# Brundtland Report

Brundtland Report
​A
Distr. GENERAL
A/42/427
4 August 1987
ENGLISH
ORIGINAL: ARABIC/CHINESE/ENGLISH/
FRENCH/RUSSIAN/SPANISH
Forty-second session
Item 83 (e) of the provisional agenda
DEVELOPMENT AND INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION: ENVIRONMENT
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development
Note by the Secretary-General
1. The General Assembly, in its resolution 38/161 of 19 December 1983, inter alia, welcomed the establishment of a special commission that should make available a report on environment and the global problématique to the year 2000 and beyond, including proposed strategies for sustainable development. The commission later adopted the name World Commission on Environment and Development. In the same resolution, the Assembly decided that, on matters within the mandate and purview of the United Nations Environment Programme, the report of the special commission should in the first instance be considered by the Governing Council of the Programme, for transmission to the Assembly together with its comments, and for use as basic material in the preparation, for adoption by the Assembly, of the Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond.
2. At its fourteenth session, held at Nairobi from 8 to 19 June 1987, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme adopted decision 14/14 of 16 June 1987, entitled "Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development" and, inter alia, decided to transmit the Commission's report to the General Assembly together with a draft resolution annexed to the decision for consideration and adoption by the Assembly.
3. The report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, entitled "Our Common Future", is hereby transmitted to the General Assembly. Decision 14/14 of the Governing Council, the proposed draft resolution and the comments of the Governing Council on the report of the Commission can be found an the report of the Governing Council on the work of its fourteenth session. ​

## NotesNotes

* ↑ A/42/150.
* ↑ 1/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Forty-second Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/42/25).
ANNEX
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development
"Our Common Future"
Members of the Commission
    Chairman: Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norway)
    Vice Chairman: Mansour Khalid (Sudan)
    Susanna Agnelli (Italy)
    Saleh A. Al-Athel (Saudi Arabia)
    Bernard Chidzero (Zimbabwe)
    Lamine Mohammed Fadika (Côte d'Ivoire)
    Volker Hauff (Federal Republic of Germany)
    Istvan Lung (Hungary)
    Ma Shijun (People's Republic of China)
    Margarita Marino de Botero (Colombia)
    Nagendra Singh (India)
    Paulo Nogueira-Neto (Brazil)
    Saburo Okita (Japan)
    Shridath S. Ramphal (Guyana)
    William D. Ruckelshaus (USA)
    Mohamed Sahnoun (Algeria)
    Emil Salim (Indonesia)
    Bukar Shaib (Nigeria)
    Vladimir Sokolov (USSR)
    Janez Stanovnik (Yugoslavia)
    Maurice Strong (Canada)
    Ex Officio
    Jim MacNeill (Canada) ​

## CONTENTSCONTENTS

Acronym List and Note on Terminology
From One Earth to One World: An overview by the World Commission on Environment and Development
Part I: Common Concerns
1. A Threatened Future
       Symptoms and Causes
       New Approaches to Environment and Development
2. Towards Sustainable Development
       The Concept of Sustainable Development
       Equity and the Common Interest
       Strategic Imperatives
       Conclusion
3. The Role of the International Economy
       The International Economy, the Environment and Development
       Decline in the 1980s
       Enabling Sustainable Development
       A Sustainable World Economy
Part II: Common Challenges
4. Population and Human Resources
       The Links with Environment and Development
       The Population Perspective
       A Policy Framework
5. Food Security: Sustaining the Potential Achievements
       Achievements
       Signs of Crisis
       The Challenge
       Strategies for Sustainable Food Security
       Food for the Future ​
Chapter 6. Species and Ecosystems: Resources for Development
       The Problem, Character and Extent
       Extinction Patterns and Trends
       Some Causes of Extinction
       Economic Values at Stake
       New Approach: Anticipate and Prevent
       International Action for National Species
       Scope for National Action
       The Need for Action
Chapter 7. Energy: Choices for Environment and Development
       Energy. Economy and Environment
       Fossil Fuels: The Continuing Dilemma
       Nuclear Energy: Unsolved Problems
       Wood Fuels: The Vanishing Resource
       Renewable Energy: The Untapped Potential
       Energy Efficiency: Maintaining the Momentum
       Energy Conservation Measures
       Conclusion
Chapter 8. Industry: Producing More with Less
       Industrial Growth and its Impact
       Sustainable Industrial Development in a Context
       Strategies for Sustainable Industrial Development
Chapter 9. The Urban Challenge
       The Growth of Cities
       The Urban Challenge in Developing Countries
       International Cooperation
Part III: Common Endeavours
Chapter 10. Managing the Commons
       Oceans: The Balance of Life
       Space: A Key to Sustainable Development
       Antarctica: Towards Global Cooperation
Chapter 11. Peace, Security, Development, and the Environment
       Environmental Stress as a Source of Conflict
       Conflict as a Cause of Unsustainable Development
       Towards Security and Sustainable Development
​Chapter 12. Towards Common Action: Proposals for Institutional and Legal Change
       The Challenge for Institutional and Legal Change
       Proposals for Institutional and Legal Change
       A Call for Action
Annexe 1. Summary of Proposed Legal Principles for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development
Annexe 2. The Commission and Its Work
Throughout this report, quotes from some of the many people who spoke at WCED public hearings appear in boxes to illustrate the range of opinions the Commission was exposed to during its three years of work. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission.
This work is excerpted from an official document of the United Nations. The policy of this organisation is to keep most of its documents in the public domain in order to disseminate "as widely as possible the ideas (contained) in the United Nations Publications".
Pursuant to UN Administrative Instruction ST/AI/189/Add.9/Rev.2 available in English only, these documents are in the public domain worldwide:
* Official records (proceedings of conferences, verbatim and summary records, …)
* United Nations documents issued with a UN symbol
* Public information material designed primarily to inform the public about United Nations activities (not including public information material that is offered for sale).
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