ABSTRACT
The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) was established in 1983 as an independent body by the United Nations Environment Programme. Its twenty-two members, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, aimed to respond to ever increasing concern about the problematic impacts of human activity on the natural resources of the Earth, to examine development problems of our planet and to formulate possible proposals to resolve these problems. The report of the commission, Our Common Future (1987), took into account three years of special studies by experts, enquiries, public hearings across the world and consultations with world leaders in business, industry, science, education, politics and development. The report was unanimous in its documentation of both successes and failures in world development programmes. Without doubt, the world approaching its twenty-first century AD sees some positive trends: infant mortality is dropping; human life expectancy in general is rising; global food output is growing faster than world population; and agriculture, medicine and industry share exciting scientific and technological advancements. The good, unfortunately, is outweighed by the bad: forests are disappearing, deserts expanding and soil eroding; the Earth’s protective ozone shield is diminishing as air pollution contributes to this global warming; industry and agriculture put ever increasing quantities of toxic substances into our food chains; and large-scale development programmes are failing to narrow the divide between rich and poor.
