The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, was a historical watershed, representing a planetary effort to establish new directions for development that would be based on concern for environmental protection, social justice and economic efficiency.

This Conference resulted in five documents: Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Statement of Forest Principles, the United Nations Convention on Biodiversity, and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Agenda 21 has turned out to be an especially important document, which reflects a set of principles adopted by consensus by leaders from the entire world, oriented to guaranteeing a sustainable basis for development in the next century.

Sustainable development should be understood as "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Agenda 21 thus indicates strategies in pursuit of sustainable development, and indicates actions, actors and partnerships, methodologies, and institutional mechanisms necessary for its implementation and monitoring.

The discussions about the formulation of Agenda 21 did not emphasize only global strategies, but had a simultaneously global and local focus. It was perceived that the strategies sketched out in Agenda 21 for solving problems can best be achieved through a combination of decentralized cooperation and localized actions, by means of the implementation of policies and programs that would mobilize at the same time local, national, regional and international institutions.

In light of the importance given to the need for each society to establish their own priorities, the signatory countries to the accords resulting from the UN Conference on Environment and Development assumed the commitment to develop and implement their respective national Agenda 21s.

Thus Brazil, as a signatory to these documents, has the commitment to formulate and implement the Brazilian Agenda 21.