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1962

Silent Spring
Rachel Carson
Location: -

(book)

by

brings together research on toxicology,

ecology and epidemiology to suggest that
agricultural pesticides
are building to catastrophic levels, linked to
damage to animal species and human
health.

Impact: - Awareness in people

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1968 Biosphere. Intergovernmental Conference for Rational Use and

Conservation of the Biosphere (UNESCO) is held; early discussions occur on
the concept of ecologically sustainable development.
1968 Paul Ehrlich publishes The Population Bomb, on the connection
between human population, resource exploitation and the environment. Much
of the book is spent describing the state of the environment and the food security
situation, which is described as increasingly dire. Ehrlich argues that as the existing
population was not being fed adequately, and as it was growing rapidly it was
unreasonable to expect sufficient improvements in food production to feed
everyone. He further argued that the growing population placed escalating strains
on all aspects of the natural world.
In answer to the question, "what needs to be done?" he wrote, "We must rapidly
bring the world population under control, reducing the growth rate to zero or
making it negative. Conscious regulation of human numbers must be achieved.
Simultaneously we must, at least temporarily, greatly increase our food
production." Ehrlich described a number of "ideas on how these goals might be
reached."[6] He believed that the United States should take a leading role in
population control, both because it was already consuming much more than the
rest of the world, and therefore had a moral duty to reduce its impact, and because
the US would have to lead international efforts due to its prominence in the world.
In order to avoid charges of hypocrisy or racism it would have to take the lead in
population reduction efforts

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1969 Friends of the Earth forms as an advocacy organization

dedicated to the prevention of environmental degradation, the
preservation of diversity and the role of citizens in decisionmaking. www.foe.org
1969 Partners in Development and IDRC (1970). Report of
the Commission on International Development. This is the first of
the international commissions to consider a new approach to
development, focused on research and knowledge in the South.
The report leads to the formation of Canadas International
Development Research Centre. www.idrc.ca
NEPA contains three important sections:
The declaration of national environmental policies and goals.
The establishment of action-forcing provisions for federal
agencies to enforce those policies and goals.
The establishment of a Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ)
in the Executive Office of the President

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1969 Cuyahoga River, Ohio, United States catches on fire, with the cause
attributed to pollution. This event brings political attention to the need for water
pollution control policy and action, and leads to the Clean Water Act, the Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the creation of the United States
Environmental Protection Agencyone of the first national departments of the
environment in the world.
1969 National Environmental Policy Act is passed in the United States,
making it one of the first countries to establish a national legislative framework
to protect the environment. The law sets the basis for environmental impact
assessment in the world.
The current campaign priorities of Friends of the Earth internationally are:
1.economic justice and resisting neoliberalism
2.forests and biodiversity
3.food sovereignty
4.climate justice and energy
Their impactOver the last 40 years, Friends of the Earth members, activists
and staff have:
Eliminated billions in taxpayer subsidies to corporate polluters;
Reformed the World Bank to address environmental and human rights concerns;
Pushed the debate on global warming to pressure the U.S. to attempt the best
legislation possible;
Stopped more than 150 destructive dams and water projects worldwide;
Pressed and won landmark regulations of strip mines and oil tankers; and
Banned international whaling.

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1970 Natural Resources Defense

Council forms with a staff of lawyers
and
scientists
to
push
for
comprehensive
U.S.
environmental
policy.
1970 First Earth Day held as a
national teach-in on the environment.
An estimated 20 million people
participate in peaceful demonstrations
across the United States.
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1971 Greenpeace

20102012

starts in Canada and launches an

aggressive agenda to stop environmental damage through civil protests and
non-violent interference. www.greenpeace.org
1971 International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
established in the United Kingdom to seek ways for countries to make
economic progress without destroying the environmental resource base.
www.iied.org

1971
Polluter
pays
principle.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) Council says those causing pollution should pay the resulting costs.

1971 Founex Report is prepared by a panel of experts calling for the

integration of environment and development strategies.
1971 Ren Dubos and Barbara Ward write Only One Earth, which
sounds an urgent alarm about the impact of human activity on the biosphere,
but expresses optimism that shared concern for the planet could lead
humankind to create a common future.

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Impact
IIED is generally acknowledged to be a successful
organization - its ideas are pragmatic and pro-poor, and it
has reached the ears of major organizations including the
World Bank, the Department for International Development
of the UK government, and Scandinavian aid agencies like
SIDA and DANIDA. For example a former staff member,
Gordon Conway, was partly responsible with Robert
Chambers for developing participatory rural appraisal, a
suite of largely visual techniques widely used in
international and community development to elicit public
views and ideas. IIED's Environmental Economics
programme helped to develop some of the first 'green
accounting' and eco-taxation techniques now used in
government and industry, while Richard Sand brook lobbied
some of the world's largest corporations to improve their
environmental performance - notably in the mining sector.

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1972 Environnement et Dveloppement du TiersMonde (ENDA) is established in Senegal, in 1978 becoming an international NGO
concerned with empowering local peoples, eliminating poverty, and promoting southern research and
training for sustainable development.

1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment

and UNEP.The Stockholm conference is rooted in thepollution and acid rain problems of
northern Europe. Itleads to the establishment of many national environmentalprotection
agencies and the United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP).The protection and
improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples
and economic development throughout the world; it is the urgent desire of the peoples of the
whole world and the duty of all Governments
The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment
and development; an Action Plan with 109 recommendations, and a Resolution.
Principles of the Stockholm Declaration:
1. Human rights must be asserted, apartheid and colonialism condemned
2. Natural resources must be safeguarded
3. The Earths capacity to produce renewable resources must be maintained
4. Wildlife must be safeguarded
5. Non-renewable resources must be shared and not exhausted
6. Pollution must not exceed the environments capacity to clean itself
7. Damaging oceanic pollution must be prevented
8. Development is needed to improve the environment
9. Developing countries therefore need assistance
10. Developing countries need reasonable prices for exports to carry out
environmentalmanagement

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11. Environment policy must not hamper development

12. Developing countries need money to develop environmental safeguards
13. Integrated development planning is needed
14. Rational planning should resolve conflicts between environment and
development
15. Human settlements must be planned to eliminate environmental problems
16. Governments should plan their own appropriate population policies
17. National institutions must plan development of states natural resources
18. Science and technology must be used to improve the environment
19. Environmental education is essential
20. Environmental research must be promoted, particularly in developing
countries
21. States may exploit their resources as they wish but must not endanger
others
22. Compensation is due to states thus endangered
23. Each nation must establish its own standards
24. There must be cooperation on international issues
25. International organizations should help to improve the environment
26. Weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated

1972 Club of Rome

publishes the controversial Limits to Growth,

which predicts dire consequences if growth is not slowed. Northern countries criticize
the report for not including technological solutions; Southern countries are incensed
because it advocates abandonment of economic development. www.clubofrome.org

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1973 OPEC oil crisis fuels limits-togrowth debate.

1973
United
States
enacts
the
Endangered Species Act, becoming one
of the first countries to implement legal
protection for fish, wildlife and plants.
1973 Chipko movement is born in India
in
response
to
deforestation
and
environmental
degradation.
These
womens actions influence forestry and
womens participation in environmental
issues. www.rightlivelihood.org/chipko.html

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1974 Rowland and Molina release work on

chorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the scientific journal
Nature, calculating that continued use of CFCs at current
rates would critically deplete the ozone layer.
1974 Latin American World Model developed by the
Fundacin Bariloche. It is the Souths response to Limits
to Growth and calls for growth and equity for the Third
World.
www.fundacionbariloche.org.ar/LP-modlatinoam.htm
1975 Worldwatch Institute established in the United
States to raise public awareness of global environmental
threats and catalyze effective policy responses; begins
publishing annual State of the World in 1984.
www.worldwatch.org
1975 CITES, the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, comes into force.
www.cites.org
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1976 Habitat, the UN Conference on

Human Settlements, is the first global
meeting to link the environment and
human settlement.
1977
UN
Conference
on
Desertification is held.
1977 Green Belt Movement starts in
Kenya, using community tree planting to
prevent
desertification.
www.greenbeltmovement.or

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1978 Amoco Cadiz oil spill occurs off the coast of Brittany.
1978 OECD Directorate of the Environment relaunches
research on environmental and economic linkages. The work
builds the foundation for the 1987 report, Our Common Future.
1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident occurs in
Pennsylvania, United States.
1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air
Pollution is adopted.
1979 Banking on the Biosphere, an IIED report on practices of
nine multilateral development agencies including the World Bank,
sets the stage for reforms that are still underway. One of the
suggestions made in this new book by Robert Stein and Brian
Johnson is that the World Bank takes the lead in organizing
environmentally sound afforestation and reforestation projects that
are suited to regional environmental and energy needs. Another is
that the UN Development Programme is well positioned to foster
environmental change because, the book finds, that organization is
consciously and continuously reconsidering its purposes in
response to political change.

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1980 World Conservation Strategy released by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The
section Towards Sustainable Development identifies the main agents of habitat destruction as poverty, population
pressure, social inequity and trading regimes. The report calls for a new international development strategy to redress
inequities. www.iucn.org
Importance Of Conservation:

1 Conservation is a matter both of respect for life and of making life easier bydiscovering and living by ecological rules.
But it is also something much morebasic and urgent. Already for at least half of the world's population conservation
isnow a matter of life and death. People such as the peasant farmers, fishers, herdersand hunters who make up about
three-quarters of the populations of developingcountries, and people everywhere who suffer from diseases whose
treatmentdepends on drugs of natural origin, are immediately vulnerable to resourceimpoverishment.

2 The dependence of rural communities on nature and its resources is also directand immediate. For the 500 million
people who are malnourished, or the 1,500million people whose only fuel is wood, dung or crop wastes, or the 800
millionpeople with incomes of $50 or less a year, conservation is the only thing betweenthem and at best abject misery,
at worst death. So it is for the millions of peoplesuffering from diseases that are relieved by drugs from plants, animals
andmicroorganisms.

3 Ultimately, conservation is a life and death matter for everybody. The air webreathe and the soil in which we grow food
are the products of living organisms.Without plants, animals and microbes, people would not exist.

4 The way to sustainable development is to invent and apply patterns ofdevelopment that also conserve the living
resources essential for human survival andwell-being. Conservation is often thought of and treated as a specialized,
andsomewhat limited activity, but in fact it is a process that cuts across and must beincorporated into all human
activities. For this to be achieved, each of us will haveradically to re-orientate our view of the world and of our place and
role in it.

Meanwhile, it is urgent that conservation and development be fully integrated toensure that, in our quest for a higher
quality of life, we protect those parts of thebiosphere that need protecting and modify the rest only in ways that it can
sustain.
1980 Independent Commission on International Development Issues publishes North-South: A Programme for
Survival (Brandt Report), calling for a new economic relationship between North and South.
1980 Global 2000 report is released. It recognizes biodiversity for the first time as critical to the proper functioning
of the planetary ecosystem. It asserts that the robust nature of ecosystems is weakened by species extinction.

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1981 World Health Assembly unanimously adopts the

Global Strategy for Health for All by the Year 2000, which
affirms that the major social goal of governments should
be for all peoples to attain a level of health that would
permit them to lead socially and economically productive
lives. www.who.org
1982 International debt crisis erupts and threatens
the world financial system. It turns the 1980s into a lost
decade for Latin America and other developing regions.
1982 World Resources Institute is established in the
United States. It begins publishing biennial resource
assessments in 1986. www.wri.org
1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is
adopted. It establishes material rules concerning
environmental standards and enforcement provisions
dealing with marine pollution. www.un.org/depts/los
1982 The UN World Charter for Nature adopts the
principle that every form of life is unique and should be
respected regardless of its value to humankind. It calls for
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resources
and
the need
control
our Arch)
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1983
Development
Alternatives
is
established in India. It fosters a new
relationship among people, technology and
the
environment
in
the
South.
www.devalt.org
1983 Grameen Bank is established to
provide credit to the poorest of the poor
in
Bangladesh,
launching
a
new
understanding of the role of microcredit in
development. www.grameen-info.org
1984 Bhopal toxic chemical leak leaves
10,000 dead and 300,000 injured in Bhopal,
India. www.bhopal.net
1984 Drought in Ethiopia. Between
250,000 and 1 million people die from
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1985 Antarctic ozone hole discovered by British

and American scientists.
1985 Responsible Care, an initiative of the
Canadian Chemical Producers, provides a code of
conduct for chemical producers that has now been
adopted
in
many
countries.
www.ccpa.ca/ResponsibleCareHome.aspx
1985 Climate Change. Meeting in Austria of the
World Meteorological Society, UNEP and the
International Council of Scientific Unions reports on
the buildup of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. They
predict global warming. www.wmo.ch
1986 Chernobyl nuclear station accident
generates a massive toxic radioactive explosion.

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1987 OECD Development Advisory Committee creates

guidelines for environment and development in bilateral aid
policies. www.oecd.org/dac
1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the
Ozone Layer is adopted. http://ozone.unep.org
1987 Our Common Future (Brundtland Report), a report of
the World Commission on Environment and Development,
weaves
together
social,
economic,
cultural
and
environmental issues and global solutions. It popularizes the
term sustainable development.
1988 Chico Mendes, a Brazilian rubber tapper fighting the
destruction of the Amazon rainforest, is assassinated.
Scientists use satellite photos to document what the Amazon
fires are doing to the rainforest www.chicomendes.com
1988 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC) is established to assess the most up-to-date scientific,
technical and socioeconomic research in the field.
www.ipcc.ch

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1989 Exxon Valdez tanker runs aground, dumping

11 million gallons of oil into Alaskas Prince William
Sound.
www.evostc.state.ak.us
1989 Stockholm Environment Institute is
established as an independent institute for carrying
out global and regional environmental research.
www.sei.se
1990 International Institute for Sustainable
Development (IISD) is established in Canada and
begins publishing the Earth Negotiations Bulletin in
1992. www.iisd.org
1990 Regional Environmental Centre for Central
and Eastern Europe is established to address
environmental challenges across the region, with an
emphasis on the engagement of business as well as
governments and civil society. www.rec.org
1990 UN Summit for Children is held, an
important
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1991 The Canadian East Coast cod fishery collapses

when only 2,700 tonnes of spawning biomass are left after
a harvest of 190,000 tonnes.
1991 Hundreds of oil fires burn in Kuwait for months
following the Persian Gulf War.
1991 Global Environment Facility is established, and in
1994, restructured to give more decision-making power to
developing countries over billions of aid dollars for work on
biodiversity, climate change, water, land degradation and
pollutants. www.gefweb.org
1992 The Business Council for Sustainable
Development publishes Changing Course, establishing
the business interest in promoting sustainable
development. www.wbcsd.org
1992 Earth Summit. UN Conference on Environment and
Development (UNCED) is held in Rio de Janeiro.
Agreements are reached on the action plan Agenda 21, the
Rio Declaration, and the non-binding Forest Principles. Two
Rio Conventions are opened for signature: the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework
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1993 First meeting of the UN

Commission
on
Sustainable
Development, established to ensure
follow-up to UNCED, enhance international
cooperation
and
rationalize
intergovernmental
decision-making
capacity. www.un.org/esa/sustdev
1994 Chinas Agenda 21, a white paper
on the countrys population, environment
and development, is published. China sets
an international example for national
strategies for sustainable development.
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1995 Execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria brings

international attention to the links among human rights,
environmental justice, security and economic growth.
1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) is established,
with formal recognition of trade, environment and
development linkages. www.wto.org
1995 World Summit for Social Development is held
in Copenhagen. It is the first time the international
community has expressed a clear commitment to
eradicating
absolute
poverty.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/wssd/textversion/index.html
1995 Fourth World Conference on Women is held in
Beijing. Negotiations recognize that the status of women
has advanced, but obstacles remain to the realization of
womens
rights
as
human
rights.
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing
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1996 ISO 14001 is formally adopted as a voluntary

international standard for corporate environmental
management. www.iso.org
1997 Asian ecological and financial chaos. Landclearing fires intensified by El Nioinduced drought
result in a haze blanketing the region and cause US$3
billion in health costs and fire-related damage.
Concurrently, the market crashes, raising questions
about currency speculation and the need for
government economic reforms.
1998 Controversy over genetically modified
(GM) organisms. Global environmental and food
security concerns are raised, the European Union
blocks imports of GM crops from North America, and
farmers in developing countries rebel against
terminator technology, GM plants whose seeds will
not germinate.
1998 Multilateral Agreement on Investment
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(MAI). Environmental groups and social
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against
the MAI. This, YCMOU
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1999
Launch
of
the
Dow
Jones
Sustainability Indexes. The first of its kind, the
tool provides guidance to investors looking for
profitable companies that follow sustainable
development principles.
1999 Third WTO Ministerial Conference held
in Seattle. Thousands of demonstrators protest
the negative effects of globalization and the
growth of global corporations. Along with deep
conflicts among WTO delegates, they scuttle the
negotiations. The first of many anti-globalization
protests, they signal a new era of confrontation
between disaffected stakeholders and those in
power. www.iisd.org/trade/wto/seattleandsd.htm

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2000 Miss Waldrons red colobus monkey is declared

extinct, the first extinction in several centuries of a
member of the primate order, to which humans belong.
According to the IUCN Red Book, 11,046 species are now
threatened with extinction.
2000 UN Millennium Development Goals. The largestever gathering of world leaders agrees to a set of timebound and measurable goals for combating poverty,
hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and
discrimination against women, to be achieved by 2015.
2001 9/11. Terrorists representing anti-Western,
non-state interests and ideologies attack the World
Trade Center and Pentagon, marking the end of an era
of unhindered economic expansion. Stock markets and
economies stumble, and the United States gears up for a
war on terrorism.
2001 Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO, held
in
Doha,
Qatar,
recognizes
environmental
and
development concerns in its final declaration.
2001 China joins the WTO, accelerating national
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signals
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2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development is held

in Johannesburg, marking 10 years since UNCED. In a climate of
frustration at the lack of government progress, the summit
promotes partnerships as a non-negotiated approach to
sustainability. www.worldsummit2002.org
2002 Global Reporting Initiative releases guidelines for
reporting on the economic, environmental and social
dimensions of business activities. www.globalreporting.org
2004 HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2004
alone, 2.5 million people in the region die of AIDS, and over
three million become newly infected. With only 10 per cent of
the worlds population, the region is home to more than 60 per
cent of all people living with HIV. www.unaids.org
2004 Wangari Muta Maathai is awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize. Founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, she is the
first environmentalist to be awarded a Nobel Prize.
2004 Delhi mandates the use of compressed natural gas in city buses and
auto rickshaws, responding to rising civil society pressure over air
pollution.

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2005 Kyoto Protocol enters into force, legally binding

developed country parties to goals for greenhouse gas
emission reductions, and establishing the Clean
Development Mechanism for developing countries.
Emissions reductions obligations expire at the end of 2012.
2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is released.
1,300 experts from 95 countries provide scientific
information concerning the consequences of ecosystem
change
for
human
well-being.
www.millenniumassessment.org
2005 Walmart institutes global sustainability
strategy. One of the worlds leading retail companies
commits to: be supplied 100 per cent by renewable
energy; create zero waste; and sell products that sustain
people and the environment. The strategy begins to
transform Walmarts global supply chain, and sets an
example for other multinationals to follow.

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2006 Svalbard Global Seed Vault is constructed

in Norway to preserve the genetic diversity of the
worlds
food
crops
for
future
generations.
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalb
ard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220
2006 NASA reports that the ozone layer is
recovering, due in part to reduced concentrations
of CFCs, phased out under the Montreal Protocol.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/26may_ozo
ne.htm
2006 Stern Review makes the convincing
economic case that the costs of inaction on climate
change will be up to 20 times greater than measures
required to address the issue today. http://www.hmtreasury.gov.uk/sternreview_index.htm

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2007 One of the first Chinese victories for civil

society environmental protests. The municipal
government of Xiamen suspends construction of a
multi-billion dollar chemical plant after concerted
action by local residents, much of which is orchestrated
by mobile phones.
2007 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete
the Ozone Layer. Parties agree to an an accelerated
phase-out schedule for hydrochlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs). http://www.unep.org/ozone/
2007 Public attention to climate change
increases. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gores
documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, wins an Academy
Award, and the IPCCs alarming forecasts about the
planets health make headlines. The IPCC and Gore
share the Nobel Peace Prize. www.ipcc.ch

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2008 World food, fuel and financial crises converge. Global

food prices increase 43 per cent in one year; growing energy
demand in China, India and elsewhere sends energy prices
soaring; financial institutions falter over the collapse of mortgage
lending in the United States and markets tumble, sending the
world into a recession.
2008 Increasing urbanization. For the first time in history,
more than 50 per cent of the worlds population lives in towns
and cities. www.unfpa.org/pds/urbanization.htm
2008 Green economy ideas enter the mainstream. National
governments invest a portion of their economic stimulus in
environmental actions, and a low-carbon economy and green
growth become new objectives for the future economy.
www.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/34/44077822.pdf
2008 Internet economy ideas enter the mainstream. The OECD
Minsterial acknowledges the increasingly critical role of the
Internet in economies and society; national governments invest a
portion of their economic stimulus in broadband and wireless
sensor network infrastructure, with South Korea leading the way.
www.oecd.org/futureinternet/
2008 Oceans acidification correlated with increasing levels
of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Scientists document that the
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2009 Fire and ice headlines. Multiyear sea ice all but
disappears from the Arctic Ocean, and the Australian drought
that commenced in 2003 leads to the worst wildfires in history.
2009 G20 Pittsburgh Summit: G20 nations provide guidance
for a 21st century global, sustainable and balanced economy.
Leaders call for phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, and seek
measures that will lead to sustainable consumption, while
providing
targeted
support
for
the
poorest
people.
http://www.cfr.org/world/g20-leaders-final-statement-pittsburghsummit-framework-strong-sustainable-balanced-growth/p20299
. 2009 Copenhagen climate negotiations A crescendo of
expectations is dashed as the Conference of the Parties fails to
reach an agreement on new GHG emissions reductions
commitments beyond 2012 (the end of the Kyoto Protocol time
frame). The international environmental community sees this as
a watershed moment, with many arguing that the multilateral
process is broken. Momentum begins to shift toward national and
regional efforts to reduce emissions. www.iisd.ca/climate/cop15

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2009 Scientists introduce the concept of

planetary boundaries in a highly influential
article in Nature. The concept quantifies our proximity
to limits in nine areas, including biodiversity,
chemicals, climate change, oceans acidification, fresh
water
and
others.
www.stockholmresilience.org/research/researchnews/t
ippingtowardstheunknown/thenineplanetaryboundarie
s.4.1fe8f33123572b59ab80007039.html
2009 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to
Elinor Ostrom for her work on the economic
governance of the commons. Ostrom is the first
woman
to
receive
the
award.
www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates
/2009/
2009 China overtakes the United States as the
worlds largest emitter of GHGs, but ranks only 78th
in per capita emissions. Record increases
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emissions on track
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2010 More severe and erratic weather, as

forecast by climate change models. Massive, deadly
heatwaves in Europe, first observed in 2003,
reoccur, killing 55,000 people in western Russia and
costing US$15 billion in damages. The changing
patterns of drought and floods are now widespread,
including Pakistan, southern China and other parts
of the world.
2010 The rise of wind power. China becomes the
worlds largest domestic market for wind power,
exceeding its target for installed capacity by 320
per cent. While wind power continues to expand at
the fastest rate of renewable energy sources, it is
still well below targeted levels for installed capacity
by 2020 in OECD and emerging economies.

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2010 Nations agree to the fair and equitable

sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of
genetic resources, under the Nagoya Protocol to the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); nations also
agree to the Cartegena Protocal on Biosafety.
www.cbd.int/abs/
2010 The Economics of Ecosystems and
Biodiversity final report calls for wider recognition
of natures contribution to human livelihoods, health,
security
and
culture
by
decision-makers.
www.teebweb.org
2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion
leaks 5 million barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of
Mexico for 87 days before the well is sealed, damaging
wildlife habitats, fisheries, tourism and the economy
throughout the region.
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2011 The Arab Spring: Starting with Tunisia, people

across the Arab region rise up to demand sweeping
democratic reforms in a number of countries.
2011 The world population reaches 7 billion, and is
increasingly interconnected. One third of those have
Internet access; 80 per cent have mobile phones.
Increasing the population by 1 billion took only 12 years.
2011 Climate change negotiations in Durban. The
negotiations outcome is a step forward in establishing an
international
agreement
beyond
Kyotoone
with
mitigation commitments from all major emitters, including
developed countries and several major developing
countries. www.iisd.ca/download/pdf/enb12534e.pdf
2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami. Damage to
nuclear power plants leads to global concerns about
nuclear power safety and phase out of the plants in Japan.
2011 China begins shift to a green economy.
Chinas 12th Five Year Plan for economic development is
based on sustainable development goals, including
substantial reductions in pollution and carbon and energy
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intensities. The plan is backed by nearly half a trillion USD
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2012 Trade disputes on solar and wind energy products. Chinas expanded manufacturing
capacity and low prices make it a leader in global trade on wind turbines. The U.S. contests both solar and
wind subsidies in China as unfair trade practices. The outcomes of these disputes may influence the future of
cleantech energy sourcing and adoption.
2012 One of the first of the Millennium Development Goal targets is achieved , in advance of the
2015 deadline: the percentage of the worlds people without access to safe drinking water is cut in half.
www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

2012 Rio +20: Fifty years after Silent Spring, 40 years after Stockholm and 20 years after the
Earth Summit, the global community reconvenes in an effort to secure agreement on greening world
economies through a range of smart measures for clean energy, decent jobs and more sustainable and fair
use of resources.

Recent Developments under Rio+20:

UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg used the Rio+20 platform to announce that from next year, companies
listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange will have to report their greenhouse gas emissions
annually
The UN sustainable development summit in Rio de Janeiro has formally opened with a warning from UN head
Ban Ki-moon that progress on the issue is too slow.The secretary-general told world leaders and other
ministers that "words must translate into action".On the summit's fringes, international finance institutions
launched a $175bn fund to boost sustainable transport.
UK government announced that major businesses will have to report their carbon emissions from next year.
Mr. Ban opened the session with a reference to the historic Earth Summit held here in Rio 20 years ago,
which spawned UN conventions on climate change, biodiversity and desertification, as well as the Agenda 21
blueprint for sustainable development.
The most significant came from a group of eight international development banks led by the Asian
Development Bank, who are preparing to pump $175bn into sustainable transport schemes over the next
decade.
UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg used the Rio+20 platform to announce that from next year, companies
listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange will have to report their greenhouse gas emissions
annually.

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