Foreword
Maurice F. Strong

Preface
W. H. Linder

Opening Message
Arthur J. Hanson

Foreword

The Brundtland Commission, in its 1987 report Our Common Future, warned of the growing threat to our Earth from pervasive world poverty, environmental degradation, disease and pollution. Five years later, an unprecedented number of world leaders met for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, and placed their considerable weight behind sustainable development issues and the efforts of the world community to come to grips with them.

Rio’s message was that protection of the environment and the achievement of sustainable development must now be shared as our global responsibilities, and that fundamental change is required to replace unsustainable patterns of production and consumption. Rio also illuminated as never before the fact that rich and poor alike share the risks created by environmental degradation, and must share the responsibilities for re-direction the Earth onto a more secure, more humane and more sustainable pathway.

While record numbers of government representatives participated in the Summit, tens of thousands of ordinary people were engaged in the non-governmental "People’s Summit," the Global Forum. Their presence and energy formed a powerful backdrop to the political negotiations at the main conference, and their dynamic commitment to sustainable development is keeping the spirit of Rio alive even while the political will is waning in many parts of the world. For those highly committed individuals and for many millions of others, the promise of Rio was neither a beginning nor an end. But it was a crucial milestone on the road to a more promising future for the Earth and its inhabitants.

Agenda 21, the action plan to implement the principles and agreements of Rio, is a blueprint for constructing the new world order called for at Rio. It is vital that people grasp this new vision of our future and understand how they can contribute to its realization. The Centre for Our Common Future saw a need to simplify the messages of Agenda 21 and bring home the importance of Rio’s decisions in simple language form. This book, The Earth Summit’s Agenda for Change, is the result.

It sets forth in understandable language the main messages of UNCED, including the premise that by assisting developing countries to overcome the problems of poverty and structural underdevelopment, progress can be made toward peaceful and sustainable economic, social and political development.

The Earth Summit’s Agenda for Change should take its place on your shelves as an essential, accessible reference tool. If the "global partnership" for sustainable development called for at Rio is to work, we must all operate within the same framework and understand how best to achieve our common goals and ensure Our Common Future.

Maurice F. Strong
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Ontario Hydro
Chairman, The Earth Council

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