Milestones towards sustainable development

1972: Stockholm Decleration

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment: developing countries and developed countries discuss about global environmental protection

⇒ Beginning of the environmental protection debate.

1972: Club of Rome "The limits to Growth"

Meadows predicts based on economical models future development

⇒ Current way of living is not sustainable

1974: Symposium "Review of Economic Studies"

Stiglitz vs. Meadow's pessimistic forecast: technological advance, scale earnings and substitution of natural capital by real capital can provide economic growth despite limited natural ressources.

⇒ economic growth is possible despite limited natural ressources

1980's: Environmental Disasters

Chernobyl disaster, forest decline, acid rain

⇒ public awareness of enviornmental problems

1980's: Washington Consensus

IMF and World Bank: structural adjustment policies

⇒ privatisation, liberalisation, deregulation

1987: Brundtland Commission: "Our common future"

Former Norwegian president Brundtland publishes report "Our common future" being  Chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED).

⇒ Definition of sustainability: "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

1992: Earth Summit/Rio Summit (Rio de Janeiro)

United Nations Conference on Environement and Development (UNCED)

⇒ resulting documents: Rio Decleration, Agenda 21, Forest Principels, Biological Diversity, Desertification, Climate Change

1992: Good Governance

World Bank introduces concept of Good Governance based on disapointing experiences in most development countries in the 1980s.

⇒ Good Governance as pre-condition of sustainable development

1995: World Summit of Social Development (Kopenhagen)

Poverty reduction should be main focus of any development efforts.

⇒ basis for MDGs (Millenium Development Goals)

1997: Rio+5 (Rio de Janeiro)

Intermediate results: almost no member has developed sustainability strategies according to the Rio Summit documents.

⇒ members should present national sustainability strategies until 2002.

1997: Kyotto Protocol

Became finally effective in 2005 (55 members causing in total 55% of all emissions had to ratify it)

⇒ cut emissions of greenhouse gases and establish emissions trading

2000: Millenium Decleration (New York)

Result of the preceding Millenium Assembly
Catalogue of binding goals with focus on poverty reduction, human rights, environmental protection and sustainable development.

⇒ direct basis for MDGs (Millenium Development Goals)

2001: Millenium Development Goals

Based on the Millenium Decleration eight development goals are established which should be achived by 2015.

⇒ 8 development goals with concrete targets and indicators.

2002: Rio+10 (Johannisburg)

Almost all countries have developped national sustainability strategies, however not yet implemented.

⇒ plan of implementation of national sustainability strategies

2012: Rio+20 (Rio de Janeiro)

United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD).
Resulting document "The future we want" only lip service; no concrete results.

⇒ Rio process stagnating; summit failure

2013: UN Climate Change Conference (Warsaw)

no final document; all states should cut emissions.

⇒ process postponed to 2015

2015: (Paris)

Goal: binding agreement on climate and reduction of emissions inorder to limit global warming.