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.
The PONAM Programme was launched by the European Science Foundation in 1989 to study changes in climate over the last 5 million years and the impact these have had on the environment of the European Arctic, particularly East Greenland and Svalbard and their surrounding continental shelves. The programme has brough toether both terrestraial and marine geologiest from seven European countries. Its findings have also made important contributions to predicting future climate change.