SustainABILITY - An Agenda For The Future
During the last 25 years the world has become aware of the environmental issues its development is causing. Governments began to recognize that the level of environmental degradation caused by current practices of economic development could not be sustained without significant impacts upon future generations.
In 1987 the Brundtland Report (1) recognized that current economic development could no longer compromise the development needs of future generations. This concept of sustainable development (2) aimed to encourage people to reflect on the harm economic development was having on both the environment and society.
Building upon this, the the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development - the Earth Summit (3) - in Rio de Janeiro Rio in 1992 represented a major step forward towards the goal of achieving sustainability, with international agreements made on climate change, forests (4) and biodiversity. Out of the Earth Summit came Agenda 21, a blueprint for sustainability in the 21st century. By championing the concept of sustainable development, Agenda 21 provides a framework for tackling today’s social and environmental problems.
Nations that have pledged to take part in Agenda 21 are monitored by the International Commission on Sustainable Development, and are encouraged to promote Agenda 21 at the local (5) and regional levels within their own countries. Agenda 21 addresses the development of societies and economies by focusing on the conservation and preservation (6) of our environments and natural resources.
Agenda 21 is a blueprint on how to make development socially, economically and environmentally sustainable in the 21st century. Governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry and the general public (7) are all encouraged to become involved. Agenda 21 provides a framework for tackling today’s social and environmental problems, including air pollution (8), deforestation (9), biodiversity loss (10), health (11), over-population (12), poverty (13), energy (14) consumption, waste production (15) and transport issues (16).
One of Earth's most important natural resources is its atmosphere (17). The atmosphere contains air without which plants and animals could not survive. It contains greenhouse gases which keep the planet naturally warmer than it would be otherwise, maintaining an average global temperature above freezing and so allowing water to exist in its liquid state, a necessary condition for most life.
If mankind is to protect and preserve this unique natural resource for future generations as well as other ecosystems, it must continue to address the problem of air pollution which affects the atmosphere from the local to the global scale.
Agenda 21 calls for action in the energy production, transport and industrial sectors, to enhance energy efficiency (18) and reduce emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases which cause air pollution.
