Introduction

The term "sustainable development" was first used in 1972 at the First World Conference on the
Environment (Stockholm, Sweden). In 1987, at the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the term "sustainable development" was introduced as
a new concept that saves humanity. (United Nations Conference on the Environment. Rio de
Janeiro, 1992 // http:prometeus.nsc.ru/koptyug/ideas/unrio92/005-023.ssi).

The concept of sustainable development has become a widely recognized goal for human society
in the 21st century. The idea of sustainable development came to light in 1987 with the
publication of “Our Common Future,” which firmly established sustainable development as a
critical component of international development. Because inequalities that had been anomalies
were increasing within and among nations, increasing poverty, especially in developing
countries, depleting the ozone layer and causing global warming, depleting natural resources and
endangering some species of animals and plants, and causing water and air pollution, and so
forth, sustainable development came about as an effort to change the way of thinking about the
planet.

The main emphasis is on combating various environmental threats and dangers facing humanity
and the development of human civilization.(Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.
1992. URL: http://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/declarations/riodecl.) Significantly, the
conference was held under the motto "Last Chance", which aims to save the planet for human
life. The concept of sustainable development was adopted in June 1992 at the UN Conference on
Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro with the participation of heads of state and
government.(Belousov K. Y. The modern stage of the evolution of the concept of sustainable
development and the formation of the corporate sustainability paradigm // Problems of the
modern economy, N 1 (45), 2013 / 47-50 p).

Defined

In 1987, sustainable development was defined as “development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In
2019, it was defined as satisfying the needs of current and future generations, depending on
appropriate circumstances of human, natural, and economic capital to provide for human
welfare.

The concept of sustainable development is based on 3 important aspects. These are:

1) ensuring the mutual balance between ecology and economy, that is, the negative impact of
human activities on the environment should be minimal;

2) ensuring the interdependence of the social sphere and the economy, which means that the
available resources will serve the interests of the population and thereby achieve economic
development;

3) Understanding that development is necessary not only for today's generation, but also for
future generations.

Important Environmental Law Conferences

This part describes the contributions by key international conferences on environment to the
development of international environmental law.

5.1. Stockholm Conference, 1972

The early 1960s saw the emergence of environmentalism based on scientific evidence of
environmental degradation. This led to the realisation that national measures are not sufficient to
protect the environment. Pressure was put on the international community to formulate a strategy
for the protection of the global environment. The United Nations responded to this pressure by
convening the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972 (Stockholm
Conference).

The results of the Stockholm Conference were a non-binding Stockholm Declaration and an
Action Plan consisting of 109 recommendations. The Stockholm Declaration laid the foundation
for the future development of international environmental law. Some of the important provisions
in this regard are Principle 11 (implicit sustainable development), Principle 21 (state
responsibility for transboundary harm), and Principle 22 and 24 (liability rules). The Stockholm
Conference also led to the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
in 1972. It was the first institution within the UN system to have environmental protection as its
main task and it played and continues to play a significant role in the international environmental
law making process.

The second document adopted at Stockholm - the Action Plan - contains 109 recommendations
adopted by consensus. The Action Plan identifies specific actions to address environmental
issues and divides them into three categories: a global environmental assessment program
(Earthwatch); environmental management activities; and international measures to support the
national and international actions of assessment and management.

An important achievement of the Stockholm Conference was that environmental protection

became a mandate of the UN, even though environmental protection was not originally and
explicitly mentioned in the UN Charter.

.2. Rio Conference, 1992

The second major global conference on the environment - United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED or the Rio Conference) - took place in Rio de Janeiro
in 1992. More than 30,000 participants from 176 countries were present at the Rio Conference.

The Rio Conference produced five documents setting out the international agenda for sustainable
development for the twenty-first century. They are:

1. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, a non-legally binding document

containing key principles to guide international action;

2. Agenda 21, an ambitious plan of measures and actions to concretely promote sustainable
development;

3. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change;

4. Convention on Biological Diversity; and

5. Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the

Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of all Types of Forests (Rio Forest
Principles).
In addition to the abovementioned direct outcomes, the issue of desertification was highlighted
by state parties during the Rio Conference and this eventually led to the adoption of the United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1994. Further, the concerns of people living in
the island countries were highlighted and this led to the Global Conference on the Sustainable
Development of Small Island Developing States in 1994. A programme of action to assist the
environmentally and economically vulnerable countries was also adopted by the Conference.

The Rio Conference is a landmark in terms of participation of representatives of states and

nongovernmental organisations. More than 700 NGOs participated in the Conference, which
constituted a decisive moment from the participation perspective. This is a significant shift from
the traditional practice where the international law making process was the exclusive domain of
sovereign states. It also triggered a ‘paradigm shift’ from international environmental law to the
international law of sustainable development because a large number of developmental issues got
merged with environmental debates.

The Rio Conference also led to the establishment of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD) to ensure effective follow-up of the UNCED. The High Level Political
Forum on Sustainable Development has replaced CSD in 2013.

.3. World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), 2002

The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 55/199 convened the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD or the Summit) in Johannesburg in 2002. The purpose of the
Summit was to conduct a 10-year review of Agenda 21 and to ensure a balance between the three
reinforcing components of sustainable development - economic development, social
development and environmental protection. WSSD marks a major advancement from the Rio
Conference in terms of participation. Around 21000 participants were present at the Summit with
delegates from 191 governments. WSSD did not focus on adoption of new MEAs. Instead, the
focus was on implementation of existing MEAs.

The two major outcomes of WSSD are:

(1) Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development; and

(2) Johannesburg Plan of Action.

WSSD was originally convened to promote sustainable development. However, the Summit
ended up focusing mainly on development and it only marginally addressed environmental
issues. It failed to make any significant progress in promoting the environmental agenda. At
Johannesburg, the environment was treated as a sideshow and the focus was mostly on
development and poverty eradication. The Plan of Implementation was also development
oriented. In effect, the environment became relevant only in the context of development. For
example, the Plan of Implementation indicates that measures to protect and manage natural
resources are essentially viewed as a base of economic and social development. WSSD steered
the development discourse in a new direction by giving more importance to the development
needs of the Third World rather than the environmental part, which the developed countries had
been pursuing.

5.4. United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), 2012

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development took place in Rio de Janeiro from
20 to 22 June 2012. The Rio+20 outcome document, ‘The Future We Want’ outlines the key
issues and challenges in the path of achievement of the goal of sustainable development. To a
great extent, the Rio+20 Summit was a continuation of WSSD in terms of the nature of the
discourse. The outcome document covers almost all issues pertinent to development such as
inclusive and equitable economic growth; reduction of inequalities; raising of basic standards of
living; equitable social development; and sustainable management of natural resources.

The outcome document reasserts the three pillars of sustainable development identified at
WSSD, that is, economic development, social development and environmental protection. It also
reinforces poverty eradication as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. In
addition, the outcome document emphasises the importance of technology transfer to developing
countries. It was also resolved to strengthen the institutional framework for sustainable
development.

The Rio+20 outcome document does not provide any concrete ‘means of implementation’ or new
and additional resources in order to achieve sustainable development. It has been observed that
developed countries failed to fulfil their previous commitments on finance and technology for
sustainable development. Some other critiques present an optimistic view of the Rio+20
outcome. According to them, the mandated actions in the Rio+20 text reflect the important work
in the years ahead at the UN.

Sustainable Development with reference to India

Sustainable development in India encompasses a variety of development schemes in social,

cleantech (clean energy, clean water and sustainable agriculture) and human resources segments,
having caught the attention of both Central and State governments and also public and private
sectors.

In fact, India is expected to begin the greening of its national income accounting, making
depletion in natural resources wealth a key component in its measurement of gross domestic
product (GDP).

India's sustained efforts towards reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) will ensure that the country's
per capita emission of GHG will continue to be low until 2030-31, and it is estimated that the per
capita emission in 2031 will be lower than per capita global emission of GHG in 2005, according
to a new study. Even in 2031, India's per capita GHG emissions would stay under four tonnes of
CO2, which is lower than the global per capita emission of 4.22 tonnes of CO2 in 2005.

India has made steady progress towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) in areas of health, energy, and infrastructure, as per the latest NITI Aayog’s SDG
India Index which shows the strides taken by the country in social, economic, and environmental
development over the past year. Since 2019, India’s overall score across SDGs has gone up from
60 to 66 in 2021 due to nation-wide improvement in ‘clean water and sanitation’ and ‘affordable
and clean energy’ respectively, according to an official NITI Aayog release.

While Mizoram, Haryana, and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020–21in terms of
improvement in score from 2019, Kerala achieved the highest overall score in the Index with its
efforts to tackle hunger (Goal 2) and to provide quality education to students (Goal 4), closely
followed by Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Significantly, the total number of States in the
Front Runner category has risen from 10 in 2019 to 22 in the current Index.
In 2015, the United Nations established the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17
identified SDGs to help UN member states achieve inclusive, people-centred and holistic
development together. The NITI Aayog launched the first edition of its index in 2018 to monitor
the country’s progress on the goals through data-driven assessment, and to encourage the States
and Union Territories in achieving them.

https://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs/sustainable-development-and-india-1503408725-1

Conclusion

The concept of sustainable development requires a comprehensive approach covering several

areas and directions. At the same time, it also reflects the issues of making full use of the existing
opportunities of citizens in a particular area, to further realize their potential and thereby improve
the relations between the state and society. This, in turn, serves to increase the level of public
participation in decisions made by political authorities.