UN World Commission on Environment and Development, ed., Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future

Our Common Future. Cover.

United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, ed. Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.

The UN’s World Commission for Environment and Development, chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and thus referred to as the Brundtland Commission, published the report “Our Common Future,” also known as the “Brundtland Report,” in 1987. Influenced by the 1980 “World Conservation Strategy” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the report defined the principle of sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The publication of the report is considered a milestone in triggering international awareness and discurse on the importance of global sustainable development.

Further readings: 
  • Ivanova, Maria. "Designing the United Nations Environment Programme: A Story of Compromise and Confrontation." International Environmental Agreements 7 (2007): 337–61.
  • Wood, H. W. "The United Nations World Charter for Nature: The Developing Nations' Initiative to Establish Protections for the Environment." Ecology Law Quarterly 977 (1985): 977–96.
  • Hinrichsen, Don. Our Common Future: A Reader's Guide. The 'Brundtland Report' Explained. London: Earthscan Ltd., 1987.