The Shoreline between Nature and Society, a Changing Heritage - Vulnerability of Coastal Ecosystems and Adaptation - page 206

to the fish resources. Quietly, but with the more aggressive and
denouncing support of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
dedicated solely to the protection of the environment, the participants in
the Rio Summit attempted to conciliate the points of view of the
stakeholders according to a logic which is, once again, borrowed from
the United States, but behind it is the broad Anglo-Saxon management
form for a “responsible use” of resources, both physical and biological.
This gave the signal to the integrated coastal management.
Agenda 21 is the reference document of the World Summit that was
held in Rio de Janeiro. It constitutes in a way the guidelines of the
international community for the 21st Century, a “global strategy for
sustainable development” that should be articulated from the United
Nations down to the smallest coastal community, but also upward from
the latter, as their practices need to integrate within the pre-established
framework that requires the acknowledgment of economic, cultural and
social local realities. It is the two-level logic with the experience from
the bottom (bottom-up) and the recommendations from the top (top-
down). In practice, Agenda 21 also prematurely ratified, right after the
fall of the Berlin Wall put in motion fundamental changes, intensified
globalization. The ambition is global, it concerns the whole planet and
touches on all the problems it will experience and will have to face. For
all these objectives, the only realistic and relatively empirical method is
international cooperation. The latter is the only option likely to
guarantee a certain level of security for the planet as well as a certain
socio-political balance. There is no mention of extending democracy to
the whole world, but the greater transparency needed in the process is
mentioned, which is a way of envisaging the diffusion of democratic
principles. Sustainable development is the overarching aim, and it
requires the more intensive economic development of developing
countries, so as to fight poverty and make health policies more
effective, not to mention (but it is less clear) the issue of demography.
As we can see, the ambitions of Agenda 21 are broad and inclusive
rather than totalizing, but are largely inspired by Anglo-Saxon cultural
practices. Everything that touches on the environment is considered
with increased interest, starting with concerns around climate change
(or global warming). When we refer to “global change”, we enter the
domain of relations between humans and their environment. What