Agenda 21
International Initiative
Earth Summit
• Agenda 21 was established at the 1992
United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil.
• Agenda 21 is a commitment to sustainable
development, which was agreed by many
of the world’s governments.
Agenda 21
• Countries that have agreed to Agenda 21
are encouraged to conserve and preserve
their environments and natural resources
at local and national level.
Agenda 21 tackles social and environmental
problems, including:
• air pollution
• deforestation
• biodiversity loss
• health
• overpopulation
• poverty
• energy consumption
• waste production
• transport.
Sustainable development
• Sustainable development encourages the
conservation and preservation of natural
resources and of the environment.
• If sustainable development is to be
successful we all have to change our
attitudes to our current lifestyles and the
impact they have on the environment.
Conservation and preservation
• Conservation is the sustainable use and
management of natural resources,
including wildlife, water, air and earth
deposits. The conservation of trees
involves making sure that they are not
used faster than they can be replaced.
• Conservationists say that development is
necessary for a better future, but only if
the changes are not wasteful.
Conservation and preservation
• Preservation attempts to maintain in their
present condition areas of the Earth that
are so far untouched by humans.
• Many landscapes are being taken over by
farming, industry, housing, tourism and
other human developments, and we are
losing many landscapes that are truly
natural.
Energy
• Energy is needed for heating, electricity,
manufacturing, construction and transportation.
• Fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are nonrenewable. The average person in the UK uses
35 times as much energy as someone in India.
• Renewable energy sources include solar power,
wind power and hydroelectric power. Agenda 21
requires countries to increase the proportion of
energy supplied by renewable schemes that do
not produce greenhouse gases, which may
cause global warming.
Transport
• Transport is damaging our environment,
producing pollutants that lead to acid rain,
poor air quality and global warming.
• Governments need to control the rate of
traffic growth and improve the
performance of vehicles.
• People need to be encouraged to become
less dependent on cars and increase their
use of public transport.
Waste
• The more waste we produce the more we have
to dispose. Sustainable waste management
encourages the generation of less waste, the reuse of consumables and the recycling of waste
that is produced.
• Waste includes paper, plastics, glass, metals,
foods, chemicals, oils, bricks and wood.
• The UK aims to reduce, re-use, recycle and
recover waste.