The United Nations General Assembly, at its forty-second session, in 1987, adopted the ‘Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond’ as a framework to guide national action and international cooperation for environmentally sound development. The Environmental Perspective had been prepared by member governments in response to the General Assembly resolution 38/161 of 19 December 1983, which called for shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues and of the appropriate efforts needed to deal successfully with the challenge of protecting and enhancing the environment, aspirational goals for the world community, and a long-term agenda for action. The Perspective was prepared through a linked process of direct intergovernmental consultation and review, and the preparation by a Commission of eminent individuals, chaired Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway, of the report ‘Our Common Future’.