Table 1 Important milestones on the path to SD
From: Monitoring sustainable development by means of earth observation data and machine learning: a review
Year | Activity | Description |
|---|---|---|
1969 | UN published the report Man and His Environment or U Thant Report [22] | Activities focused on avoiding global environmental degradation. More than 2000 scientists were involved in the development of this report |
1972 | First UN and UNEP world Conference on the Human–Environment, Stockholm, Sweden | Under the slogan Only One Earth, a declaration and action plan for environmental conservation are presented |
1975 | UNESCO conference on education about the environment, Belgrade, Yugoslavia | Sets up a global environment educational framework, a statement known as the Belgrade Charter |
1975 | International Congress of the Human–Environment, Kyoto, Japan | Emphasises the problems as in Stockholm in 1972 |
1979 | The First World Climate Conference, Geneva, Switzerland | Focused on the promotion of climate change research and monitoring |
1981 | The first UN Conference on Least Developed Countries, Paris, France | A report with guidelines and strategies for helping the underdeveloped countries in pursue of SDG |
1984 | Establishment of UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) | Establishes the cooperation scenario between developed and developing countries and the adoption of global development plans on environmental conservation |
1987 | WCED report Our Common Future or BR | A report with the foundations of SD’s concept |
1987 | Montreal Protocol | Contains research results on adverse impacts on the ozone layer |
1990 | The Second World Climate Conference, Geneva, Switzerland | Presents further developments on the climate change research and monitoring, including the creation of a global Climate Change Monitoring System |
1992 | United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit or Rio Conference), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | The Rio Declaration and Agenda 21 Action Plan establishes SD principles and a framework for future tasks |
1997 | Kyoto Climate Change Conference, Kyoto, Japan | The Kyoto Protocol agreement between countries to promote CO2 reduction and other greenhouse gas emissions, starting in 2005 |
2000 | UN Millennium declaration | Declaration containing 8 MDGs aimed to be accomplished by 2015 |
2002 | The World Summit on SD, Johannesburg, South Africa | Report with the results achieved since the Rio Conference, reaffirming previous obligations and setting the guidelines for future developments |
2009 | The Third World Climate Conference, Geneva, Switzerland | Further development of the global Climate Change Monitoring System, including early detection of possible disasters. |
2009 | World Congress Summit G20, Pittsburgh, USA | Agreement amongst G20 member states on a moderate and sustainable economy |
2012 | UN conference Rio +20, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | “The Future We Want” reinforced the commitment to the SDGs and encouraged the global green economy |
2015 | UN SD Summit 2015, New York, SAD | Presents the UN 2030 Agenda for SD setting up 17 SDGs which should be achieved by 2030 |
2015 | COP21 Paris Climate Change Conference, France | Agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gases to mitigate and minimise global warming |
2019 | COP25 Madrid Climate Change Conference, Spain | Agreement on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050—The European Green New Deal |