Agenda 21 - The 21st Century and Sustainability In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development coined the phrase “Agenda 21” as a blueprint of the actions needed to achieve a sustainable future. In 1992, at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, nearly half a million people from around the world met to begin the process of questioning, planning, and cooperation. 178 heads of state signed the historic agreement, Agenda 21, which focuses on the ways we now interact with our environment and with each other, and how we need to change...

For People in the Developing World… - T he struggle for the basic means of life and security strips the forests exhausts soil and marginal lands depletes biodiversity - T he disruption of traditional communities forces migrations of the rural poor into overburdened cities...

For millions of people, economic growth, not preservation of the environment, is the over-riding priority. In industrialized countries, assumptions of inexhaustible resources continue to shape policies and practices that threaten the environment, individual health and community security. Agenda 21 implies that the economic equator dividing the world must be eliminated, in order to seek a balance between environmental preservation and economic development. This is now the fundamental challenge of all humankind, as all countries face the urgent need for change and renewal - we need to cooperate with a common vision…  TWebb