Agenda 21

Abstract

Agenda 21 adopted at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 is a global action plan for sustainable development. Its sections on pollution consider sources of pollution, environments subject to pollution, and pollution impacts. It does not directly address climate change, since it is complementary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, but it places climate change responses in the larger framework of sustainable development actions. Despite the global consensus of governments on its contents, Agenda 21 has not led to a significant reduction in negative global change because of government failures in implementation. This implementation challenge has continued to be addressed at follow-up United Nations conferences, most recently Rio + 20.