A NEW ERA IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

But it was the 1987 Brundtland Commission that introduced sustainable development into the political mainstream, as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. Global summits in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and Johannesburg in 2002 led to multiple governmental commitments on sustainable development, and helped to extend the concept’s reach into the worlds of business, local government and civil society.