What is Agenda 21?

The United Nations “Earth Summit” held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 drew the world’s attention to the environmental problems facing the earth and the social inequalities of its people.

150 nations made a commitment to seek an agenda to build sustainable communities for the 21st century by producing a global action plan called Agenda 21.

What does sustainability mean?

Living our lives in a way that does not damage the Earth for future generations and at the same time improving the quality of life of the world’s poorest people by sharing the Earth’s resources. Something is sustainable if we can go on doing it, if we can’t it’s not’.

It has been calculated that if everyone on the planet consumed as much as an average resident of the South West region, which includes Wiltshire, we would need three planet earths to support us. Clearly this is not sustainable.

What is South Wiltshire Agenda 21?

South Wiltshire Agenda 21 (SWA21) is a local group of individuals and organisations who are working together to promote change in our local community. We want make Agenda 21 into more than just a mission statement. That is why our website and newsletter are called Action 21.

The Agenda 21 slogan “Think Global, Act Local” helps us to think about how our own actions can have a global impact and what we can do locally to reduce that impact.