ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the background information which lead to the creation of the Commission on Sustainable Development. The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the institutional arrangement established as a follow-up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development is one of the most important outcomes of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The debate on the issue of linkage was very polarized throughout the negotiating process of the Conference. The PrepCom was full of ideas, sometimes divergent, on the type of institutional arrangement that was needed as a follow-up to the Conference. Many states saw the institutional arrangement as a means to foster their positions on the environment. The North saw the institutional arrangement as a means through which it could stipulate that any financial aid contributed towards the implementation of the agreements reached at the Conference would be given on condition that the protection and preservation of the environment be given priority.
