A milestone in the history of sustainability, the momentous Paris Agreement was reached on Dec 12, 2015, at the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21). Solidifying the agreement, In early March, UN sent the official invitation to all parties to participate in the signing ceremony, which will be hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon scheduled on April 22.
According to the linked report, the UN Secretary-General remains hopeful that the number of UN member states ratifying the global deal to combat climate change, which was agreed upon at COP21 by 195 countries, will beat the record set when 119 countries signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.
The 2014 Tang Prize laureate in Sustainable Development Gro Harlem Brundtland led the UN World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) from 1984 to 1987. “Our Common Future,” also known as the Brundtland Report, was published in 1987, and became a seminal text for its definition of the term ‘sustainable development.’ The Brundtland Report and Earth Summit have continued to influence subsequent UN conferences, including Rio+20 and the COP meetings. Dubbed the “Godmother of Sustainable Development,” Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland has been a global leader in promoting sustainable development for more than thirty years.
