Depleting Time Itself: The Plight of Today’s “Human” Environment

Earth, and its human societies, are seized with the triple crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pervasive and escalating levels of pollution. In the 50 years since the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE), States and UN Environment Program (UNEP) have created an entirely new body of international environmental law, and agreed on the UN Sustainable Development Goals for further socio-economic developments to help the 7.9 billion people on Earth today, and the 1.5 more billion expected soon. The article highlights the accomplishments of the past five decades, launched in Stockholm. However, beyond depleting the resources of Earth’s natural and physical environment, humanity has also depleted time itself. There is not enough time left to permit the pace of environmental law-making to lead to success. Political will has eroded too, leaving “business as usual” to continue to harm the environment. Fortunately, most nations have recognized the right to the environment, and the UN General Assembly is asked to do so in 2022. At the same time, courts around the world are increasingly enforcing environmental rights. If courts world-wide begin to enforce the right to the environment, pathways to attaining sustainable development can be developed beyond Stockholm+50 (2022).

History and Evolution of the Environmental Management System in Brazil

The idea of sustainable development emerges first as a socio-political movement, from a series of questions and concerns that have arisen at the international level, related to the contamination of natural environments and human beings, a result of industrial activities. From these concerns, a series of events and movements caused significant changes in international and national policies, leading to the construction of a significant legal framework and institutional apparatus, never seen in any other theme. The establishment of environmental management systems in most countries was a direct reflection of an international agenda launched during the Stockholm Conference, in 1972, which was continued with several other conferences and protocols, such as Rio-92, Rio+20, Kyoto Protocol, Paris Agreement, among others, that have consolidated an international environmental agenda over the past 50 years. In Brazil, this process generated direct reflexes with the construction of a significant legal framework and institutional apparatus. In this article, we describe this process, an important part of both the world’s and the Brazilian environmental history until 2014.

Looking Through Palme’s Vision for the Global Environment

Olof Palme, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, underlined the importance of a firm global response to the growing environmental crisis in his 06 June 1972 address to the first UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm. He prophetically observed: “it is absolutely necessary that concerted, international action is undertaken … solutions will require far-reaching changes in attitudes and social structures”. Almost 50 years later, it is painfully clear that the necessary changes have not taken place and that time is now even more limited to make the necessary, far-reaching changes. How can the conclusions from the Stockholm Conference and ideas envisioned by Olof Palme can guide us into a better common greener future?

A UN Specialized Agency for the Environment

The issue, international organization for the protection of the environment perhaps more than those in any other area of international law, is characterized by the contestation of the policies and aspirations of developing and industrialized countries. The discussions which preceded the 1972 Stockholm Conference concerned partly the type of international institutional arrangement required for addressing the environmental problems. As regards the institutional reforms with respect to international environmental governance (IEG), the main question is whether to focus on the existing global institution, i.e. UNEP, or to create a new functional international organization. After almost five decades of existence, turning UNEP into a ‘specialized agency’ within the UN system is a reasonable move. It would meet the long-felt need to elevate its status and equip it with the necessary competence and financial stability for the demanding task it should have as an efficient global environmental organization.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND INCLUSIONS: Inaugural Editorial

The environmental agenda encompasses a relatively large number of issues having multiple actors involved in and around them. Environmental problems are diverse and complex, both in local as well as in international settings. The complexity of environmental problems often involves exploring various solution approaches. The regulatory process is one of them; and the policy process complements regulatory developments. They guide human behaviour. Given that human interactions with nature and ecological processes are central to environmental problems, law and policy regulations suggest changing human behaviour in order to be in harmony with nature and to better cope with natural processes. Coping with natural processes does not mean seeking the adoption of preventive measures only. Rather, positive and proactive measures are necessary to recover from environmental harm, as we have already caused significant damage to our environment. We must recover from the injury caused to our planet in order for it to exist in its unique condition and to continue with life support systems that are sustainable. Law and policies are some of the tools we employ to recover from the damages caused to our environment. Since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, the environmental agenda has predominantly captured our attention on all decision-shaping and decision-making levels, including political, economic, scientific, and cultural spheres both in academic and non-academic contexts. The actors' joint efforts have provided us with a mutual understanding of environmental problems, a set of agreed-upon norms and principles, and procedural practices to respond to such problems.

A UN Specialized Agency for the Environment

The issue, international organization for the protection of the environment perhaps more than those in any other area of international law, is characterized by the contestation of the policies and aspirations of developing and industrialized countries. The discussions which preceded the 1972 Stockholm Conference concerned partly the type of international institutional arrangement required for addressing the environmental problems. As regards the institutional reforms with respect to international environmental governance (IEG), the main question is whether to focus on the existing global institution, i.e. UNEP, or to create a new functional international organization. After almost five decades of existence, turning UNEP into a ‘specialized agency’ within the UN system is a reasonable move. It would meet the long-felt need to elevate its status and equip it with the necessary competence and financial stability for the demanding task it should have as an efficient global environmental organization.

Looking Through Palme’s Vision for the Global Environment

Olof Palme, the former Prime Minister of Sweden, underlined the importance of a firm global response to the growing environmental crisis in his 06 June 1972 address to the first UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE) held in Stockholm. He prophetically observed: “it is absolutely necessary that concerted, international action is undertaken . . . solutions will require far-reaching changes in attitudes and social structures”. Almost 50 years later, it is painfully clear that the necessary changes have not taken place and that time is now even more limited to make the necessary, far-reaching changes. How can the conclusions from the Stockholm Conference and ideas envisioned by Olof Palme can guide us into a better common greener future?

Den gröna vändningen: En ny kunskapshistoria om miljöfrågornas genombrott under efterkrigstiden

The Stockholm Conference 1972 drew the world’s attention to the global environmental crisis. To the inhabitants of Sweden, however, this threat to the planet and to humanity was nothing new. Anyone who regularly read newspapers, listened to the radio, or watched the television news would have encountered the issues. Five years earlier, in the summer of 1967, things were very different. At that time, it was not at all self-evident that humans were in the process of destroying their own living environment. Hence, in a short period of time, a radical change took place: an ‘environmental turn’. It had major and far-reaching consequences. But what was it that opened people’s eyes to the environmental crisis? When did it happen? Who set the ball rolling? And what does this historical process mean for us today? David Larsson Heidenblad’s book sheds new light on the emergence of modern environmentalism in Sweden and provides fresh insight to challenges that concerns us all.