Innovative communities: people-centre approaches to environmental management in the Asia-Pacific region

Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992 (also known as the Rio Earth Summit), the critical importance of innovation and change has been repeatedly highlighted within efforts to create a more sustainable society. These efforts have enjoyed a certain amount of success in that they have increased awareness of the principles of sustainability and helped to change the way that governments think and act. Many of the principles enshrined in the introduction to Agenda 21, 1 for example, are now reflected in government policymaking and in the actions of local authorities. Yet, despite all the efforts that have been made, environmental conditions across the globe are still deteriorating; prevailing consumption patterns are still unsustainable; and there are still no proper regulatory frameworks in place to prevent the free market’s negative impact on the environment. Many more steps need to be taken if we are successfully to transform the sustainability principles and slogans that arose from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit into actual practice.