- Also called:
- Our Common Future
Brundtland Report
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What is the Brundtland Report?
The Brundtland Report, released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), introduced sustainable development and how to achieve it. The UN convened the WCED in 1983, charging them with finding long-term solutions for sustainable development into the 21st century, translating environmental concerns into greater cooperation between countries, and creating processes for countries to address environmental concerns.
The report is most cited for defining sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It also predicted that the world population would stabilize between 7.7 billion and 14.2 billion in the 21st century, with more people living in cities.
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Who wrote the Brundtland Report?
The Brundtland Report is a 1987 publication from the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The United Nations sponsored the WCED, which was led by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The commission, comprised of international experts, politicians, and civil servants, addressed environmental degradation, the links between social equity, economic growth, and environmental problems, and policy options integrating these areas.
The report is known for defining sustainable development as development that meets present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs. It also predicted a 21st-century world population of 7.7 billion to 14.2 billion, with more people living in cities. The report led to the 1992 Rio Summit and the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.
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Why was the Brundtland Report created?
The Brundtland Report, officially titled Our Common Future, was published in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). The UN General Assembly convened the WCED in 1983, responding to growing concerns about ozone depletion, global warming, and other environmental issues linked to raising living standards worldwide.
Chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WCED aimed to identify long-term strategies for sustainable development into the 21st century. It sought to integrate environmental concerns into international cooperation on development and resource use, enabling all nations to address their environmental issues.
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What is 'sustainable development' according to the Brundtland Report?
The Brundtland Report, released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), defined sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. This definition emphasizes providing for the essential requirements of the world’s poor and acknowledges that technology and social organization can limit the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs.
The report addressed various topics, including population, food security, and energy, and it also spurred the UN to establish the UN Programme of Action on Sustainable Development.
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How did the Brundtland Report influence environmental policies around the world?
The Brundtland Report, released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), introduced sustainable development and how to achieve it. The UN convened the WCED in 1983, charging them with finding long-term solutions for sustainable development into the 21st century, translating environmental concerns into greater cooperation between countries, and creating processes in which all countries could address their own environmental concerns and those of the world over the long term.
The Brundtland Report defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The report addressed topics including the international economy, population and human resources, food security, species and ecosystems, energy, industry, and proposed legal principles for environmental protection. The report called on the UN to establish the UN Programme of Action on Sustainable Development to carry out the directives outlined in the report and laid the foundations for the Rio Summit.
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What are some key recommendations made in the Brundtland Report to protect both people and the planet?
The Brundtland Report, released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), introduced sustainable development as meeting present needs without compromising future generations' ability to meet their own needs. It addressed the causes of environmental degradation and the interconnections between social equity, economic growth, and environmental problems, to develop integrated policy solutions.
The report highlighted that global population growth could not continue indefinitely. It suggested that improved health and education, especially for women, in the developing world could solve the resource and demographic challenges caused by high birth rates. The report also called on the UN to establish the UN Programme of Action on Sustainable Development to carry out the directives outlined in the report.
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Brundtland Report, publication released in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) that introduced the concept of sustainable development and described how it could be achieved. Sponsored by the United Nations (UN) and chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, the WCED explored the causes of environmental degradation, attempted to understand the interconnections between social equity, economic growth, and environmental problems, and developed policy solutions that integrated all three areas.
In response to mounting concern surrounding ozone depletion, global warming, and other environmental problems associated with raising the standard of living of the world’s population, the UN General Assembly convened the WCED, an international group of environmental experts, politicians, and civil servants, in 1983. The WCED (also called the Brundtland Commission) was charged with proposing long-term solutions for bringing about sustainable development and continuing it into the 21st century. It was also tasked with finding ways in which the concern for the environment might be translated into greater cooperation between countries regarding issues of development and resource use and creating processes in which all countries could address their own environmental concerns and those of the world over the long term.
The Brundtland Report included chapters covering, among other topics within sustainable development, the role of the international economy, population and human resources, food security, species and ecosystems, energy, industry, and proposed legal principles for environmental protection. Of all the topics covered, however, the Brundtland Report is most often cited for its definition of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” Implicit in this definition are the concept of needs, which emphasized the goal of providing for the essential requirements of the world’s poor, and the idea that technology and social organization imposes limits on the ability of the environment to provide for the world’s present and future needs.
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The Brundtland Report also highlighted global population growth that could not continue indefinitely. It predicted that in the 21st century the world population would stabilize somewhere between 7.7 billion and 14.2 billion people and that more people would live in cities than in rural areas. Although some of the highest population-growth rates were among developing countries, the report pointed out that the environmental impact of an additional individual born in an industrialized country was much greater than of one born in a developing country. The report noted also that declining birth rates of the industrialized world would translate into a greater burden on the younger generations to support an aging population. For the developing world improved health and education, especially among women, were presented as solutions to the resource and demographic challenges posed by high birth rates.
In addition, the Brundtland Report called on the UN to establish the UN Programme of Action on Sustainable Development to carry out the directives outlined in the report. The report laid the foundations for the Rio Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which then ultimately led to the creation of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development that same year.