Our Common Future

The Brundtland Commission's mandate, officially adopted at its inaugural meeting in Geneva on 1–3 October 1984, was to: • Re-examine the critical issues of environment and development and to formulate innovative, concrete, and realistic action proposals to deal with them; • [S]trengthen international cooperation on environment and development and to assess and propose new forms of cooperation that can break out of existing patterns and influence policies and events in the direction of needed change; and • [R]aise the level of understanding and commitment to action on the part of individuals, voluntary organizations, businesses, institutes, and governments. ==Impact==

The publication of Our Common Future and the work of the World Commission on Environment and Development laid the groundwork for the convening of the 1992 Earth Summit and the adoption of Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, and led to the establishment of the Commission on Sustainable Development. In addition, key contributions of Our Common Future to the concept of sustainable development included the recognition that the many crises facing the planet are interlocking crises that are elements of a single crisis of the whole, and of the vital need for the active participation of all sectors of society in consultation and decisions relating to sustainable development. However, in 1988, the Norwegian politician Helge Ole Bergesen wrote that this report is perceived by the Third World elites as green imperialism. ==See also==