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United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
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The United National Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference) was an international conference convened by the United Nations that was held in Stockholm, Sweden, from June 5-16, 1972, and was the first major international conference by the UN on environmental issues. The conference was one of the first attempts at starting an international dialogue on global environmental and climate change issues. 1
The decision to have the conference was based on the recommendations of the UN Economic and Social Council whose members saw a vital connection between the environment and social development. The 69 recommendations made at the conference showed a new mindset of viewing environmental issues as a product of socioeconomic problems. Consequently, the conference recommendations aimed to address ways of solving poor socioeconomic conditions worldwide as a way to fix environmental problems.
| Stockholm Conference Key Recommendations | |
| Rec | Description |
| Rec. 1 | Declared that patterns of rural and urban development needed to be better managed by governments (largely in the third world) and that it was the responsibility of all international development agencies to improve their assistance to governments in planning human settlements. |
| Rec. 3 | Stated that bilateral or multilateral consultation should be standard on any problem that affected the environment outside of a single country's borders (i.e emissions from one country blowing into a neighboring country). |
| Rec. 9 | Asked that the World Health Organization (WHO) improve its support to countries on issues of water supply and sewage handling. |
| Rec. 11 | Called on the future 1974 UN World Population Conference to address on population issues related to the environment. |
| Rec. 14 | Suggested the creation of a body within the UN responsible for creating international standards and measurements for the problem of noise pollution. |
| Rec. 21 | Called on international organizations to address the need to reduce harmful effects of pesticides and agro-chemical farming worldwide. |
| Rec. 24 | Suggested the UN develop wide ranging utilities for monitoring forest management issues. |
| Rec. 29 | Suggested the UN examine the effects of pollutants on wildlife worldwide. |
| Rec. 32 | Stated the need for future conferences on protecting wildlife inhabiting international waters or migrating across state boundaries. |
| Rec. 57 | Declared the Secretary- General should support analysis of the environmental effects from energy use and energy production. |
Footnotes
1: John Baylis, Steve Smith, The Globalization of World Politics (3rd ed), 2005 (Oxford: Oxford UP, 454-455).
Resources
- "Constitution of the Conference," Stockholm 1972, UNEP.org
- "Stockholm 1972: Report on Conference on the Human Environment," UNEP.org
- Tolba, Mostafa. Global Environmental Diplomacy: Negotiating Environmental Agreements for the World, 1973-1992. (Cambridge, MIT Press 1998) pp. 2-4, 28-30, 165-168
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