UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) is the organisation created by the UN to pressure governments to clean up the environment. In 1984, they developed the World Conservation Strategy, out of which came the incentive for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit (Rio, because it was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). In 1992, more than 100 heads of state met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (the largest meeting of world leaders ever) for the first international Earth Summit convened to address urgent problems of environmental protection and socioeconomic development. The assembled leaders signed numerous agreements and adopted Agenda 21, a 300-page plan for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century.

Agenda 21 is a greenprint shared by the world with the dual goal of a healthy environment and a healthy economy for everyone.

It consists of 40 chapters, each one identifying a challenge and then proposing simple, realistic solutions. The main issues addressed by Agenda 21 were continual damage to ecosystems, worsening of poverty, hunger and ill health, increasing world population and illiteracy. Agenda 21 has several objectives involving youth including:

- advancing the role of youth and actively involving them in the protection of the environment and the promotion of economic and social development.

- Children in sustainable development (survival, protection and development of children)