Oldal 94 [94]
92 | Gábor Szabó and Szabolcs Diósi
economy, the goal should not only be to restore environmental safety, but to
relieve poverty, which is deepening in the developing world.
In 1992, ten years after the Stockholm Conference, members of the global
community joined together for the second time at the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (also referred to as the Rio
Conference) and agreed upon new strategies and measures that stop, decrease,
or even reverse the unsustainable degradation of the environment, and on
promoting environmentally and socially sustainable practices.
A decade later, in 2002, participants from around the globe gathered again
in Johannesburg at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. They
proclaimed that the Rio Conference and its declaration had been a significant
milestone, which had set a new agenda for sustainable development, and that
meaningful progress had been made towards achieving the stated objectives.
However, the threats facing the planet and humanity as a whole were far
from disappearing.
The global environment continues to suffer, the loss of biodiversity is
ongoing, natural disasters are more frequent and more devastating, and
developing countries remain vulnerable (United Nations 2002). Globalisation
and the global economy have even added a new dimension to these challenges
and the injustices. Against this backdrop, UN members in Johannesburg
collectively committed themselves to building a humane, equitable, and caring
global society, and assumed shared responsibility to advance and strengthen
global policy efforts toward a sustainable future.
Since the Johannesburg Conference, sustainable development has
represented one of the most important policy goals at the global level. In
many ways, the year 2015 proved to be a cornerstone in addressing global
challenges. Under the leadership of the United Nations, three major strategy
plans were adopted in that year, notably the 2030 Agenda (which consists of
the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs), the Paris Agreement, and
the Sendai Framework.
The Sendai Framework constitutes an independent programme, which
defines objectives and priorities for action to prevent and reduce hazard
exposure and vulnerability to disasters.’ The 2030 Agenda and the Paris
Climate Agreement, on the other hand, are closely intertwined and can be
viewed as one extended initiative. The Paris Agreement - by committing
countries to concrete measures for climate protection and neutrality* — puts
3 The core goal of the Sendai Framework is to improve preparedness and national coordination
for disaster response, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, and to use post-disaster recovery
and reconstruction to “Build Back Better”.
The Paris Climate Treaty’s central aim is “holding the increase in the global average
temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit
the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, recognizing that this would
significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change” (see Paris Climate Agreement,
Article 2a).