Stockholm Conference
The Stockholm Conference, formally known as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, took place in June 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. It was convened as a response to growing global environmental concerns and aimed to address pollution and the conservation of the Earth’s natural resources. The conference was prompted by a 1968 UN General Assembly resolution and followed a preparatory seminar in Founex, Switzerland, which highlighted the differing priorities of developed and developing nations regarding environmental issues and resource management.
Attended by 114 countries, the conference culminated in the adoption of the Declaration of Twenty-six Principles, emphasizing the need for humanity to safeguard the environment for future generations. Additionally, the Stockholm Action Plan outlined a framework for continued cooperation on environmental matters. A significant outcome was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in December 1972, designed to coordinate international environmental activities. The conference marked a pivotal moment in recognizing the interconnection between development and environmental sustainability, particularly as it sought to balance the economic aspirations of developing nations with global ecological responsibilities.
Stockholm Conference
- DATE: June, 1972
The Stockholm Conference was the first multilateral environmental conference and the forerunner to subsequent conferences, treaties, and agreements on specific environmental issues. Its major purpose was to focus attention on the preservation of the Earth’s genetic resources.
Background
The United Nations (UN) Conference on the Human Environment, known as the Stockholm Conference, was convened by the United Nations General Assembly in Stockholm, Sweden, in June 1972. The conference was the result of a 1967 initiative by Sweden and a December 3, 1968, UN General Assembly resolution that called on all the states to convene in one forum in order to focus attention on increasing worldwide environmental problems and to formulate a plan for cleaning up pollution and for conserving and protecting the genetic and natural resources of the Earth.
Prior to the conference, a seminar on issues concerning the environment was held at Founex, Switzerland, in June 1971, to settle one of the major disputes facing the countries that were to meet in Stockholm: The developed countries were interested in resource conservation, while the developing countries were anxious to industrialize and considered environmental issues a secondary concern. When pressed to preserve the large part of the Earth’s biological resources found in tropical forests, the developing states demanded access to Western environmental technology in return. At Founex, and again at Stockholm, the developing countries of the south charged the north with using environmental issues to restrict their economic growth. A term coined at Founex, “ecodevelopment,” or development conducted in an ecologically sound manner, became the theme for the Stockholm Conference.
Another dispute that surfaced at Stockholm was a result of the Cold War. The Western countries adopted the “Vienna formula,” which gave the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) a seat at Stockholm and refused to seat the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). As a result, the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact bloc of countries refused to attend the conference.
Provisions
The Stockholm Conference was attended by 114 countries, representing the larger part of the world’s population. Representaives adopted the Declaration of Twenty-six Principles on managing the global environment, which stated that to “defend and improve the human environment for present and future generations has become an imperative goal for mankind.” Representatives also adopted a Declaration on the Human Environment, which asserted the responsibility of humanity to preserve the Earth’s environment, and an Action Plan for the Human Environment, which took the form of recommendations for cooperation in environmental matters. The 109-point Stockholm Action Plan was written to define the parameters for future work and to mobilize a “common effort for the preservation and improvement of the human environment.”
At the request of the conference, the United Nations was to carry out the recommendations. Thus, in December 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was created by the UN General Assembly as a focus and a coordinator for future environmental activities.
Impact on Resource Use
The Stockholm Conference was only a beginning to the work of preserving the environment, but it did formulate some basic principles, especially the importance of preserving the Earth’s genetic resources. The implementation of those principles through action and specific agreements was left to the United Nations system, to international commissions, and to further conferences of concerned states.
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Chasek, Pamela. "The Legacies of the Stockholm Conference." International Institute for Sustainable Development, June 2022, www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/stockholm-conference-legacy. Accessed 6 Jan. 2025.
Michel, David. "One Earth, One Security Space: From the 1972 Stockholm Conference to Stockholm+50 and Beyond." Stockholm Environment Institute, 22 Nov. 2022, www.sei.org/perspectives/one-earth-one-security-space/. Accessed 6 Jan. 2025.