Strengthening international cooperation on fragile ecosystems

Description

Agenda 21 recommends building up the knowledge base and understanding by creating mechanisms for cooperation and information exchange among national and regional institutions working on fragile ecosystems.

Context

The need to strengthen international cooperation on fragile ecosystems gained prominence in the late 1980s with the alarming degradation of habitats such as wetlands, drylands, and mountain regions. The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) marked a significant milestone, fostering global commitments like Agenda 21. Since then, growing scientific consensus and cross-border ecological crises have deepened the appreciation of transnational partnerships as essential for protecting ecosystem resilience and biodiversity.

Implementation

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.