Its development begun in 1987, at the request of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development. Its principles are grounded in contemporary science, international law, the wisdom of the world’s great philosophical and religious traditions, declarations and reports of the 7 UN conferences of the 1990s, the worldwide ethical movement and a large number of governmental declarations and treaties of the peoples of the last 30 years.
The Earth Charter is the result of a process of intercultural conversations which lasted for more than 10 years. Throughout this time, its text was subjected to a process of international consultation, comment and debate by NGOs, community groups, professional societies and international experts from very different fields. Finally, it was reviewed and contrasted by thousands of people and hundreds of organisations around the world.