United Nations Conference on the Human Environment

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference) was an international conference convened under United Nations auspices held in Stockholm, Sweden from June 5–16, 1972. It was the UN's first major conference on international environmental issues, and marked a turning point in the development of international environmental politics.^[1]

When the UN General Assembly decided to convene the Stockholm Conference, at the initiative of the Government of Sweden, UN Secretary-General U Thant invited Maurice Strong to lead it as Secretary-General of the Conference.^[2]

The conference was opened and addressed by the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme and secretary-general Kurt Waldheim to discuss the state of the global environment. Attended by the representatives of 113 countries, 19 inter-governmental agencies, and more than 400 inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations, it is widely recognized as the beginning of modern political and public awareness of global environmental problems.^[1]

The meeting agreed upon a Declaration containing 26 principles concerning the environment and development; an Action Plan with 109 recommendations, and a Resolution.^[1]

Some argue^[3] 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.

See also

• Earth Summit 1992
• Earth Summit 2002
• Johannesburg Declaration
• Habitat International Coalition
• United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009

http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?documentid=97&articleid=1503

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} John Baylis, Steve Smith. 2005. The Globalization of World Politics (3rd ed). Oxford. Oxford University Press. P.454-455
2. ^ Strong, Maurice; Introduction by Kofi Annan (2001). Where on Earth are We Going? (Reprint ed.). New York, London: Texere. pp. 120–136. ISBN 1-58799-092-X. 
3. ^ Björn-Ola Linnér and Henrik Selin The Thirty Year Quest for Sustainability: The Legacy of the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, Paper presented at Annual Convention of International Studies Association, Portland, Oregon, USA, 25 February – 1 March 2003, as part of the panel “Institutions and the Production of Knowledge for Environmental Governance” (co-author Henrik Selin).p. 3

Further reading

• John McCormick, The Global Environmental Movement (London: John Wiley, 1995)

External links

• Report from the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, 1972