In 1987, the United Nations World Commission on Environment and

Development issued a call for the creation of a new charter to define the

basic principles for sustainable development in the world. The drafting of an

Earth Charter was part of the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1994 Maurice Strong (Secretary-General of the Earth Summit and

Chairman of the Earth Council) and Mikhail Gorbachev (President of Green Cross

International) launched a new Earth Charter initiative with support from the Dutch

government. An Earth Charter Commission was formed in 1997 to oversee the project, and a

secretariat was set up in Costa Rica.

A new phase in the Earth Charter Initiative began with the official launching of the Earth

Charter at the Peace Palace in The Hague on June 29, 2000. This initiative was intended to

establish a foundation for global society and to help build a sustainable world―one that is

based on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace.

Since its launch in 2000, the Earth Charter Initiative has actively been seeking the

endorsement or support of individuals and organizations around the world