In terms of human history, the quest for sustainable development, which will continue in Johannesburg this summer, has been very short, and CEE 's involvement has been even shorter. Bedrich Moldan former chairman of the REC's board, takes stock of the progress so far. Although the upcoming sustainable development summit in Johannesburg will be the latest step in a process that began with a June 1972 conference on the environment in Stockholm, the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) didn't really become involved in that process until the gathering in Rio, 20 years later. Obviously, this region has some catching up to do. While many CEE countries are eager to increase GDP and match the West in terms of consumption, they also need to join the rest of the world in a quest for sustainability. It is a difficult goal for any country, but it seems that some progress is being made - especially when you consider that the current efforts toward global cooperation for the environment are only 30 years old. The motto of the 1972 Stockholm Conference was: "Only one Earth. "With the exception of the destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer, which was only discovered later, participants of the Stockholm meeting were able to identify in principle all the important environmental problems that we are confronted with today. In subsequent years, there were efforts to apply national and international environmental protection schemes, which proved at least partially effective and were at least able to slow down overall environmental destruction. In March 1972, just before the Stockholm conference, Donella Meadows, Dennis Meadows, Jorgen Randers and William Behrens published their powerful book, "The Limits to Growth, "in which they maintained that it is impossible to continue the current pace of economic development - even if concerns about environmental degradation and natural resource depletion are addressed by means of "end-of-pipe " technologies. During the years that followed, the world community tried hard to find an answer to the challenge put forward by their book:How can we reconcile economic progress with an urgent need for protection of the environment, the natural resources base and life-supporting ecological systems? Photo: REUTERS Protesters in Bali, Indonesia, demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the process on June 5, while delegates from around the world hold what has been described as unfruitful preparations for the summit in Johannesburg. The answer came 15 years later, in "Our Common Future," the 1987 report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland. The report introduced the concept of sustainable development: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The subsequent UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, built upon this basic idea and set forth means for working toward sustainable development, "Agenda 21" together with two pivotal global conventions: Framework Convention on Climate Change and Convention on Biodiversity. More recently, the concept received an endorsement at the 2001 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Ministerial Conference, where sustainable development was identified as an "overarching" goal. And at a June 2001 summit in Göteborg, the European Union adopted a Sustainable Development Strategy with clear principles and objectives. The whole world gets involved On the global level, the world community is finalising its preparations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg, Aug. 26-Sept. 4. The task of the summit is to continue in the still unfinished work of making sustainable development possible. While most agree with the concept in theory, when it comes to practical details, the lack of effective action is obvious. It is generally accepted that the way ahead must rest on the full recognition and harmonisation of the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental. It is now more than clear that economic development is not enough, and it is not real development unless it also addresses social and environ-mental concerns. But achieving this kind of development requires more than international agreements. It also requires public consensus in pursuing the idea of sustainability, the sense of owner-ship of this idea by the people themselves. It probably never will be all the people, per-haps not even a mathematical majority, but at least a "critical mass " of responsible citizens must support sustainable development before it can become a reality. Next page »

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