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Background
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development proposed the creation of a new charter or universal declaration on environmental protection and sustainable development that would "prescribe new norms for state and interstate behaviour needed to maintain livelihoods and life on our shared planet".
The Rio Commission on Environment and Development (1992) represented an attempt to do this, but it fell short of the aspirations that many people had for the Charter.
In 1994, a new Earth Charter project was initiated by the Earth Council, Green Cross International and several individuals, including Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev, and an international Earth Charter Commission was established.
In March 1997, the Commission produced the first version of a 'benchmark draft'. The text of the Earth Charter was finalized three years later, in March 2000.
If you have any comments on the Earth Charter or would like to sign-on as a supporter of the Earth Charter, please contact Sierra Club Canada (toll-free: 1-888-810-4204) or visit the Earth Charter web site.
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