Melbourne, with a population of three  million, incorporated the Earth Charter into its Strategic Plan, which  envisions the city as thriving and sustainable by 2010. The city government  undertook a comparative evaluation of their existing policy with the Earth  Charter's main principles, finding the vision and many points in its Objectives  Plan for 2010 to be consistent with the Earth Charter. The city government  plans to explore opportunities to demonstrate their adoption of the Earth  Charter principles through the Council's environmental programmes. The Mayor of  Melbourne was selected to represent all major Australian cities at the World  Summit on Sustainable Development and supported acknowledgement of the Earth  Charter in the Local Authorities Summit resolution.

One  key outcome of the City of Melbourne’s  process was the publication of The Melbourne  Principles, whichincorporate the  principles of the Earth Charter and make it more accessible to municipal  leaders. The Melbourne Principles were also adopted at the Local Government  Summit in 2002, and have been particularly effective as a tool to introduce the  Earth Charter in English-speaking countries like Canada.