National Capacity Needs Self-Assessment for Environmental management Republic of Palau

Today’s growth in human population and a sharp increase in resource consumption have turned environmental problems into issues of global significance. Only recently, in 1983 and more significantly in 1992, people have come to understand that economic prosperity is interconnected with the general health of the natural environment. Prior to 1992, the global business sector did not take into consideration the need to conduct business with sustainable resource use as a factor for their longterm success. In 1983 the UN General Assembly established the independent World Commission on Environment and Development, aiming to define global problems and seeking solutions thereto. The 1987 in the Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, the UN General Assembly defined the principle of sustainable development as development “which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro was a major breakthrough in this respect. The principles of maintaining the quality of the environment and using its resources in a balanced manner have been set out in three documents approved by the UN member states, dealing with the different facets of the natural and human environment.