When the first conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) took place in 1992, 115 heads of state and government were able to reach agreements for action on a wide range of environmental problems affected by economic development. These included the treaties on climate change and biodiversity, together with the Agenda 21 action plan for sustainable development and the establishment of a UN Commission on Sustainable Development to monitor progress.

The Agenda 21 agreement recognised that the present generation only has the stewardship of the world pending its transfer to future generations. All groups within society were acknowledged as having a role to play, working alongside governments. Additionally, Agenda 21 foresaw that to succeed in minimising environmental pollution in much of the world will require transfers of both technology and finance, from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere.

Limited but useful progress towards these ultimate objectives has already been made by governments at both national and international levels including, for example, the implementation of the climate change treaty, and the expansion of aid supplied by industrialised countries through the World Bank Global Environment Facility (GEF) - though this has fallen short of the 0.7% GDP target agreed at UNCED. Undoubtedly, recession in the industrialised countries has hindered further expansion of the GEF - perhaps serving as a useful practical reminder of the need for world economic growth to facilitate provision of increased amounts of aid to lesser developed countries.

Industry itself has been active at both national and international levels, in trying to develop an understanding of what constitutes sustainable development and in doing so, balancing input to the debate from the established voluntary environmental organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. The World Industry Council for the Environment, in its Charter for Sustainable Development, states that one of the greatest challenges that the world now faces is making market forces work in such a way as to protect and improve the quality of the environment within a harmonious regulatory framework.

In the financial sector, about 40 major banks have so far committed themselves to a statement on the environment and sustainable development drafted by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The statement obliges the signatory banks to recognise that ecological protection and sustainable development are collective responsibilities, and to give them a high priority in all their business activities. The World Bank, in a significant development, now includes environmental factors in its annual reviews of loan projects. The Bank's environment director, Mohamed El-Ashry, recently acknowledged that the Bank's environment record was poor, but that environmental issues would no longer be ignored in the Bank's loan approval process and that projects could be cancelled if review findings were unfavourable. A world-wide survey of the relationship between banks and the environment is also currently being conducted by UNEP.

The World Bank, indeed, has recently become much more proactive in promoting environmental issues. Earlier this year the Bank announced that its future funding programmes would concentrate on environmental programmes and education, in preference to that old favourite for development projects, namely infrastructure. The Bank has been particularly active in seeking to promote sustainable growth in China and other parts of Asia.

The World Bank has challenged what it says is a wrong belief, held by most Asian countries with rapidly growing economies, that prosperity must be assured before they tackle their environmental problems. Sensible economic policies supporting areas such as energy conservation, waste minimisation, recycling, fuel efficiency, soil conservation and sustainable forestry actually increase economic efficiency, according to the Bank.

Over the last decade, governments, financial institutions, industries and peoples around the world have developed a much deeper individual and joint understanding of the significance of environmental problems. This is often expressed in broad global statements of intent but there are instances of intentions being translated into effective action with, for example, tougher regulation on the use of ozone depleting substances and the transfrontier shipment of wastes.

There are many other comparatively new testimonies to the existence of this deepened `holistic' understanding of environmental issues, ranging from the establishment of an environmental chamber within the International Court of Justice, to the recognition of the link between trade and environment issues in the GATT agreement signed at Marakesh this year. The UNCED conference itself, of course, represented a culmination of environmental concerns at the highest possible levels.

We are, therefore, better prepared to care for the environment approaching the 21st century than we were at the start of this. Regretably, however, the 2002 UNCED Conference held in South Africa achieved little against a background of heightened political differences between the developed and lesser developed nations. Despite past environmental damage, our state of knowledge and technology continuously improve. More particularly, our institutions are better equipped to handle the difficult issues that lie ahead as demands for better living standards rightly increase throughout the world. If the world can be made safer from major wars than it was in the last century, we might find that the role of the United Nations assumes greater importance in securing better living and environmental standards for people throughout the lands of our global village. Without such a success on the part of the United Nations, probably during the early decades of the 21st century, some newly industrialising countries may well yet decide to run the risk of repeating past mistakes to the detriment of all concerned. To minimise the risk of this possible eventuality governments will ultimately have to suitably equip and resource the United Nations for the changed priorities which lie ahead. Failure to do so could negate all of the many real achievements made in the final years of the 20th century.

©Peter Doyle BSc MSc. Based on an article first published in WASTE & ENVIRONMENT TODAY 1994