Producing universal declaration on sustainability

Ensuring global sustainability requires the implementation of sustainable practices on an international scale. Preparing and adopting a universal declaration on sustainability can commit states to the principles of sustainability and sets out the measures required to implement them. It can also provide a framework for existing accords and for new initiatives.

A proposal for a Universal Declaration and Convention on Sustainable Development was submitted to the UN by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in 1987. The Global NGO Forum on Building Sustainable Societies: The Role of NGOs in Emergencies and Social Development (Addis Ababa, March 1994) produced the Addis Ababa Declaration called Building Sustainable Societies: The Role of NGOs.