Agenda 21
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive action plan developed during the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, commonly known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro. The initiative aims to address global carbon emissions through cooperation at various levels—global, national, and local—with a focus on sustainable development, resource conservation, and pollution reduction. The Agenda comprises four major sections covering social and economic dimensions, resource management, the role of major societal groups, and means of implementation. While signed by nearly all countries globally, Agenda 21 is a non-binding agreement, leading to challenges in funding and commitment from industrialized nations.
Despite these obstacles, Agenda 21 has inspired local initiatives, known as Local Agenda 21 programs, in various cities worldwide, fostering grassroots involvement in sustainability efforts. While the original goals of Agenda 21 remain, they have evolved into a broader framework called Agenda 2030 or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by UN member states in 2015. These goals, with deadlines primarily set for 2030, aim to address urgent global challenges, including environmental crises and socio-economic disparities, as highlighted in annual progress reports.
Agenda 21
DATE: Adopted June 14, 1992; reaffirmed September 4, 2002
Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of action to address global carbon emissions. It mandates cooperation at the global, national, and local levels to reduce the emissions of industrialized nations and to slow the rate of increase of emissions in developing nations.
Background
From June 3 to June 14, 1992, the United Nations (UN) hosted the Conference on Environment and Development, informally known as Earth Summit, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Representatives of 172 nations participated, along with representatives of twenty-four hundred non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The goal of the conference was to find new ways for nations to conserve natural resources and drastically reduce pollution while still developing economically. To achieve these goals, the world needed to study and improve industrial production, particularly the handling of toxins, find alternative energy sources to reduce reliance on carbon-emitting fossil fuels, encourage mass transit, and protect increasingly scarce sources of freshwater.
Five documents were produced at the 1992 Earth Summit: the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Convention on Biological Diversity, an agreement on forest principles, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and Agenda 21. Drafting of Agenda 21 began in 1989, and during the subsequent two years of negotiations, several specific reduction targets and funding plans were deleted. The final draft was presented at the summit.
The 1992 Agenda 21 plan called for a five-year review of progress, which was conducted at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly in 1997. At the 2002 World Summit on held in Johannesburg, South Africa, participants affirmed their commitment fully to implement Agenda 21.
Summary of Provisions
The nine-hundred-page Agenda 21 document is divided into forty chapters in four major sections. Section one, “Social and Economic Dimensions,” covers programs to reduce poverty and help guide to build their economies sustainably. Section two, “Conservation and Management of Resources for Development,” addresses atmospheric protection, deforestation, desertification, of biological diversity, and similar issues. Section three, “Strengthening the Role of Major Groups,” describes programs undertaken by international NGOs, by women and children, by workers and unions, and by business and industry. Section four, “Means of Implementation,” addresses financial resources, transfer of technology, science, and international cooperation.
While some 98 percent of the nations on Earth signed Agenda 21, it is not a legally binding document but simply a plan for future action. The 1992 plan included programs in developing nations that were expected to cost billions of dollars annually, and industrialized nations agreed to contribute approximately $125 billion per year toward those costs. The plan also created a new body of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Commission on Sustainable Development, to oversee and coordinate activities that further the goals of Agenda 21.
Significance for Climate Change
Most observers believe that the goals of Agenda 21 have not been achieved, nor has adequate progress been made, largely due to lack of funding. At the 1992 Earth Summit, nations made nonbinding agreements to contribute funding for specific projects, including phasing out the use of and supporting the sustainable development efforts of underdeveloped nations. However, few countries have contributed the amounts they pledged, in part because economic recessions in industrialized nations, including the United States, have led these nations to shift their spending commitments to protect their own short-term domestic stability. There has also been resistance to Agenda 21 from those who believe that it undermines state sovereignty. Although the program was intended in part to draw together an international community of concerned citizens, few people, at least in the United States, are aware that Agenda 21 exists.
Agenda 21 has been successful, however, in inspiring national, regional, and local actions. These smaller programs, known as “Local Agenda 21” or “LA-21” programs, have been adopted in Cambridge and Manchester in the United Kingdom; Seattle, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Whyalla, Australia; and cities in Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, and South Africa. Other national and state governments have created legal requirements or advisory bodies to address relevant parts of Agenda 21.
While all goals of Agenda 21 remained, the timeline was reset, new goals were added, and in 2022, it was referred to as Agenda 2030, or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). All members of the United Nations adopted this new set of seventeen goals in 2015. Many of the goals’ deadlines are 2030, but many initiatives extend beyond this date as goals shift with global needs. The UN Secretary General publishes a yearly progress report on the SDGs. The 2022 report outlined a need for urgent action, noting a reversal of years of progress following environmental crises and conflicts.
Bibliography
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Dodds, Felix, ed. The Way Forward: Beyond Agenda 21. London: Earthscan, 1997.
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“The 17 Goals.” Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, sdgs.un.org/goals. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
Sorooshian, Shahryar. "The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations: A Comparative Midterm Research Review." Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 453, 10 May 2024, doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.142272. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
“The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022.” Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations, 7 July 2022, unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.
World Bank. Advancing Sustainable Development: The World Bank and Agenda 21. Washington, D.C.: Author, 1997.