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The environmental crisis experienced today has evolved gradually for many
decades. Governments, public policymakers, and private sector actors - for
short-term economic or political gains - have neglected it for far too long.
Today, the lack of meaningful action threatens the planet - and all people
living on it - with irreversible damage. Since the chain of effects would
undoubtedly end up in significant financial burdens affecting all countries
alike, governments around the world are finally determined to act. They
understand that the prevailing mindset of profit and production maximisation
cannot be maintained any more: an alternative new approach to growth must
be developed. One that can transform economies and societies to be more
reliant on sustainable resources.
GROWING AWARENESS AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL
As the scope of this chapter does not allow us to elaborate on the progress of
sustainable development policies in a more detailed manner, we only aim to
explore the most significant steps on the way forward. The year 1972 marked
the beginning of global environmental awareness. A total of 114 governments
gathered in Stockholm to participate in the UN Conference on the Human
Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference). For the first time
in history, the represented nations formally accepted responsibility for the
environmental consequences of human activities, and signed the Stockholm
Declaration (Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment).”
Even though the global community has failed to implement the majority
of the goals listed in the Declaration, the Conference was essential in raising
attention to troubling environmental conditions, as well as putting the
environmental agenda on the map of international diplomacy. The succeeding
UN summits (1992 Rio de Janeiro, 2002 Johannesburg, 2012 Rio de Janeiro)
all built their policy strategies on the declarations made at the Stockholm
Conference.
In 1987, the United Nations published the above-mentioned Brundtland
Report, which acknowledged the increasing danger the planet and humanity
were facing, but also asserted that instead of feeling dread or fear, the global
community should see an opportunity “for a new era of economic growth,
one that must be based on policies that sustain and expand the environmental
resource base” (United Nations 1987, 16). With a new approach to the
* Section 6 of the Stockholm Declaration asserts: “A point has been reached in history
when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their
environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and
irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well being depend”
(United Nations 1972, 2).