The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5â€"16 in 1972.
When the United Nations General Assembly decided to convene the 1972 Stockholm Conference, at the initiative of the Government of Sweden to host it, UN Secretary-General U Thant invited Maurice Strong to lead it as Secretary-General of the Conference, as the Canadian diplomat (under Pierre Trudeau) had initiated and already worked for over two years on the project.
History
The UN Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 -
Sweden first suggested to the United Nations Economic and Social Council ECOSOC in 1968 the idea of having a UN conference to focus on human interactions with the environment. ECOSOC passed resolution 1346 supporting the idea. General Assembly Resolution 2398 in 1969 decided to convene a conference in 1972 and mandated a set of reports from the UN secretary-general suggesting that the conference focus on "stimulating and providing guidelines for action by national government and international organizations" facing environmental issues. Preparations for the conference were extensive, lasting 4 years, including 115 governments, and costing over $30,000,000.
Issues at the Conference
The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact nations boycotted the conference due to the lack of inclusion of East Germany, which was not allowed to participate as it was not a full member of the UN.
At the conference itself, divisions between developed and developing countries began to emerge. The Chinese delegation proved hostile to the United States at the conference, issuing a 17 point memorandum condemning United States policies in Indochina, as well as around the world. This stance emboldened other developing countries, which made up 70 of the 122 countries attending. Multiple countries including Pakistan, Peru, and Chile issued statements that were anti-colonial in nature, further worrying the United States delegation. So harsh was the criticism that Rogers Morton, at that time secretary of the interior, remarked "I wish the Russians were here", to divert the attention of the Chinese criticisms.
Stockholm Declaration
The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment and development; an Action Plan with 109 recommendations, and a Resolution.
Principles of the Stockholm Declaration:
- Human rights must be asserted, apartheid and colonialism condemned
- Natural resources must be safeguarded
- The Earth's capacity to produce renewable resources must be maintained
- Wildlife must be safeguarded
- Non-renewable resources must be shared and not exhausted
- Pollution must not exceed the environment's capacity to clean itself
- Damaging oceanic pollution must be prevented
- Development is needed to improve the environment
- Developing countries therefore need assistance
- Developing countries need reasonable prices for exports to carry out environmental management
- Environment policy must not hamper development
- Developing countries need money to develop environmental safeguards
- Integrated development planning is needed
- Rational planning should resolve conflicts between environment and development
- Human settlements must be planned to eliminate environmental problems
- Governments should plan their own appropriate population policies
- National institutions must plan development of states' natural resources
- Science and technology must be used to improve the environment
- Environmental education is essential
- Environmental research must be promoted, particularly in developing countries
- States may exploit their resources as they wish but must not endanger others
- Compensation is due to states thus endangered
- Each nation must establish its own standards
- There must be cooperation on international issues
- International organizations should help to improve the environment
- Weapons of mass destruction must be eliminated
One of the seminal issues that emerged from the conference is the recognition for poverty alleviation for protecting the environment. The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her seminal speech in the conference brought forward the connection between ecological management and poverty alleviation.
Some argue that this conference, and more importantly the scientific conferences preceding it, had a real impact on the environmental policies of the European Community (that later became the European Union). For example, in 1973, the EU created the Environmental and Consumer Protection Directorate, and composed the first Environmental Action Program. Such increased interest and research collaboration arguably paved the way for further understanding of global warming, which has led to such agreements as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and has given a foundation of modern environmentalism.
See also
- Earth Summit 1992
- Earth Summit 2002
- Johannesburg Declaration
- Habitat International Coalition
- United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009
- United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
- Minamata and Minamata disease
- World Environment Day
References
Further reading
- John McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement (London: John Wiley, 1995) wow
- Schulz-Walden, Thorsten (2013): Anfänge globaler Umweltpolitik. Umweltsicherheit in der internationalen Politik (1969â€"1975), Oldenbourg Verlag, München, ISBN 978-3-486-72362-5 [Rezension bei: https://web.archive.org/web/20140301204918/http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2014-1-019]
- Felix Dodds, Maurice Strong and Michael Strauss Only One Earth: The Long Road via Rio to Sustainable Development (London, Earthscan, 2012)
External links
- Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment - full text
- Introductory note by Günther Handl, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Declaration) in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
- Report from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, 1972
- Introductory note by Günther Handl, procedural history note and audiovisual material on the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Declaration) in the Historic Archives of the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law
