The first steps toward the development of the National Agenda 21 were taken in 1995. On this occasion, the Ministry of Environment developed studies and held a series of meetings with many governmental and non-governmental actors, seeking input and assistance in defining the methodology to be used and in sketching a picture of the initiatives for sustainable development undertaken in the country.
The following important initiatives took place in this period:
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A Preparatory Workshop for the Brazilian Agenda 21, held in Brasilia in April, 1996, bringing together representatives of government institutions, the private sector, NGOs and universities;
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National Consultation – "Sustainable Development: 100 Brazilian Experiments", conducted between October 1996 and February 1997 according to themes, and the publication of information about 183 projects from all over the country;
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Seminar – "Agenda 21: The Concrete Utopia", held in Rio de Janeiro, in March 1997, concurrently with Rio + 5, with discussions of strategic themes and priorities of the National Agenda 21;
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National Research – "What Brazilians think about the environment, development and sustainability, carried out with the Museum of Astronomy and Related Themes (MAST), the Institute of Religious Studies (ISER), and IBOPE, which surveyed the opinions of around 2000 people from throughout the country;
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Document – "The path of the Brazilian Agenda 21 – Principles and Actions, 1992-1997", developed with input from the initiatives listed above.
This intense process of discussion provided important inputs which allowed the Sustainable Development and National Agenda XXI Policies Commission to develop its methodology for moving forward with the Brazilian Agenda 21, defining the priority premises and themes for the country.
It was decided that the Brazilian Agenda 21 would be structured in three primary parts: an introduction, which is intended to outline the broad panorama of the country on the threshold of the 21st Century, a part devoted to six themes established as priorities (sustainable cities, sustainable agriculture, infrastructure and regional integration, management of natural resources, reduction of social inequalities, and science and technology & sustainable development; and a final part about the means of implementation of the strategies established for each theme.
It is intended that the methodology adopted reflects the interconnections of the priority themes and the interdependency between the environment, economic, social and institutional dimensions.
Considering that the National Agenda 21 shouldn’t be merely a document of the government, but rather the product of a consensus between the many sectors of Brazilian society, the Ministry of Environment has set up a tendering process to contract consultants who will organize processes for discussion and debate and the development of reference documents about the themes considered priorities for the National Agenda 21.
The consortium of consultants which emerges successful in the tendering process will base their work on participatory methods, by means of workshops and seminars which are open to the public, in such a way as to involve all sectors of society affected by the themes being discussed.
The results of the work carried out by the consultants will be organized and consolidated, with the goal of creating the first version of the Brazilian Agenda 21. This first version will then, be discussed and refined in a broad national seminar and be transformed into a final version to be analyzed and approved by the Sustainable Development and National Agenda 21 Policies Commission.
The development process of the Brazilian Agenda 21 can be followed on the homepage of the Ministry of Environment (www.mma.gov.br).
