June 2022
This month we’re commemorating a significant anniversary: it’s been 50 years since the United Nations held the world’s first major conference on international environmental issues. The Conference on the Human Environment took place in Stockholm, Sweden from 5 to 16 June 1972.
This event marked a turning point in international environmental politics. It brought industrialised and developing countries together to understand the links between economic growth, environmental concerns like air and water pollution, and the wellbeing of people and communities around the world. (Very much the SDG goals!)
The conference resulted in the Stockholm Declaration and an Action Plan for the Human Environment. It also led the UN to create the United Nations Environment Project (UNEP), the UN’s leading environmental organisation, which still exists.
Still relevant – now more than ever
While some of the language in the Declaration is dated, the ideas are still relevant. We like this (though today we’d use the term ‘natural environment’ rather than ‘human’. It was never just a ‘human’ environment!):
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.
Celebrating achievements, acknowledging partnerships, spurring greater action
Yes, the international community has unfortunately failed to make all the progress the Action Plan envisaged. And we all know that the path to protecting and regenerating the environment has been far from smooth.
At the same time, we’ve seen major achievements. So, in the spirit of celebrating what we have achieved, acknowledging partnerships and spurring greater action, we’ve asked organisations at the forefront of environmental change in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond to contribute an achievement.