2. Development & Evolution
The Timeline-
• Rio de janerio conference- 1992
• Rio+5 - 1997
• Rio+ 10- 2002
• Agenda 21 for culture - 2002
• Rio+ 20- 2012
3. Earth Summit 1992
• UN Conference on Environment
and development in Rio de
Janerio, Brazil, June 1992.
• 178 Govt's. voted to adopt the
plan
• CSD (Commission on sustainable
development) to monitor the
growth.
4. Rio+5, 1997
• UN general assembly held a special session to
appraise the status of agenda-21.
• The progress was considered uneven with increasing
globalization and widening inequalities in income and
continued deterioration of environment.
• Signed a climate change treaty for global warming
and carbon dioxide emissions.
5. Rio+10, 2002
• World Summit on Sustainable
development, Johannesburg.
• Affirmed UN commitment to "full
implementation" of Agenda 21,
alongside achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals and
other international agreements.
6. Agenda 21 for culture, 2002
• The first World Public Meeting on
Culture, held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in
2002.
• Idea to establish guidelines for local
cultural policies comparable to
Agenda 21.
• Included in various sub sections of
Agenda-21.
7. Rio+20, 2012
• United nations conference on
sustainable development.
• 180+ countries participated and
reaffirmed their commitment to
agenda 21 in document "The Future
We Want".
• Also adopted policies like Green
economy.
8. Sustainable Development Summit, 2015
• All the goals set by agenda 21 were
re-asserted on the basis of sustainable
development.
• 17 goals were added into the goals
from Rio document revolving around
the same concepts of Agenda 21;
people, planet, prosperity, peace, and
partnership.
• Agenda-2030
9. Agenda 21 - Chapters
CHAPTER NO CHAPTER TITLE
1 Preamble
2 International Cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing
countries and related domestic policies
3 Combating Poverty
4 Changing Consumption Patterns
5 Demographic Dynamics and Sustainability
6 Protecting and Promoting Human Health Conditions
7 . Promoting sustainable human settlement development
8 Integrating environment and development into decision-making
9 Protection of the Atmosphere
10. CHAPTER NO CHAPTER TITLE
10 Integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources
11 Combating Deforestation
12 Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Combating Desertification and Drought
13 Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development
14 . Promoting Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
15 Conservation of Biological Diversity
16 . Environmentally Sound Management of Biotechnology
17 Protection of the oceans, all kinds of seas, including enclosed and semi-enclosed
seas, and coastal areas and the protection, rational use and development of their
living resources
18 Protection of the quality and supply of freshwater resources: application of
integrated approaches to the development, management and use of water
resources
19 Environmentally sound management of toxic chemicals, including prevention of
illegal international traffic in toxic and dangerous products
11. CHAPTER NO CHAPTER TITLE
20 Environmentally Sound Management of Hazardous Wastes, Including Prevention of
Illegal International Traffic in Hazardous Wastes
21 Environmentally sound management of solid wastes and sewage-related issues
22 Safe and environmentally sound management of radioactive wastes
23 . Major Groups - preamble
24 Major Groups - Women
25 Major Groups - Children & Youth
26 . Major Groups - Indigenous Peoples
27 Major Groups - NGOs
28 Major Groups - Local Authorities
29 Major Groups - Workers & Trade Unions
30 Major Groups - Business & Industry
12. CHAPTER NO CHAPTER TITLE
31 . Major Groups - Science & Technology
32 Major Groups - Farmers
33 Financial resources and mechanisms
34 Transfer of environmentally sound technology, cooperation and capacity-building
35 Science for sustainable development
36 Promoting education, public awareness and training
37 National mechanisms and international cooperation for capacity-building in
developing countries
38 International institutional arrangements
39 International legal instruments and mechanisms
40 Information for decision-making
13. Significance
• It comprises the promotion of social & economic development,
conservation and resource management for development,
strengthening role of major groups and means of implementation.
• Local Agenda 21 is an action plan for local authorities to address
specific needs of local context. It specialized Agenda 21 for particular
district fitting its uniqueness.
• It marked the beginning of new global partnership for sustainable
development
14. Success
• The progress on Agenda 21 has been highly erratic.
• Only 5 chapters (18,27,35,38 and 39) were found to have
shown favorable amount of progress.
{Chapter 18,27- involvement of NGOs and local authorities
Chapter 35- Science for sustainable development
Chapter 38- International institutional arrangements
Chapter 39- International legal instruments and mechanisms}
• Whereas chapters 4,7 and 9 on Changing consumption
patterns, Promoting sustainable human settlement
development and protection of atmosphere respectively made
no progress or witnessed as regression.
15. • Agenda 21 managed to bring awareness to the term ‘Sustainable
Development’ to the household level.
• The main success of Agenda 21 could be the inclusion of the term
‘sustainability’ in every conversation related to development.
• It had an influence in the various international agreements, treaties
and documents drafted with regards to ‘Sustainable development’.
• Agenda 21 also led to the creation of ‘Commission on Sustainable
development’ which became one of the permanent bodies of the UN.
• Agenda 21 was the first UN document to identify roles and
responsibilities for stakeholders. The nine chapters on ‘Major Groups’
have had a large impact on the engagement in implementation and
monitoring of Agenda 21.
16. Challenges
• a fragmented approach toward sustainable
development that de-couples environment
and development ( policies and programs
at national and international levels that
often are short-term and inadequately
merge environmental and developmental
considerations).
• a lack of integrated national policies and
approaches in the areas of finance, trade,
investment, technology, and sustainable
development
Focus of local Agenda 21 activities
17. • inadequate financial resources and technology transfer from developed
countries
• some sectors were not included in Agenda 21 which broke the all-
encompassing nature of the document. For example, energy and mining
are key sectors that were not included as individual chapters.
• Whilst production systems have become more efficient, the patterns of
consumption appear to have become more unsustainable, supported
and exacerbated by the globalization of production, with very little in
terms of national policies and strategies to encourage changes in UN
• Agenda 21 did not address the interconnections of the various goals,
because it was not “allowed” to examine the economic system itself.
• The closure of the IACSD as a part of the UN reforms in the late 1990s
reduced the coordination and integration amongst UN Agencies and
Programs, with a negative impact on the mainstreaming of the
sustainable development concept.
18. Conclusion..
• Agenda 21 is thus a dynamic, program which has been carried out by various
sectors according to different situations, capacities and priorities of countries
and regions in full respect of all principles contained in Rio Declaration on
Environment and Development.
• Twenty years after the Earth Summit, Agenda 21 retains strong relevance, and
remains the most comprehensive undertaking by the UN system to promote
sustainable development. While there are some gaps in coverage, the issues
that humanity is struggling with now are more or less similar those covered by
the chapters of Agenda 21. However, while Agenda 21 has acquired
considerable coverage amongst nation states, its implementation remains far
from universal or effective. Progress has been patchy, and despite some
elements of good practice most Agenda 21 outcomes have still not been
realized.
