Content Index

The first recorded notion of sustainable forestry is articulated in the Electorate of Saxony.

John Evelyn advocates an extensive reforestation program and the systematic foundation of forests and parks in England, not least to support the British fleet dependent on wood resources.

The Swedish physician and botanist Carl Linnaeus publishes the tenth edition of his book Systema Naturae, which then provides the foundations for modern zoological taxonomy.

Public protests lead to the prohibition of oil drilling in 1970.

William E. Rees and Mathis Wackernagel introduce the concept of an “ecological footprint.”

The World Summit for Sustainable Development (Rio+10) takes place in Johannesburg, South Africa.

One of the first comprehensive forest surveys takes place in the duchy of Saxe-Weimar.

A series of drought hits the Sahel from 1968 to the early 1980s, leading to one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the twentieth century.

As many as ten million people die as a result of the severe famine.

The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is signed in Montreal, Canada.