Increasing awareness for need to stabilize resource consumption

Awareness is increased at all levels of the need to optimize the sustainable use of resources through efficient resource management taking into account the development needs of the populations of developing countries.

The carrying capacity of the Earth is finite, though at which point is unclear. Certainly, contemporary anthropogenic activities are unsustainable. Excessive and wasteful resource use, particularly in upper-income countries, is a continuing threat to the Earth's carrying capacity. Increasing awareness of this fundamental reality of the global state of affairs is urgent and necessary in order to facilitate global sustainability.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.