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Ecological debt and sustainable development ] 91 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).
