| Abstract: | The "Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond," a document which resulted from 4 years' work of the Intergovernmental Inter-Sessional Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), was approved by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 11, 1987. The purpose of the "Environmental Perspective" is to guide governments in achieving environmentally sound development. Major input into the document was the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland. The "Environmental Perspective" sets out 14 "shared perceptions" on the nature of environmental issues and recommended actions in 6 major areas -- population, food and agriculture, energy, industry, health and human settlements, and international relations. It addresses questions of pollution, peaceful uses of outer space, endangered species, and the relation of security and environment. Finally, the "Environmental Perspective" calls for the collection of information upon which unified environmental policies may be based. In other environmental actions the General Assembly proclaimed the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, reviewed the progress of the 1977 Plan of Action to Combat Desertification, and urged member states to become parties to the 1985 Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol restricting the use of substances that damage the ozone layer. |
