FAQS about the Stockholm Conference 1972

2. What was the antecedents of the 1972 Stockholm Conference?

The origins of the Stockholm Conference date back to a proposal by the Government of Sweden, set out in a letter dated May 20, 1968, addressed to the United Nations Organization. In the attached explanatory memorandum, the Swedish government proposed to convene a conference under the auspices of the UN to seek a solution to the problems of the human environment. It literally stated: “That man-made changes in the natural environment had become an urgent problem for developed and developing countries, and that these problems could only be solved through international cooperation.”

The UN referred the matter to its Economic and Social Council, which decided to include the issue in an international conference on the problems of the human environment in the program of sessions held in the middle of that same year. We could consider this action as the birth certificate of the Stockholm Conference and the other climate conferences that would come later. On November 12, 1969, “the Second Committee approved by acclamation a draft resolution presented by Chile, Ethiopia, Finland, India, Iran, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sweden and Yugoslavia (…)”.

The fourth and last session of the Preparatory Commission was held from March 6 to 10, 1972. “The Commission reached agreement on a draft of a declaration on the human environment, which were presented by an intergovernmental working group, and it was agreed to “refer the draft declaration to the (Stockholm) Conference for consideration”.

Information that SGK-PLANET took from “United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law” (PDF).

Recommended reading: Climate Conference Center by SGK-PLANET

At the end of answer No. 10, you can see all of the 7 “Proclamations” and the 26 “Principles” of the “Stockholm Declaration”.