Then Prime Minister of Canada,
Brian Mulroney gave the opening address and
Tom McMillan, then Minister of the Environment, gave the closing address.
Gro Harlem Brundtland, who had served from 1983 to 1987 as chair of the
World Commission on Environment and Development, established by the United Nations, presented the key note address on
Our Common Future, also known as the Brundtland Report, —a 300-page 1987
Brundtland Report report by the commission, entitled "
Our Common Future". The conference included special addresses, key note and luncheon speeches, and deliberations. Various conference documents and reports were produced including the "final statement, working group reports, a background document by J. Jaeger and a statement prepared by the non-governmental organizations." The 1988 Toronto Conference took place in the same week that
James E. Hansen director of
NASA's Manhattan-based
Goddard Institute for Space Studies cautioned in his 23 June 1988 testimony before the
United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it was 99% certain that the global "warming trend was not a natural variation but was caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide and other artificial gases in the atmosphere." From 27 to 30 June, ...a "World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security" gathered hundreds of scientists and others in
Toronto. They concluded that the changes in the atmosphere due to human pollution "represent a major threat to international security and are already having harmful consequences over many parts of the globe," and declared that by 2005 the world would be well-advised to push its emissions some 20% below the 1988 level. Starting on 30 June 1988,
Stephen Lewis chaired the international Toronto Conference on the Changing Atmosphere with 300 scientists from around the world in attendance. The "first global scientific consensus" that the world was "entering an era of unprecedented climate change" emerged from that meeting. The Conference took place against the backdrop of a heat wave that set new records in Toronto. Temperatures soared to "levels never recorded before in over 150 years of observation." Participants included then Prime Minister of Canada,
Brian Mulroney. Participants discussed "emerging concerns about global atmospheric issues including
acid rain, stratospheric
ozone depletion and
global warming." The 1988 conference, "proposed a specific initial target for a global reduction in the emission of
carbon dioxide – 20% below 1988 levels by 2005."The international media, which was not used to consensus on environmental issues, noted the "high level of scientific consensus" on
global warming. Conference participants suggested that
climate change was almost as serious as
nuclear war and early targets for emission reductions were discussed. ==Responses to the Toronto Conference==