Agenda 21

In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), better known as the Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Over 170 countries cooperated to produce treaties on climate change and biological diversity, a set of forestry principles, and an extensive plan called Agenda 21 for sustainable development now and into the 21st century. Within Agenda 21 was a proposal to develop indicators for sustainable development. For more information, see Agenda 21, Chapter 40 "Information for Decision Making."

As part of the implementation of the Work Programme on Indicators of Sustainable Development (ISDs) adopted by the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) at its Third Session in April 1995, a working list of 134 indicators and related methodology sheets were developed, improved and tested. Based on the voluntary national testing and expert group consultation, a revised set of 58 indicators and methodology sheets--CSD Theme Indicator Framework--are now available for all countries to use.

Earthwatch

Earthwatch is a program of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) to "coordinate, harmonize, and integrate the observing, assessment and reporting activities across the UN system in order to provide environmental and appropriate socio-economic information for national and international decision-making on sustainable development and for early warning of emerging problems requiring international action."

Earthwatch is charged with developing global indicators to monitor natural and human systems in the following categories:

Quality of Human Life Biodiversity  Atmospheric quality Oceans and coastal areas

Risks of Biotechnology Freshwater Resources Accumulation of wastes

Earthwatch, in conjunction with the UN Division for Sustainable Development, is charged with follow up for the implementation of Agenda 21 Chapter 40.

Environmental Sustainability Index

The Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI) is taking strides towards a more analytically driven approach to environmental decision making. A collaboration between the World Economic Forum's Global Leaders for Tomorrow Environment Task Force, The Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, and the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the ESI measures a nation's overall progress towards sustainability. Cross-national comparisons are made in a quantitative and systematic fashion in order to rank 142 nations against each other in yearly reports of who's who on the sustainability index. The system uses 20 core indicators with 68 underlying variables to score nations. A nation's economic affluence does not necessarily correlate with its ranking on the ESI.

For more information and 2002 ESI rankings, see the Environmental Sustainability Index website.

Worldwatch Institute

The Worldwatch Institute (WWI) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to fostering the evolution of an environmentally sustainable society through interdisciplinary non-partisan research on emerging global environmental issues. WWI publishes a highly regarded, yet user-friendly, annual report titled Vital Signs: The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future that analyzes the major ecological, economic, and social forces affecting the world using 50 key indicators of long-term trends—including the growth of fish farms and bicycle production to the increase in solar cell and Internet use.

Last updated: November 12, 2003

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