Editing Earth Summit 2002 (section)

==History==

The United Nations [[Conference on the Human Environment]], was first held in [[Stockholm]], Sweden, in June 1972, and marked the emergence of international environmental law. The Declaration on the Human Environment also known as the Stockholm Declaration set out the principles for various international environmental issues, including human rights, natural resource management, pollution prevention and the relationship between the environment and development. The conference also led to the creation of the [[United Nations Environment Programme]].

The [[Brundtland Commission]] set up by [[Gro Harlem Brundtland]], the pioneer of [[sustainable development]], provided the momentum for first [[Earth Summit]] 1992 &ndash; the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED), that was also headed by Maurice Strong, who had been a prominent member of the Brundtland Commission &ndash; and also for [[Agenda 21]].

South Africa's first [[South African National Conference on Environment and Development|National Conference on Environment and Development]] entitled, "Ecologise Politics, Politicise Ecology" was held at the [[University of the Western Cape]] in conjunction with the [[Cape Town Ecology Group]] and the Western Cape Branch of the [[World Conference on Religion and Peace]] in 1991. Prominent persons involved in this conference were [[Ebrahim Rasool]], [[Cheryl Carolus]], Faried Esack, and Julia Martin.

The initial informal discussions on a possible new Summit in 2002 were held in February 1998 and hosted by Derek Osborn who co-chaired the preparatory meetings for Rio+5 and [[Stakeholder Forum for a Sustainable Future]]. A set of 10 governments started working informally to start putting together the possible agenda for a Summit. the non-papers produced in 1998 and 1999 ensured that when the UN Commission met in 2000 it could agree to host another Summit in 2002.