Stockholm+50 is a high-level meeting that the Government of Sweden plans to hold in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the first UN conference on the human environment – the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

The 1972 Stockholm Conference

• The UN Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm Conference, was the first UN conference on the environment and was held between 5 and 16 June 1972 in Stockholm.
• The meeting’s outcome document – the Stockholm Declaration – included several principles that are still important for environmental management.
• Another result of the meeting was the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Environment Day, held annually on 5 June.

Try this PYQ:

Q.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international treaty drawn at:

(a) United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 1972

(b) UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, 1992

(c) World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, 2002

(d) UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen, 2009

Background

• It’s been a generation since global leaders met in Stockholm in 1972 to discuss environmental challenges.
• Then the concerns were for the local environment; there was no talk of climate change or even the depletion of the ozone layer.
• All that came later. In 1972, the discussion was on the toxification of the environment as water and air were foul.

Progress for 50 years

• The toxification of the environment is still a pressing concern; countries have indeed cleaned up locally but added to the emissions in the global atmosphere.
• Now, we are out of time as climate change impacts are spiralling out of control.

Perils of Ecological Globalization

• The fact is we stitched up the global ecological framework in terms of the many agreements only.
• During this time, we also signed another agreement on free-trade — the economic globalisation agreement.
• But we never really understood how these two frameworks — ecological and economic globalisation — would counteract each other.
• As a result, we have worked to build an economic model based on discounting the price of labour and of the environment.

Expectations from Stockholm+50

• The aim of Stockholm+50 is to contribute to concrete action.
• It aims at leveraging sustainable consumption and production patterns and nature-based solutions in order to achieve climate-neutral, resilient, circular and inclusive economies.
• The narrative and result will be further developed together with interested governments and other partners.

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