our Common Future” of the World Commission on Environment and Development, better known as the Brundtland Commission, a United Nations organization headed by former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.

The Brundtland Commission's work provided the basis for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, also known as the Earth Summit, an unprecedented international meeting of delegations from 178 countries and representatives of more than 1,000 NGOs. Its purpose was to develop a global consensus on measures needed to balance development pressures against an increasingly imperiled global environment.

Agenda 21, which is considered the most important agreement related to UNCED, was adopted by more than 178 states. It covers topics on virtually everything regarded important for a sustainable future, ranging from agriculture to biodiversity to hazardous waste to eco-tourism.

The importance attached to the role of civil society in sustainable development continues to be emphasized by the Commission on Sustainable Development, a UN division that was established in late 1992 to follow-up the implementation of Agenda 21's directives.

In 1997, the Earth Summit + 5, a special session of the UN General Assembly, was held to review and appraise the implementation of Agenda 21.

The Earth Summit's objectives were:

• to revitalize commitments to sustainable development
• to look at failures and identify reasons why
• to recognize achievements
• to define future priorities
• to raise the profile of Rio's issues

For more information on the process and results of the Earth Summit + 5 search here.
 
The Johannesburg Summit 2002 (Earth Summit +10) brought together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups to focus the world's attention and direct action toward meeting difficult challenges, including improving people's lives and conserving our natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security. Ten years later the Rio the Johannesburg Summit presented an opportunity for Leaders to adopt concrete steps and identify quantifiable targets for better implementing Agenda 21.

For more information on issues related to the United Nations and Sustainable Development consult the UN Agency in Canada's sustainability site. It provides you with current background information and a listing of recent UN events on sustainability.