What is Local Agenda 21?
In 1987 The World Commission on Environment and Development published a report Our Common Future (known as The Bruntland Report) that brought the concept of sustainable development onto the international agenda.
It also provided the most commonly used definition of sustainable development describing it as development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
In 1992 some 180 countries met at the 'Earth Summit' (UN Conference on Environment and Development) in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how to achieve sustainable development.
The Summit agreed the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development that set out 27 principles supporting sustainable development.
It also agreed a plan of action, Agenda 21, and a recommendation that all countries should produce national sustainable development strategies.
Subsequently in Britain, each local authority was asked to draw up its own Local Agenda 21 (LA21) strategy, following the principles of sustainable development and the goal of ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, both now and in the future.
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