Agenda 21

The 1992 United Nations conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Municipality in Brazil- the “Earth Summit” was like the Brundtland Commission a watershed event that helped alert the global communication and the populous to the need of sustainable development. This conference was attended by leaders of 178 nations, produced a lengthy declaration know as Agenda 21 that laid out sustainable development principles in many different possible areas.

Broader view is that the conference on Environment and Development, having met at Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992, reaffirming the Declaration of the United Nations conference on the Human Environment, adopted at Stockholm on 16 June 1972, seeking to build upon it with the goal of establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors and stakeholders working towards international agreements which respect the interests of all and protect the integrity of the global environmental and developmental system, recognizing the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth, proclaims the following principles:

• Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.
• States have in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and development policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
• The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.
•  In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.
• All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the population of the world.
• The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable shall be given special priority. International actions in the field of environment and development should also address the interests and needs of all countries.
• States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem.
• To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, States should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies.
• States should cooperate to strengthen endogenous capacity-building for sustainable development by improving scientific understanding through exchanges of scientific and technical knowledge and by enhancing the development, adaption, diffusion and transfer of technologies, including new and innovative thinking.
• Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned people at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision making process. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided.
• States shall enact effective environmental legislation. Environmental standards, management objectives and priorities should reflect the environmental and developmental context to which they apply. Standards applied by some countries may be inappropriate and of unwarranted economic and social cost to other countries in particular developing countries.
• States should cooperate to promote a supportive and open international economic system that would lead to economic growth and sustainable development in all countries, to better address the problems of environmental degradation. Trade policy measures for environmental purposes should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade.
• States shall develop national law regarding liability and compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage. States shall also cooperate in an expeditious and more determined manner to develop further international law regarding liability and compensation for adverse effects of environmental damage caused by activities within their jurisdiction or control to areas beyond their jurisdiction.
• States should effectively cooperate to discourage or prevent the relocation and transfer to other States of any activities and substances that cause severe environmental degradation or are found to be harmful to human health.
• In order to protect the environment the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities.
• National authorities should endeavor to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international trade and investment.
• Environmental impact assessment as a national instrument shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national authority.
• States shall immediately notify other States of any natural disasters or other emergencies that are likely to produce sudden harmful effects on the environment of those States. Every effort shall be made by the international community to help States so afflicted.
• States shall provide prior and timely notification and relevant information to potentially affected States on activities that may have a significant adverse trans boundary environmental effect and shall consult with those States at an early stage and in good faith.
• Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development.
• The creativity ideas and courage of the youth of the world should be mobilized to forge a global partnership in order to achieve sustainable development and ensure a better future for all.
• Indigenous people and their communities and other local communities have a vital role in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interests and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development.
• The environment and natural resources of people under oppression, domination and occupation shall be protected.
• Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. States shall therefore respect international law providing protection for the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its development as necessary.
•  Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.
• States shall resolve all their environmental disputes peacefully and by appropriate means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
• States and people shall cooperate in good faith and in a spirit of partnership in the fulfillment of the principles embodied in this Declaration and in the further development of international law in the field of sustainable development.