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Resources

This section looks to provide some of the answers for frequently asked questions about sustainable development and provide information for different stakeholders.

If you have any particular resource requests or suggestions for information that might be especially useful to us as an organisation or to Commonwealth member states more generally, please do not hesitate to contact us

Listed below are a number of meetings and agreements that are often referenced when exploring sustainable development texts. Hopefully these brief descriptions provide some insight into the main outcomes of these meetings.

Agenda 21

Agenda 21 is a blueprint for sustainable development into the 21st Century, agreed during

the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – often referred to as the Earth Summit – at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992, and signed by 179 Heads of State and Government. It is a comprehensive plan of action at all levels from international organisations to communities.

Agenda 21 examines the following areas:

  • Social and economic dimensions: developing countries, poverty, consumption patterns, population, health, human settlements, integrating environment and development.
  • Conservation and management of resources: atmosphere, land, forests, deserts, mountains, agriculture, biodiversity, biotechnology, oceans, fresh water, toxic chemicals, hazardous radioactive and solid waste and sewage.
  • Strengthening the role of major groups: women, children and youth, indigenous peoples, non-governmental organisations, local authorities, workers, business and industry, farmers, scientists and technologists.
  • Means of implementation: finance, technology transfer, science, education, capacity-building, international institutions, legal measures and information.
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    Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA)

    Due to specific difficulties faced by Small States in relation to sustainable development, highlighted in Agenda 21, the Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island States was convened in Barbados in 1994.

    The conference emphasised that although small states had many of the same problems as other countries, their specific vulnerabilities and characteristics made the difficulties they faced in pursuit of sustainable development particularly severe. The size of Small States often means that development and environment are closely interrelated and interdependent.

    To address these problems the delegates at the conference adopted the Declaration of Barbados and the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

    The Programme of Action contains a synopsis of actions and policies that should be implemented over the short, medium and long terms. It presents a basis for action in 14 agreed priority areas and defines a number of actions and policies related to environmental and development planning that should be undertaken by Small Island Developing States with the co-operation and assistance of the international community.

    The 14 priority areas identified in the BPoA are:

    • Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise
    • Natural and Environmental Disasters
    • Management of Wastes
    • Coastal and Marine Resources
    • Freshwater Resources
    • Land Resources
    • Energy Resources
    • Tourism Resources
    • Biodiversity Resources
    • National Institutions and Administrative capacity
    • Regional Institutions and Technical Cooperation
    • Transport and Communication
    • Science and Technology
    • Human Resource Development.

    The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation

    In September 2002, representatives of 191 governments gathered in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

    The aim was to examine progress on the outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) – sometimes referred to as the Rio Earth Summit – and to ‘reinvigorate’ global commitment to sustainable development. The result was an agreement called the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which sets out new commitments and priorities for action on sustainable development in areas as diverse as poverty eradication, health, trade, education, science and technology, regional concerns, natural resources, and the institutional arrangements.

    The Chapters of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation are as follows:

    • Introduction, outlining the principles of sustainable development
    • Poverty eradication
    • Changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production
    • Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development (water, oceans, vulnerability, disaster management, climate change, agriculture, desertification, biodiversity, mountains, tourism, forests and mining);
    • Sustainable development in a globalising world: Characteristics, opportunities and challenges of globalisation;
    • Health and sustainable development. HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other epidemics, health services and environmental health.
    • Sustainable development in Small Island Developing States
    • Sustainable development for Africa
    • Other Regional Initiatives (Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, West Asia and the Economic Commission for Europe)
    • Means of implementation (trade, finance, debt, technology transfer, role of the scientific community, education, capacity building, and information for decision making)
    • Institutional framework for sustainable development (United Nations, regional and national level arrangements and participation of major groups or stakeholders).
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      The Mauritius Strategy and Declaration

      In January 2005 the International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Programmes of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States convened in Mauritius.

      The meeting sought to follow up on the progress achieved from the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) agreed in 1994. The outcomes of the meeting were announced in the Mauritius Declaration and the Mauritius Strategy.

      The two documents reminded the international community that small island developing states were a special case and particularly vulnerable and sought recommitment to the achievement of sustainable development in the world’s most vulnerable nations.

      The Declaration reaffirmed the continued validity of the BPoA as “the blueprint providing the fundamental framework for the sustainable development of small island developing states.”

      The Strategy endorsed the BPoA and elaborated on a wide variety of actions under the following headings:

      • Climate change and sea level rise
      • Natural and environmental disasters
      • Management of wastes
      • Coastal and Marine resources
      • Freshwater resources
      • Land resources
      • Energy resources
      • Tourism resources
      • Biodiversity resources
      • Transport and communication
      • Science and technology
      • Graduation from Least Developed Country Status
      • Trade: Globalisation and Trade Liberalisation
      • Sustainable capacity development and education for sustainable development
      • Sustainable production and consumption
      • National and regional enabling environments
      • Health
      • Knowledge management
      • Culture
      • Implementation