International Environmental Politics: a timeline

While studying International Environmental Politics, I’ve always found myself very confused with all the treaties, bodies, agencies and documents. I couldn’t form a timeline in my head and I often found myself confusing one conference for another 10 years apart. So I decided to put together a timeline here to make understanding and referencing this information easier.

I intend to edit and update this as I move on in my studies, but for now I believe these to be the fundamental political milestones relating to international environmental politics.

• 1972-United Nations Conference on Human Environment/ Stockholm Conference
  1. From this conference, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) agency was created.

• 1987 – The Brundtland Report/ Our Common Future
  1. This document, the culmination of the Brundtland Comission’s (also called World Commission on Environment and Development, WCED) work, defined and popularized the concept of sustainable development.

• 1992 – Rio Earth Summit/ ECO92
  1. This was where the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) treaty was opened for signature.
  2. Also known as the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
  3. Outcome: Agenda 21

• 1995 – First Conference of the Parties (COP) – UNFCCC

• 2000 – Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
  1. 8 goals and 18 targets

• 2012 – United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development/ Rio +20/ Earth Summit 2012

• 2015 – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/ Agenda 2030
  1. 17 goals and 169 targets
  2. Read more about the SDGs here.

• 2016 – The Paris Agreement (agreed upon at COP 21 in 2015)
  1. Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs)