ABSTRACT
The legacy of Rio+20 consisted of the agreement to develop integrated goals; renew environmental and developmental institutions; develop green and inclusive economic policy frameworks; and set principles and instruments for sustainable consumption and production, as well as frameworks for measuring development beyond the traditional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The rebirth of sustainable development draws its essence from two complementary approaches to development: a planet-centred approach and a people-centred approach. The planet-centred approach has had a number of key milestones in the past four decades in the area of environment and development. The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, hosted in Stockholm in 1972, popularly called the Stockholm Conference, is regarded as the first multilateral conference on the environment. It was also responsible for the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), gave rise to a body of international environmental institutions and to the creation of international environmental law, characterized by soft law and hard law.
