The 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference) was the first international forum to declare the inclusion of measures at the governmental level to address pressing environmental problems and issues. The Conference recognized the human rights to “freedom, equality and adequate living conditions in the environment.
World Environment Day, June 5, was established in honor of the conference.
The immediate outcome of the conference was the adoption of a large number of documents, among which the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (the Stockholm Declaration) and the Action Plan for the Protection of the Human Environment stand out.
The Stockholm Declaration, which contained 26 principles, provided the first framework for a new universal program for caring for the natural world, to begin to develop initiatives to address specific environmental issues and problems, “to bring environmental issues to the level of political dialogue”. The Declaration had no legal force and had a recommendatory character, but this document can be considered a source of international environmental law – its provisions were subsequently reflected in many documents.
The generalized types of activities included in the Action Plan are (a) a global environmental assessment program (global observing system); (b) activities related to environmental management; and (c) international measures to promote national and international activities related to assessment and management.
One of the main results of the Stockholm Conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), a United Nations body charged with monitoring the state of the environment, informing policy makers about the progress of scientific research, and intensifying international action.