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Norichika Kanie, Steven Bernstein, Frank Biermann, and Peter M. Haas
they must be seen also as the latest instalment in an almost 30-year evolution of global governance that began with the popularization of the sustainable development concept. In this section, we now explore that conceptual and historical context. Toward Sustainable Development as a Normative Goal An especially important feature of this evolution is the gradual movement away from traditional governance mechanisms of norm promotion and rule making and toward goal setting, among other innovative governance mechanisms. While the reasons for this shift are varied, the general trend in global governance is well documented (Pauwelyn, Wessel, and Wouters 2014). The move toward innovative, multi-stakeholder, and goal-setting forms of global governance is especially discernable around sustainability concerns, as governments and stakeholders increasingly have sought new approaches given perceived limits, complexities, and failures of traditional global rule making (Kanie et al. 2013). In addition, what started out as separate environment and development agendas has evolved over time toward much greater recognition of the interdependence of environmental, social, and economic systems. The World Commission on Environment and Development (known as the “Brundtland Commission”) in 1987 articulated the first popular vision of sustainable development, which it defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987). This definition has been used for decades as a reference point for the concept, even as it continues to prove challenging to measure given ambiguity in how to interpret it when applied to concrete policy. Still, the concept succeeded in not only cementing the importance of considering economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development as interdependent, but also by adding the time dimension to development through consideration of intergenerational equity, rather than focusing only on human well-being in a single generation. The 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro created further political momentum for action on sustainable development issues. However, it produced a particular interpretation of sustainable development consistent with the contemporary political and economic context. It focused attention almost exclusively on the environmental and development dimensions of the concept, within an overall liberal economic order. In practice, this interpretation prioritized economic growth
