The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, recognized the pressing environment and development problems of the world and, through adoption of Agenda 21, produced a global programme of action for sustainable development into the 21st century. Agenda 21 states that countries should adopt national strategies for sustainable development, which "should build upon and harmonize the various sectoral economic, social and environmental policies and plans that are operating in the country".
The 1997 Special Session of the UN General Assembly set a target date of 2002, for "the formulation and elaboration of national strategies for sustainable development". It confirmed the approach and purpose of national sustainable development strategies as "important mechanisms for enhancing and linking national capacity so as to bring together priorities in social, economic and environmental policies". It also reaffirmed that "all sectors of the society should be involved in their development and implementation". Recently the Millennium Declaration was signed in September 2000. The associated Millennium Development Goals include one goal relating to environmental sustainability to: "integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources". Activities towards developing and implementing national sustainable development strategies will, thus, contribute to the achievement of this goal.
Finally, the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in August 2002, urged in its Plan of Implementation that: "States should: Take immediate steps to make progress in the formulation and elaboration of national strategies for sustainable development and begin their implementation by 2005".
Since UNCED, governments have made extensive efforts to integrate environmental, economic and social objectives into decision-making by either elaborating new policies and strategies for sustainable development, or by adapting existing policies and plans. To assist in this process, an International Forum on National Sustainable Development Strategies was held in Ghana in November 2001. The Forum adopted a guidance document containing a number of recommendations on approaches for integrating the principles of sustainable development into policies and programmes of both developed and developing countries. The Forum agreed, that a national sustainable development strategy is a tool for informed decision-making that provides a framework for systematic thought across sectors and territory. It also helps to institutionalize processes for consultation, negotiation, mediation and consensus building on priority societal issues where interests differ. Development of the strategy empowers countries to address inter-related social and economic problems by helping them to build capacities, develop procedures and legislative frameworks, allocate limited resources rationally and present timetables for actions. It was strongly reiterated, that countries would benefit from formulating strategies both directly (as a result of making development more sustainable) and indirectly (from the process itself).
