This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.
In order to understand the Earth as a system, Agenda 21 recommends developing Earth observation systems from space which will provide integrated, continuous and long-term measurements of the interactions of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere, and developing a distribution system for data which will facilitate the utilization of data obtained through such observation.