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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND THE UN SYSTEM
History and Evolution
The international community first recognized the link
between development, the improvement of the human condition, and environment,
the interaction of human beings with the natural world, at the UN Conference on the
Human Environment in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1988, the World Commission on
Environment and Development, also known as the Brundtland Commission formally
termed the approach toward these two linked concepts “sustainable development.”
The Commission defined sustainable development as “a form of development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs."
At the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the
Rio Earth Summit, the international community adopted Agenda 21, a comprehensive
plan of action to achieve sustainable development in the 21st century. Agenda 21
emphasized the notion that the three pillars of sustainable development –
economy, environment, and society – are interdependent and mutually reinforcing.
Civil society groups were present and vocal at UNCED and had a significant
impact on the conference and on Agenda 21. Recognizing their important
contribution, Agenda 21 mandated that major groups of stakeholders – business
and industry, children and youth, farmers, indigenous people, local authorities,
non-governmental organizations, scientific and technological communities, women,
and trade unions – be given special roles in the implementation of sustainable
development at all levels and included at annual meetings of the new UN
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).
The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD)
The tenth meeting of the CSD took the form of the World Summit on Sustainable
Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. Governments and civil society
alike faced the reality of the 1990s: ambitious policies and failed
implementation. They agreed to craft an outcome that emphasized results.
However, different groups had different perspectives on what kind of results to
emphasize. Most governments and civil society groups backed a set of targets and
timetables for action, and a number of states and stakeholders proposed legally
binding initiatives to ensure success. The United States, backed by Australia
and New Zealand and occasionally by Japan and Canada, opposed all of these
approaches and instead took the lead in creating partnerships with civil society
and other states.
The result was somewhat of a compromise, albeit one that disappointed most civil
society groups in Johannesburg with its weak legal language. The conference
produced a document that identified a few significant targets and timetables,
including:
- to halve the proportion of people without sanitation or access to drinking
water by 2015;
- to phase out chemicals harmful to human health and the environment by 2020;
and
- to slow down the extinction of species by 2010.
Since Johannesburg, the Commission on Sustainable Development continues to
incorporate civil society input and focuses on a few themes
per two-year period.
In 2004-05, the Commission set its sights on water, sanitation, and human
settlements.
Updated February May 2, 2005
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