PROJECT ON – The United Nations Conference on the Human

Environment, 1972

1|Page
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my professor Dr. Ajay Kumar
Barnwal, who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project on the topic
“The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, 1972”, which also helped

me in doing a lot of research and I came to know about development of international

environment law, various principle and declaration adopted for the protection o environment
and step taken by world community to tackle the problem of environment degradation. I am
really thankful to them.

Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in
finishing this project within the limited time.

I am making this project not only for marks but to also increase my knowledge .

Thanks again to all who helped me.

- Ankit Kumar Vats

2|Page
 INDEX

1. Introduction 4

2. Historical Background And Scientific Foundations 6

3. Main Themes Of The Conference And Its Preparatory Meetings 9

4. After The Stockholm Conference 11

5. Declaration Of The Conference 13

6. Summary Of Key Provisions And Their Legal Significance 16

7. Impacts And Issues 21

8. Conclusion 22

9. References 23

3|Page
 INTRODUCTION

In response to the growing environmental movement of the 1960s, many nations began to
take actions to protect the environment within their borders. By the early 1970s, however,
governments began to realize that pollution did not stop at their borders. International
consensus and cooperation were required to tackle environmental issues, which affected the
entire world.1

The Stockholm Conference is outputs of the first global environmental conferences, namely
the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, June 5-16, 1972.
Other policy or legal instruments that emerged from this conferences, such as the Action Plan
for the Human Environment at Stockholm is intimately linked to the declarations,
conceptually as well as politically. This convention undeniably represent major milestones in
the evolution of international environmental law, bracketing what has been called the
“modern era” of international environmental law.2

Stockholm represented a first taking stock of the global human impact on the environment, an
attempt at forging a basic common outlook on how to address the challenge of preserving and
enhancing the human environment. As a result, the Stockholm Declaration espouses mostly
broad environmental policy goals and objectives rather than detailed normative positions.
However, following Stockholm, global awareness of environmental issues increased
dramatically, as did international environmental law-making proper. At the same time, the
focus of international environmental activism progressively expanded beyond transboundary
and global commons issues to media-specific and cross-sectoral regulation and the
synthesizing of economic and development considerations in environmental decision-making.

The Stockholm meeting was the first global conference on the environment---indeed the first
world conference to focus on a single issue. Because it helped usher in the modern

1
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), available at:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/united-nations-conference-human-
environment-1972 (Last visited on Nov 10, 2019)
2
Günther Handl, Declaration Of The United Nations Conference On The Human Environment (Stockholm
Declaration), 1972 And The Rio Declaration On Environment And Development, 199, United Nations
Audiovisual Library of International Law. Available at http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/dunche/dunche_e.pdf (last
visited on Nov 10,2019)

4|Page
environmental era. Acting on a proposal from Sweden, the UN General Assembly in 1968
called for an international conference to examine "problems of the human environment...and
also to identify those aspects of it that can only, or best be solved through international
cooperation and agreement." 3
Maurice F. Strong, then head of the Canadian foreign aid agency, headed a conference
secretariat, and a preparatory committee met four times between 1970 and 1972. The
conference initially was designed to focus on environment issues, but development issues
were added at the urging of developing countries. One hundred and thirteen governments sent
delegations to Stockholm. The entire Eastern bloc boycotted the conference because East
Germany was excluded because of extant political conflicts over the postwar division of
Germany. Three parallel conferences of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) took place
outside the official proceedings: the Environment Forum, the Peoples Forum, and Dai Dong.
The Environment Forum had the official blessing of the UN conference, but the Peoples
Forum and Dai Dong took a more confrontational approach as the Vietnam War sparked
much radical protest. NGOs drafted a set of alternative environmental principles.4

The conference produced a Declaration on the Human Environment, an Action Plan for the
Human Environment, and a Resolution on Institutional and Financial Arrangements. The
Stockholm declaration contains 26 principles concerning the environment and development,
many of which had not yet been formally recorded in internationally recognized texts.
Principle 21, in particular, is considered by international lawyers to have served as a
precedent for much of the environmental diplomacy of the past two decades; it acknowledges
state sovereignty over national resources but stipulates that states have "the responsibility to
ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the
environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction." The Action
Plan contained 109 recommendations spanning 6 broad issues: human settlements, natural
resource management, pollution of international significance, educational and social aspects
of the environment, development and environment, and international organizations.5

3
Supra
4
THE 1972 STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE, Environment, Volume 34, Number 8, Available at:
http://www.ciesin.org/docs/008-570/box9.html
5
Supra

5|Page
 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND SCIENTIFIC FOUNDATIONS

The Stockholm Conference, and its preparation, occurred at a historic moment marked by a
strong questioning of both the Western and socialist development models. In the 60s, the
world witnessed, in the United States, the intense struggle for Civil Rights, the debate on the
Vietnam War and the emergence of new patterns of behavior, including consumer rights.
In Western Europe, the year 1968 was symbolic of the resistance of a new generation to an
established system of values. In the same year, the Soviet Union buried the Czech dream of
“socialism with a human face” and established a new doctrine that, “deep down […]
amounted to a version of the Monroe Doctrine that was a little more convoluted, a little
coarser, and less refined [than the original]”. 6
Outside the two centers of power that constituted the core of the Cold War, discussions were
concentrated on the search for solutions to grave social and economic problems. In several
developing countries, from Brazil to Spain, fear of the spread of communism “justified”
authoritarian regimes that sought to legitimize their power through significant results in the
economic sector. In Africa and Asia, still under the impact of decolonization—and despite
attempts by the Non-Alignment Movement to search for venues of greater autonomy for the
developing world—new ideas and challenges were still developing within the apparently
insurmountable context of the Cold War.
The environmental concerns of the sixties resonated only in a few sectors of civil society in
the wealthiest countries of the West. “Although since the beginning of the decade [the sixties]
awareness was seen in a few segments of public opinion, mainly in the United States, of
ecological problems [...], the rise of the ‘greens’ as a political movement was largely
connected to the protest movements of 1968.” Greater attention was paid to environmental
concerns in these societies for a number reasons, including a series of environmental disasters
of great proportions (e.g., the mercury poisoning of fishermen and their families in
Minamata, Japan, in the fifties through to the seventies—which caused public opinion revolt
and was widely publicized through the extraordinary and dramatic photos of W. Eugene
Smith; or the damage to the English and French coasts caused by the sinking of the “Torrey
Canyon” tanker in 1967) and accusations by the scientific and academic communities.7

6
MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS, Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg Brazil and the Three United Nations
Conferences on the Environment, ISBN 978-85-7631-146-1, Brazil, 2009.
7
Karen N Scott, THE DYNAMIC EVOLUTION OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW 677 (Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 2018) .

6|Page
Nevertheless, the strength of the ecological movement in the sixties came, above all, from the
fact that the negative consequences of industrialization—such as pollution, traffic and
noise—had begun to affect most of the population in wealthy countries: the middle class,
whose education and degree of freedom enabled the exploration of political alternatives to
express its dissatisfaction. The middle class of the wealthiest societies, after twenty years of
uninterrupted growth, in which its necessities of life such as health, housing, education and
food had been satisfied, was ready to alter its priorities and embrace new ideas and behaviors
that would directly modify its way of life. The impact of works such as Silent Spring (1962),
by Rachel Carson, and This Endangered Planet (1971), by Richard Falk, or of essays and
books by Garrett Hardin, like The Tragedy of Commons (1968) and Exploring New Ethics
for Survival (1972), had a strong impact on public opinion. Published under the title The
Limits to Growth, a few months before the opening of the Stockholm Conference (March
1972), this document presented an almost apocalyptic view of the consequences of
“progress” as envisioned in the current model. The book reflected the view that modern
society was heading towards self-destruction, a view increasingly adopted at that time.
Another book that had a strong impact just before the Conference was Blueprint for Survival,
published in January 1972 by the English journal The Ecologist.8

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE), held in Stockholm,
Sweden, in 1972, was the first major international conference on the environment. The
United Nations General Assembly convened the UNCHE at the request of the Swedish
government. Representatives from 113 nations and over 400 non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) attended the Stockholm Conference.
The gathering produced the Declaration of the Conference on the Human Environment and
an action plan. The declaration noted that many factors harm the environment, including
population growth, developing economies, and technological and industrial advancements.
Despite the pressure placed on the environment, the declaration proffered 26 principles “to
inspire and guide the peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human
environment.” 9
The Declaration of the Conference stated that every human has the right to enjoy a clean and
healthy environment. With this right, however, comes the responsibility to preserve the
environment for future generations. The document noted that humans must properly manage

8
Supra Note 6
9
Supra Note 7

7|Page
wildlife and their ecosystems to ensure their continued survival, and it sought an end to the
discharge of pollution into the environment. The declaration also called on industrialized
nations to provide financial and technological assistance to developing nations to enable them
to develop their economies in an environmentally responsible manner.
The declaration was the first major international document to recognize that both developing
and industrialized economies contribute to environmental problems, and it noted that most
environmental problems in developing economies occur because of underdevelopment.
Poverty in developing nations leads to poor health, poor sanitation, and release of toxic
chemicals. These conditions release harmful human, animal, and chemical products into the
environment. Developing economies also often seek advancement of the economy with little
regard for environmental regulation. Industrialized nations contribute to environmental
problems through technological advancements and industrialization. Energy production,
automobile emissions, and factory production release greenhouse gases and other chemicals
into the environment.
Whereas the Declaration of the Convention contained many lofty ideals, the action plan of
the Stockholm Conference contained 109 specific recommendations for achieving these
goals. The action plan presented 69 recommendations on how governments,
intergovernmental agencies, and NGOs could work together to implement environmental
protection strategies. The action plan also contained 16 proposals for dealing with pollution
in general. Recommendation 70 contains one of the first references to global climate change
contained in an international document. It recommends that governments be “mindful of
activities in which there is an appreciable risk of effects on the climate.” The action plan also
called for establishing international standards for pollutants after scientific research into the
effect of certain pollutants on the environment. The action plan then recommended the
creation of a network of national and international pollution monitoring agencies. The United
Nations founded the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1972 to coordinate its
environmental initiatives and to provide support to developing nations on environmental
issues.10

10
United Nations, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, -16 June,
1972 (New York, 1973)

8|Page
 MAIN THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE AND ITS PREPARATORY MEETINGS

The XXIII United Nations General Assembly endorsed, in Resolution 2398, the proposal for
a United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, transmitted by Resolution 1346
(XLV) of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). This was based on the Swedish
proposal presented in the preceding year at the XLIV Session of ECOSOC.11

Resolution 2581 of the XXIV Session of the General Assembly encompassed the terms of
ECOSOC Resolution 1448 (XLVI), which transcribed the results of the ad hoc group (Doc.
E/4667) with suggestions for the preparation and organization of the Conference. The
Resolution also contained acceptance of the offer made by the Swedish government to hold
the Conference in Stockholm and the establishment of a Preparatory Committee constituted
by twenty-seven representativesnominated by the Governments of the following countries:
Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Singapore, Costa Rica, U.S. France, Ghana, Guinea,
India, Iran, Italy, Yugoslavia, Jamaica, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Nigeria, Netherlands,
United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Togo, Soviet Union and
Zambia.12

Preparatory Committee session

Its first session, held in New York from 10 to 20 March 1970, the Committee defined the
programme content and selection of topics of the Conference and established
recommendations for action. It also considered the organisational structure of the Conference
and reviewed the documentation requirements. At its second session, held at Geneva from 8
to 19 February 1971, the Committee prepared a provisional agenda for the Conference,
discussed the possible form and content of a declaration on the human environment, and
recommended the establishment of an intergovernmental working group on the declaration. It
also carried out a preliminary examination of the question of marine pollution, monitoring or
surveillance, pollutant release limits, conservation, soils, training, information exchange and
gene pools, and recommended the establishment of intergovernmental working groups to deal
respectively with marine pollution, monitoring, conservation and soils. It considered further

11
United Nations, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 5-16 June,
1972 (New York, 1973)
12
Supra

9|Page
the organization and structure of the Conference. At its third session, held in New York from
13 to 24 September 1971, the Preparatory Committee reviewed the progress of the
substantive work of the Conference and discussed the draft declaration. The Committee held
a fourth session in New York from 6 to 17 March 1972, at which it dealt primarily with the
international organizational implications of recommendations for action, including the
financial implications, and with the draft Declaration on the Human Environment.13

13
Supra Note 6

10 | P a g e
 AFTER THE STOCKHOLM CONFERENCE

In the two decades that followed the Stockholm Conference, international environmental
agreements proliferated. By the end of the period, there were more than 1100 international
legal instruments that were either fully concerned with the environment or had important
provisions relating to the environment. This number includes both binding agreements and
nonbinding legal instruments, such as the U.N. Stockholm Declaration on the Human
Environment.14
In this period, countries became adept at negotiating new agreements in a relatively short
time frame, often less than two years. Even the intergovernmental negotiations for the U.N.
Framework Convention on Climate Change took only 16 months to reach agreement.'
Generally, it took longer for the agreements to come into effect than to negotiate.15

The pattern of international environmental agreements was one of separate agreements for
specific problems, each with its own system of monitoring and reporting, own secretariat, and
often its own, separate, financing facility to assist countries in implementing the agreement.
This led to the observation by 1993 that there was "treaty congestion" and the system needed
to become more efficient.16
The concept of a framework agreement, supplemented by one or more protocols to address
specific problems, also emerged during this period. If a State were to become party to the
framework agreement, it also had to join one or more of the protocols attached to it. The
pattern of a framework agreement with separate protocols subsequently became the prototype
for the negotiation of many other international agreements, However, the requirement that a
State must join a protocol when becoming a party to the framework agreement did not
survive.17
The period between 1972-1992 witnessed changes in the themes and in the focus of
international environmental agreements. The scope expanded from agreements controlling
trans-boundary pollution to ones addressed to global pollution problems, such as depletion of
the ozone layer; from a focus on protecting certain kinds of wildlife to conserving
ecosystems; from controlling trade across borders to controlling activities within national

14
Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report of the United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
15
Edith Brown Weiss, “The Evolution of International Environmental Law”, Japanese Yearbook of
International Law Vol. 54 (2011).
16
Edith Brown Weiss, "International Environmental Law: Contemporary Issues and the Emergence of a New
World Order," Georgetown Law Journal, pp. 675-710, Vol. 81, No. 3 (1993)
17
Supra Note 15

11 | P a g e
borders that threatened the environment, as by protecting natural world heritage sites,
wetlands, and biologically diverse areas. The obligations in the new agreements were
generally more detailed and intrusive on national sovereignty than in previous agreements.
There is no instance in which provisions in existing agreements have been weakened. Rather
they have been strengthened and changes made to make them more effective.18

International environmental law also developed significantly in several other areas. Foremost
is the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention, which provides unequivocally in Article 192 that
states are to protect and preserve the marine environment and in subsequent articles sets forth
detailed measures to be taken in order to do so.19

Protection of the environment during warfare also emerged as an important subject of

international law, as exemplified by the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any
Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, which prohibits the use of
those techniques "having widespread, long-lasting or severe effects as the means of
destruction, damage or injury to any other State Party."20

A major challenge is to identify, access and manage risks to the environment and to human
health. Some international agreements thus have provided for monitoring, early warning
systems of dangers, and prioritization of risks.

Similarly, some of the agreements during this period were directed to conserving ecosystems,
rather than only specific pollutants or sources of pollution. For example, the 1978 Great
Lakes Water Quality Agreement broadened the focus of the 1972 Agreement from specific
kinds of pollution to protection of basin-wide ecosystems in the Great Lakes.28 This led to
the inclusion of a Protocol in 1987 to address ground water pollution and atmospheric
transport of pollution as issues central to protecting the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.21

18
Supra
19
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, December 10, 1982, United Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 1833,
20
Article 1, Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any Hostile Use of Environmental Modification
Techniques (ENMOD Convention), May 18, 1977, United Nations Treaty Series, Vol. 1108
21
Supra Note 15

12 | P a g e
 DECLARATION OF THE CONFERENCE
At the end of the conference, 7 proclamation and 26 principle were agreed and declared by
the participating States. These principle are known as Magna Carta on Human Environment.
The Stockholm Declaration (1972) was the first holistic approach to deal with the problems
of environment.22
7 Proclamations are as:-
1. Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical
sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual
growth. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has
been reached when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has
acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an
unprecedented scale. Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man
made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights-even
the right to life itself.23
2. The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which
affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world; it
is the urgent desire of the peoples of the whole world and the duty of all
Governments.24
3. Man has constantly to sum up experience and go on discovering, inventing, creating
and advancing. In our time, man's capability to transform his surroundings, if used
wisely, can bring to all peoples the benefits of development and the opportunity to
enhance the quality of life. Wrongly or heedlessly applied, the same power can do
incalculable harm to human beings and the human environment. We see around us
growing evidence of man-made harm in many regions of the earth:
dangerous levels of pollution in water, air, earth and living beings; major and
undesirable disturbances to the ecological balance of the biosphere; destruction and
depletion of Irreplaceable resources; and gross deficiencies, harmful to the physical,

22
S C Shastri, Environmental Law 452, (Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 5 th Edn., 2015)
23
Proclamation 1, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
24
Proclamation 2, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),

13 | P a g e
 mental and social health of man, in the man-made environment, particularly in the
living and working environment.25
4. In the developing countries most of the environmental problems are caused by under-
development. Millions continue to live far below the minimum levels required for a
decent human existence, deprived of adequate food and clothing, shelter and
education, health and sanitation. Therefore, the developing countries must direct their
efforts to development, bearing in mind their priorities and the need to safeguard and
improve the environment. For the same purpose, the industrialized countries should
make efforts to reduce the gap themselves and the developing countries. In the
industrialized countries, environmental problems are generally related to
industrialization and technological development.26
5. The natural growth of population continuously presents problems for the preservation
of the environment, and adequate policies and measures should be adopted, as
appropriate, to face these problems. Of all things in the world, people are the most
precious. It is the people that propel social progress, create social wealth, develop
science and technology and, through their hard work, continuously transform the
human environment. Along with social progress and the advance of production,
science and technology, the capability of man to improve the environment increases
with each passing day.27
6. A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the
world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through
ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly
environment on which our life and well-being depend. Conversely, through fuller
knowledge and wiser action, we can achieve for ourselves and our posterity a better
life in an environment more in keeping with human needs and hopes. There are broad
vistas for the enhancement of environmental quality and the creation of a good life.
What is needed is an enthusiastic but calm state of mind and intense but orderly work.
For the purpose of attaining freedom in the world of nature, man must use knowledge
to build, in collaboration with nature, a better environment. To defend and improve

25
Proclamation 3, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
26
Proclamation 4, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
27
Proclamation 5, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),

14 | P a g e
 the human environment for present and future generations has become an imperative
goal for mankind a goal to be pursued together with, and in harmony with, the
established and fundamental goals of peace and of worldwide economic and social
development.28
7. To achieve this environmental goal will demand the acceptance of responsibility by
citizens and communities and by enterprises and institutions at every level, all sharing
equitably in common efforts. Individuals in all walks of life as well as organizations
in many fields, by their· values and the sum of their actions, will shape the world
environment of the future. Local and national governments will bear the greatest
burden for jurisdictions. International co-operation is also needed in order to raise
resources to support the developing countries in carrying out their responsibilities in
this field. A growing class of environmental problems, because they are regional or
global in extent or because they affect the common international realm, will require
extensive co-operation among nations and action by international organizations in the
common interest. The Conference calls upon Governments and peoples to exert
common efforts for the preservation and improvement of the human environment, for
the benefit of all the people and for their posterity.29

28
Proclamation 6, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
29
Proclamation 7, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report
of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),

15 | P a g e
 SUMMARY OF KEY PROVISIONS AND THEIR LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Stockholm Declaration on Environment comprises a proclamation of 26 principles and
submission of recommendations. Summary o principle of the conference are :

 The Prevention of Environmental Harm

Probably the most significant provision of the conference relates to the prevention of
environmental harm. Stockholm Principle 21 establishes a State’s responsibility to ensure
that activities within its activity or control do not cause damage to the environment of other
States or to areas beyond national jurisdiction or control. This obligation is balanced by the
declarations’ recognition, in the first part of the principles, of a State’s sovereign right to
“exploit” its natural resources according to its “environmental” policies. While at Stockholm
some countries still questioned the customary legal nature of the obligation concerned, today
there is no doubt that this obligation is part of general international law. Thus in its Advisory
Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons the International Court of
Justice expressly endorsed the obligation as a rule of international customary law.30
Principles concerning prevention of environmental harm are:
Principle 1- states that, Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate
conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being,
and he bears a solemn responsibility to protect and improve the environment for present and
future generations.
Principle 12- Resources should be made available to preserve and improve the
environment.31

 Environment and Development:

In order to achieve a more rational management of resources and thus to improve the
environment, States should adopt an integrated and coordinated approach to their
development planning so as to ensure that development is compatible with the need to protect
and improve the human environment.

30
Günther Handl, Declaration Of The United Nations Conference On The Human Environment (Stockholm
Declaration), 1972 And The Rio Declaration On Environment And Development, 199, United Nations
Audiovisual Library of International Law. Available at http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/dunche/dunche_e.pdf (last
visited on Nov 10,2019)
31
Principle 1& 12, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973)

16 | P a g e
The environmental policies of all States should enhance and not adversely affect the present
or future development potential of developing countries, nor should they hamper the
attainment of better living conditions of all.32
At the Stockholm characterization of the relationship between environment and development
was one of the most sensitive challenges facing the conference. Initial ecology-oriented drafts
circulated by western industrialized countries failed to get traction as developing countries
successfully reinserted a developmental perspective in the final versions of the two
declarations. Thus, after affirming that “both aspects of man’s environment, the natural and
the man-made, are essential to his well-being”, Principle 8 of the Stockholm Declaration
axiomatically labels “economic and social development” as essential needs of present and
future generations. Today, economic development, social development and environmental
protection are deemed the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable
development (Johannesburg Plan of Action).33
Principle 21- States have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their
own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their
jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.34

 Management of Natural Resources:

The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna and
especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the benefit
of present and future generations through careful planning or management as appropriate.
(a) Non-Renewable Resources:
The non-renewable resources of the earth must be employed in such a way as to guard against
their future exhaustion and to ensure that benefits from such employment are shared by all
mankind.
(b) Renewable Resources:

32
Puja Mondal, Stockholm Conference: Framework and Recommendations of the Conference, available at :
http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/environment/stockholm-conference-framework-and-recommendations-of-
the-conference/39718
33
Supra Note 30
34
Principle 21, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report of
the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973)

17 | P a g e
The capacity of the earth to produce vital renewable resources must be maintained and,
wherever practicable, restored or improved.35
Principle 2- The natural resources of the earth, including the air, water, land, flora and fauna
and especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the
benefit of present and future.
Principle 3.- The capacity of the earth to produce vital renewable resources must be
maintained and, wherever practicable, restored or improved.
Principle 5 - The non-renewable resources must be employed in a way as to guard against the
danger of their future exhaustion and to ensure that benefits from such employment are
shared by all.36

 Conservation of Wildlife:
Man has a special responsibility to safeguard and wisely manage the heritage of wildlife and
its habitat, which are now gravely imperiled by a combination of adverse factors. Nature
conservation, including wildlife, must therefore receive importance in planning for economic
development.
Principle 4- Man has a special responsibility to safeguard and wisely manage the heritage of
wildlife and its habitat, which are now gravely imperiled by a combination of adverse
factors.37

 Population Policy:
Demographic policies should be applied, where the rate of population growth or excessive
population concentrations are likely to have adverse effects on the environment or
development.
Principle 15- Planning must be applied to human settlements and urbanization with a view to
avoiding adverse effects on the environment.
Principle 16- Demographic policies which are without prejudice to basic human rights and
which are deemed appropriate by Governments concerned should be applied in those regions
where the rate of population growth are likely to have adverse effects on the environment.38

35
Supra Note 32
36
Principle 2, 3 & 5, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973)
37
Principle 4, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Report of
the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973)

18 | P a g e
  Procedural Safeguards
Principles 13-15 and 17-18 of the Stockholm Declaration — rather modestly — emphasize
the need for environmental and development planning. The absence of any reference in the
Declaration to a State’s duty to inform a potentially affected other state of a risk of significant
trans-boundary environmental effects was due to the working group on the Declaration’s
inability to reach agreement on such a provision. However, the working group did agree on
forwarding the matter to the General Assembly which, as noted, endorsed such notification as
part of States’ duty to cooperate in the field of the environment.39

 Pollution Control:
States shall take all possible steps to prevent pollution of the seas by substances that are liable
to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage
amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea. Science and technology must be
applied to the identification, avoidance and control of environmental risks and the solution of
environmental problems and for the common good of mankind.
Principle 6- The discharge of toxic substances or other substances and the release of heat, in
such quantities or concentrations as to exceed the capacity of the environment to render them
harmless, must be halted.
Principle 7- States shall take all possible steps to prevent pollution of the seas.
Principle 18- Science and technology must be applied to the identification, avoidance and
control of environmental risks and the solution of environmental problems.

 Resource Planning and Coordination among States

Resource should be made available to preserve and improve the environment, taking into
account the requirements of developing countries and any costs which may emanate from
their incorporating environmental safeguards into their development planning and the need
for making available to them additional international technical and financial assistance for
this purpose.
Principle 9- Environmental deficiencies generated by the conditions of under-development
and natural disasters can best be remedied by the transfer of substantial quantities of financial
and technological assistance.

38
Principle 15 & 16, Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973)
39
Supra Note 32

19 | P a g e
Principle 11- The environmental policies should enhance and not adversely affect the present
or future development potential of developing countries.
Principle 13- In order to achieve rational management of resources, States should adopt an
integrated and coordinated approach to their development planning.

 Ban on Nuclear Weapons:

Man and his environment must be spared the effects of nuclear weapons and all other means
of mass destruction. States must strive to reach prompt agreement, in the relevant
international organs, on the elimination and complete destruction of such weapons.
Principle 26- Man and his environment must be spared the effects of nuclear weapons and all
other means of mass destruction.

20 | P a g e
 IMPACTS AND ISSUES

In pursuance o treaty obligation under Stockholm Conference, India has enacted The
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
1981.

The objectives and action plans produced by the Stockholm Conference have inspired every
subsequent international conference on the environment. In 1983, the United Nations
convened the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also called the
Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission discussed and devised international
and national strategies for protecting the environment and promoting sustainable
development. The Brundtland Commission published its final report, Our Common Future, in
1987. Our Common Future states that governments could not address environmental
protection separately from the related crises of economic development and energy
production. Our Common Future outlined a plan for dealing with these interlocking crises.40

The Stockholm Conference also laid the foundation for the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly called the Earth Summit. In June 1992,
representatives from 172 nations convened in Rio de Janeiro. The massive interest and
participation in the Earth Summit indicated a shift in global attitudes toward the environment.
Scientific evidence gathered in the second half of the twentieth century indicated that human
activity affected the environment and climate. The scientific evidence also revealed that
pollution and depletion of natural resources that occurred in one country could have a
profound effect on the environment of other nations or even the entire planet.
At the Earth Summit, world leaders devised plans and policies to protect the environment by
involving national and local governments and NGOs in the process. Earth Summit 1992
produced two key documents: Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development.41
The Stockholm Conference also inspired the Kyoto Protocol, one of the best known and far-
reaching plans undertaken by the UNFCCC.

40
United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), Available at:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-magazines/united-nations-conference-human-
environment-1972 (Last visited on Nov 9, 2019)
41
Supra

21 | P a g e
 CONCLUSION

The International Conference on Human Environment in the year 1972, at Stockholm was the
turning point in the international environment law. It was for the first time that world nations
gathered at a place under the UN leadership to evolve a common strategy to combat the
environmental degradation, pollution and ecological imbalance. Twenty-six principle were
declared in this conference which are known as Magna Carta on Human Environment. India
participated in the conference and also signed the declaration known as Stockholm
Declaration of 1972. The then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, was the first head of the
State to address this conference.
The Stockholm Declaration also became a basis for subsequent development of
environmental law in the form of numerous bilateral and multilateral convention and other
legally binding instruments.
Stockholm's lasting impact has never been seriously assessed. In the assessments that
have been offered speculatively, the creation of the UN Environment Programme, the call for
cooperation to reduce marine pollution, and the establishment of a global monitoring network
have been cited as of especially lasting significance. It has also been argued that the practice
of preparing for such a massive conference galvanized public opinion and educated
governments about what was then an issue of only recent salience. Development issues,
though included in the conference's agenda and addressed in the Action Plan
recommendations and declaration principles, were clearly of secondary priority and never
seriously addressed in the follow-up efforts after the Stockholm conference.
In spite of this conference and other subsequent conference like Basel Convention, UN
Convention on Law of Sea, etc., still objective of every conventions are similar in nature. It
implies that these conventions somehow failed to achieve their desired objective due to lack
of willingness on part of participating country to follow the treaty obligation or may be due to
non-binding nature of obligations. In the race of development nations are ignoring the need
and requirement of environmental protection which shall ultimately danger the existence of
life on earth.

22 | P a g e
 REFERENCES
BOOKS-
 S C Shastri, Environmental Law, (Eastern Book Company, Lucknow, 5th Edn., 2015)

ARTICLES / WEBSITE
 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), available at:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-
magazines/united-nations-conference-human-environment-1972
 The 1972 Stockholm Conference, Environment, Volume 34, Number 8, Available at:
http://www.ciesin.org/docs/008-570/box9.html
 MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS, Stockholm, Rio, Johannesburg Brazil
and the Three United Nations Conferences on the Environment, ISBN 978-85-7631-
146-1, Brazil, 2009.
 Karen N Scott, The Dynamic Evolution Of International Environmental Law,
(Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2018) .
 Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment, Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment,
U.N. Doc. A/ CONF.48/14/Rev.1 (1973),
 Edith Brown Weiss, The Evolution of International Environmental Law, Japanese
Yearbook of International Law Vol. 54 (2011).
 Edith Brown Weiss, International Environmental Law: Contemporary Issues and the
Emergence of a New World Order, (Georgetown Law Journal, pp. 675-710, Vol. 81,
No. 3 (1993))
 Günther Handl, Declaration Of The United Nations Conference On The Human
Environment (Stockholm Declaration), 1972 And The Rio Declaration On
Environment And Development, 199, United Nations Audiovisual Library of
International Law. Available at http://legal.un.org/avl/pdf/ha/dunche/dunche_e.pdf
 Puja Mondal, Stockholm Conference: Framework and Recommendations of the
Conference, available at : http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/environment/stockholm-
conference-framework-and-recommendations-of-the-conference/39718
 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), Available at:
https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/energy-government-and-defense-
magazines/united-nations-conference-human-environment-1972

23 | P a g e