The term sustainability didn’t originate with Gro Harlem Brundtland, but
she helped push it onto the world political stage back in 1983.
That year the United Nations General Assembly established the World Commission
on Environment and Development. The United Nations named Brundtland, a former
minister of environment for Norway and later the country’s prime minister,
chair.
Members of the commission came from 21 nations, more than half in the developing
world. William Ruckelshaus, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
at that time, was a member. Other U.S. citizens served on advisory panels dealing
with topics such as energy, industry and food security.
After three years, including public hearings in the capitals of 15 countries,
what now is often called simply the "Brundtland Commission" published
a report titled Our Common Future. It looked at the year 2000 and
beyond.
"Over the course of this century, the relationship between the human world
and the planet that sustains it has undergone a profound change," said
the report. "When the century began, neither human numbers or technology
had the power radically to alter planetary systems.
"As the century closes, not only do vastly increased human numbers and
their activities have that power, but major, unintended changes are occurring
in the atmosphere, in soils, in water, among plants and animals, and in the
relationships among all of these. The rate of change is outstripping the ability
of scientific disciplines and our current capabilities to assess and advise."
In issuing a call for various actions, the report offered a now-famous definition
of what it referred to as sustainable development: "A form of development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs."
The Brundtland Commission called for an international conference to be convened
"within an appropriate period" after the presentation of its report
to review progress and create a follow-up structure. That conference, the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, or Earth Summit, was held
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992.
At Rio, representatives of more than 170 nations, including the United States,
agreed to work toward sustainable development of the planet. More specific agreements,
most not legally binding, focused on topics of global significance such as climate
change, loss of biodiversity, management of the earth’s forests and the
responsibilities and rights of nations. A global plan of action developed in
Rio was titled Agenda 21, referring to the 21st century.
Later in 1992, the United Nations established a Commission on Sustainable Development
to review progress toward the goals in Agenda 21. That commission’s
job also included offering policy guidance and promoting partnerships for sustainable
development with governments and "key actors" outside government,
including women, youth, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organizations,
local authorities, workers and trade unions, business and industry, the scientific
community, and farmers.
Since then, some countries have developed their own versions of Agenda
21, and many countries have formed sustainable development commissions.
In 1993, then-U.S. President Bill Clinton established a President’s Council
on Sustainable Development. This panel of representatives from business, government
and nonprofit organizations was asked to advise the White House on how to integrate
economic goals with environmental and social goals.
That council’s third and final report, Towards a Sustainable America:
Advancing Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment for the 21st Century,
was issued in 1999. The report suggests more than 50 "actions" to
create jobs, protect the climate and public health, and save money in the short-
and long-run.
A 10-year follow-up to the Earth Summit, called Earth Summit 2002, is scheduled
for September of 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The goals of the meeting include strengthening global commitments on sustainable
development, including:
"Sustainable development is a dynamic process, and it’s one that will continue to evolve and grow as lessons are learnt and ideas re-examined," say the 2002 summit’s organizers. "By reinvigorating the spirit of Rio we can begin to move to a deeper and broader level of sustainability."