History of Sustainable

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Lou hborou h Universit , 2004

1962 - Rachel Carson publishes "Silent Spring". This book brought together research on toxicology, ecology and epidemology to suggest

that agricultural pesticides were building to catastrophic levels.

This was linked to damage to animal species and to human health.

It shattered the assumption that the environment had an infinite capacity to absorbpollutants.

1968 - The Club of Rome, is established by 36 European economists and scientists. Its goal is topursue a holistic understanding of the 'world problematique'. It commissions a study on global

proportions to model and analyse the dynamic interactions between industrial production, population,

environmental damage, food consumption and natural resource usage.

1969 - Friends of the Earth forms as a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the planet from

environmental degradation; preserving biological, cultural, and ethnic diversity; and empoweringcitizens to have an influential voice in decisions affecting the quality of their environment -- and their

lives.

1971 - Greenpeace starts up in Canada and launches an aggressive agenda to stop environmental

damage through civil protests and non-violent interference.

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1971 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is established inBritain with a mandate to seek ways to make economic progress without destroying the

environmental resource base.

1972 Club of Rome publishes "Limits to Growth" (Meadows et.al) report

Best seller in several languages.

It described the use of a computer modelWorld 3 - to study the implications ofcontinuing exponential growth in five interconnected trends of global concern:industrialisation, population, growth, widespread malnutrition, depletion of non-renewable

resources and ecological damage. The report adopts a pessimistic view of development, warning of severe resource

shortages if development were to maintain its current momentum.

Extremely controversial - Northern countries criticising it for not including technologicalsolutions and Southern countries criticising it because because it advocatesabandonment of economic development.

1972United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm. Only one Earth -led to the development of The United Nations Environment programme (UNEP)



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1974 Rowland and Molina release seminal work on CFCs in Nature magazine. They calculated that if human use of CFC gases was to continue at an unaltered rate the

ozone layer would be depleted by many percent after some decades.

1983 World Commission on Environment and Development forms. The commission works for 3years to weave together a report on social, economic, cultural, and environmental issues.

1984 Worldwatch Institute publishes its first State of the World Report.

The report monitors changes in the global resource base, focusing particularly on howchanges there affect the economy.

It concludes that "we are living beyond our means, largely by borrowing against the future."

1985 Antarctic ozone hole discovered by British and American scientists.

1987 World Commission on Environment and Development publish - Our Common Future(The Bruntland Report) in response to the request from the UN general assembly topropose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by theyear 2000.



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1987 Montreal Protocol focused on the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer andeliminating substances that cause this (HCFCs).

Has since been strengthened twice - London and Copenhagen.

Production of CFCs in North stopped by 1996, countries in the South (China and India)to end production by 2006.

1988 Inter-Governmental panel on Climate Change Resulted in the framework convention on climate change signed by 153 countries + the

then EU, dealing with the threat of global warming

Thought lacked firm agreements on targets, did aim to stabilise 1990 levels of CO2 andother greenhouse gases

1992

Meadows, D. B., Meadows, D. L. and Randers, J., Beyond the Limits, London:Earthscan.

Using a computer model to map patterns of growth, the report concluded thatenvironmental collapse was inevitable.

'If the present growth trends on world population, industrialisation, pollution, foodproduction and resource depletion remain unchanged, the limits to growth on this planetwill be reached some time within the next 100 years'.



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1992United Nations Conference on Environment and Development(UNCED) held in Rio deJaneiro, Brazil The Earth Summit. 179 countries participated in this conference workingtowards reconciling the impact of human socio-economic activities on the environment.Outcomes:

Convention on biological diversity

Framework convention on climatic change

Principles of forest management Agenda 21

The Rio declaration on environment and development

1997Kyoto Protocol Worlds Governments met in Japan to negotiate a treaty to startdealing seriously with climate change to reduce emissions of serious greenhouse gases

CO2, CH4, NO, + 3 types of fluorinated gases.

1994Law of the Sea national sovereignty of off-shore waters and the nationalresponsibility for the ecosystems within these waters (re. dumping waste, & fish stocksetc.)



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1997 - Earth Summit+5 - A five year review of Earth Summit progress was made by theUnited Nations General Assembly.

The final document adopted by delegates from over 165 countries -- while takingsmall steps forward on a number of issues, including preventing climate change,forest loss and freshwater scarcity - disappointed many in that it contained few newconcrete commitments on action needed.

2001 Climate Summit, Bonn 178 countries developed a framework of how toimplement the 1997 Kyoto Protocol

2002 - Earth Summit 2002, Johannesburg, South Africa. Rio+10 - World Summit onSustainable Development-people, planet, prosperity,


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