Stockholm Conference & UNEP, 1972

TOPIC: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) or the Stockholm Conference

• It was the first Global Environment Summit and was held in 1972. It modified the classical approach from being just informative to guiding and motivating the global community in being responsible towards the environment. It resulted into two things:

1. 26 Principles- It gave 26 principles concerning the environment and development. These included human rights, natural resources, wildlife and environment education to name a few.

• It resulted in the rise of regional environmental clubs like Club of Rome which gave the concept of “Limit to Growth” and Sierra Club which gave the concept of “Blind Pace of Development”.
• The Stockholm Declaration also resulted in two global initiatives- Belgrade Charter(1975); Tbilisi declaration (1977)

**Belgrade is the capital of Serbia and Tbilisi is the capital of Georgia.

Also read: Geology Syllabus: Indian Forest Service

2. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)- It is an international programme of the UN that-

• coordinates United Nations’ environmental activities.
• monitors world environment ( Earthwatch)
• publishes periodic reports (GEO)
• assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
• It is Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.
• Two important terms associated with UNEP are:

1. Earthwatch- UNEP keeps constant surveillance on environment, through this programme.
2. Global Environment Outlook- GEO report is published by the UNEP. 5th such report i.e. GEO-5 was published in 2012. GEO-6 will be published in 2017.

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was started by UNEP in Modern Era (1988) for assessment and publishing objectives. It does not monitor the environment.

Read More: Climate Change Organisations