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SDIN - the world’s largest NGO network on sustainable development.
This website is made possible through financial support from:
the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
the Finnish Ministry of Environment.
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1972: UN Conference on the Human Environment
The relationship between economic development and environmental degradation was first placed on the international agenda in 1972, at the UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm. After the Conference, Governments set up the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which today continues to act as a global catalyst for action to protect the environment. Little, however, was done in the succeeding years to integrate environmental concerns into national economic planning and decision-making. Overall, the environment continued to deteriorate, and such problems as ozone depletion, global warming and water pollution grew more serious, while the destruction of natural resources accelerated at an alarming rate.
1987: Brundtland Report
By 1983, when the UN set up the World Commission on Environment and Development, environmental degradation, which had been seen as a side effect of industrial wealth with only a limited impact, was understood to be a matter of survival for developing nations. Led by Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, the Commission put forward the concept of sustainable development as an alternative approach to one simply based on economic growth — one "which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
1992: UN Conference on Environment and Development
After considering the 1987 Brundtland report, the UN General Assembly called for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The primary goals of the Summit were to come to an understanding of "development" that would support socio-economic development and prevent the continued deterioration of the environment, and to lay a foundation for a global partnership between the developing and the more industrialized countries, based on mutual needs and common interests, that would ensure a healthy future for the planet.
From 3 - 14 June 1992, the UNCED or Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. There, more than 178 governments adopted three major agreements aimed at changing the traditional approach to development:
The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of UNCED, to monitor and report on implementation of the agreements at the local, national, regional and international levels.
Towards Earth Summit 2002
This website was launched by Stakeholder Forum in preparation for the Earth Summit 2002.
2002: World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002
The World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD or Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development by the United Nations. WSSD gathered a number of leaders from business and non-governmental organizations, ten years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, hence the nickname "Rio+10".
Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
Civil Society and the World Summit on Sustainable Development
This website presents a broad range of ideas and information developed as a result of the Johannesburg Summit, focusing not merely on the intergovernmental process, but on a range of meetings and initiatives developed in the space created by the official event.
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