The implementation of Agenda 21 `our common failureʹ?

Sustainable development has for a long time been considered the starting-point for environmental policy, with Agenda 21 leading the way to such development. Social and economic equity, as well as global efficiency and development, are considered among the requirements for sustainable development. Only when such development is reached, will the solution to environmental problems come into perspective. Although we are now 5 years along the road marked out by Agenda 21, the perspectives for achieving the objectives stated are still slight. Despite economic growth, global inequity is on the increase. The conversion of natural areas to agricultural land will greatly increase due to the population growth, especially in Asia and Africa. In North America and Europe this trend seems reversed: life expectancy is longer and peopleʹs health has improved. The developing world is catching up. However, there is more needed to bring the world populationʹs welfare and social security levels up to par. At the same time the environmental pressures on the worldʹs natural areas will have to be brought down substantially. This can be done using market-based instruments, supplemented where necessary with orders, bans, fiscal measures and agreements at national and international levels. Internationally, a policy directed to investments and trade is needed to stimulate developing regions to undertake technological renewal and work away backlogs. The technological potential is still gigantic, but investment in the social system — in other words, in people — will be necessary if we are actually to use this potential.