Abstract
This chapter presents the historical narrative for this project; namely, the political history of the sustainable development discourse. The purpose of this chapter is to present a cohesive story about the actors, agents, and structures that overcame problems stemming from the East-West conflict, the North-South gap, and existing rules and traditions of state diplomacy to create a new environmental paradigm. Although sustainable development may not harden into a regime, it nevertheless permanently altered the relationship not only between man and his environment, but also between each other.
The chapter also reviews how the limits discourse shaped one conceptualization of sustainability. This chapter contains two distinct discourses dealing with sustainable development. The first discourse was promoted by the United Nations and included an emphasis on continuing economic growth. The Club of Rome funded initial research on a second discourse emphasizing a steady state economy around finite limits. George Mitchell, owner of Mitchell Energy and a prominent member of the Club of Rome continued funding and promoting this limits discourse.
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- 1.
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The other sponsoring agencies included the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the IUCN, and the International Biological Program.
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Sweden was on the receiving end of air pollution from some of its neighbors, particularly the United Kingdom, that was perceived as killing its forests.
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Landsberg (1972:749) bemoans the increasing demands by the South, especially an attempt by some African countries to use Stockholm as an opportunity to demand reparations for apartheid and natural resource use.
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See Luchins (1977) for a detailed history of the Stockholm Conference.
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See Strong (1972) for clarification of the ecodevelopment concept and for Strong’s expectations for the Stockholm Conference as a whole.
- 7.
As the Stockholm conference took place in the middle of the Cold War, albeit in a period of détente, it should not be surprising that issues of political economy would be kept off of the negotiating agenda as this would have immediately ended the possibility of consensus.
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Gardner (1972:240) disagrees, citing Brazil as the reticent state, “which purports to see in international discussion on the environment a sinister plot against its own development.”
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For a list of conference participants, see UN (1972a).
- 10.
Joao Augusto de Araujo Castro served as the Brazilian Ambassador to the United States during the time of the Stockholm Conference. While this statement cannot be termed an “official” position of Brazil, it is nevertheless strongly reflective of the Southern hemisphere’s thoughts on the Conference.
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The Communist states, led by the Soviet Union, boycotted the Conference because West Germany attended, while East Germany was not present. Nevertheless, Soviet officials coincidentally visited Stockholm during the Conference and Secretary-General Strong provided discreet shuttle diplomacy services to ensure that Conference documents reflected the Soviet block’s views.
- 12.
I am referring here to the UN systemwide Earthwatch and not to the NGO Earthwatch Institute, which uses the same moniker. Earthwatch under UNEP auspices also should not be confused with the Worldwatch Institute established by Lester Brown during the same general time frame, although there exists important collaborative ties between the two entities.
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The growing awareness of environmental affairs in the North, which in turn engendered support for the NGOs was spurred on by important books such as Silent Spring (Carson 1962), The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al. 1972), The Closing Circle (Commoner 1971), This Endangered Planet (Falk 1971), and Only One Earth (Ward and Dubos 1972).
- 14.
Despite the fact that Ward served as Strong’s senior adviser at the Stockholm Conference, both the Strong and Ward archives are curiously devoid of personal writings from this 2-year period and only a handful of letters exist between the two in 1977. The letters are located in the Barbara Ward archives at Georgetown University, Box 3, Folder 19.
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The World Federation of Trade Unions precipitated an early crisis within the UN in 1946 when it asked for speaking privileges essentially equal to states. Several other NGOs immediately followed suit, including the ICC. The UN member states denied all of the petitions, but NGOs won limited speaking opportunities.
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Stone (1973:62), the Senior Information Adviser to the Secretary-General would later write “unfortunately in the environmental field the strength and value of NGOs tends to be inversely proportional to their acceptability in the international scene.”
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Artin (1973) writes primarily about the Dai Dong International Fellowship of Reconcillation conference, although he also provides anecdotes about the Hog Farm, the Environment Forum, and the formal conference as well.
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Dai Dong had loose connections to the International Fellowship for Reconciliation (Artin 1973). It was a short-lived project (1969–1975) that attempted to promote both peace and the environment. The Dai Dong conference at Stockholm proved to be the most noteworthy event in the history of this organization.
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Dai Dong was not able to reconcile divergent views on population. The final draft of its declaration stated its belief in the limit of population growth, but the statement makes no reference to population control.
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The Merry Pranksters, led by Ken Kesey, epitomized the radical counter-cultural movement of the 1960s. Kesey and his associates led the American cultural experimentation with LSD and marijuana, amongst other psychedelic drugs. While the Merry Pranksters flaunted their use of dangerous and illegal drugs, their followers were generally well behaved.
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Companies with advertisements for special events in Eco are Philips (3), Atlas Copco (2), Pollution Technical Services Limited (3), Wilderness Expeditions (1) and Englehard (1). Additionally, Stone (1973: 137) reports that Volvo hosted an event at its facilities in Gothenburg.
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ECO was published by The Ecologist (funded by Teddy Goldsmith) as part of environmental NGOs political lobbying activities. The paper generally supported pro-environmental positions, causes and delegations.
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Artin (1973:163) provides a partial list of NGOs affiliated with the speech including the Sierra Club, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Congress of African People, World Wildlife Fund, Socialist International, European Oceanic Association, ICC, International Alliance of Women and United World Federalists.
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Japan abstained from the vote on this issue.
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At the conclusion of the Stockholm Conference, London and Geneva were early favorites for the privilege of hosting UNEP. Nairobi emerged as a candidate city during the 1972 General Assembly session.
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The Brussels group included Britain, France, the United States, West Germany, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. See Hamer (2002) for further explanation.
- 27.
Within the UN system, the UN Development Program, along with the Bretton Woods organizations, serve as the primary conduit of funds to the developing countries.
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Of the original 58 member seats on the Governing Council 16 of them were for African countries, 13 for Asian countries, 10 for Latin American countries, 13 for Western Europe and other states and 6 for Eastern Europe.
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The relationship between UNEP and NGOs was not one-sided as the ENGOs provided valuable scientific information and political activity in support of UNEP’s agenda.
- 30.
In the 1980s, IUCN focused on preserving nature and natural resources for possible future use, while UNEP preferred to utilize natural resources efficiently in the present to improve the human environment.
- 31.
This kit was part of a broader UN effort to promote solutions to problems affecting children including malnutrition and lack of education.
- 32.
Schmandt (2010) provides the most detailed account of the Woodlands Conferences in his biography of George Mitchell.
- 33.
The other report of special interest is From Stockholm to Nairobi, a compilation of official statements by Heads of Delegations at UNCHE and the Special Session of the Governing Council of UNEP.
- 34.
Jim MacNeill headed the environmental department of the OECD, Lindner was an executive director of the World Wildlife Federation, and Ramphal was the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 35.
Sandbrook does not specify which three chapters IIED initially penned. In a separate chapter, Satterthwaite (2003:125) identifies one of the three drafts as urban issues.
- 36.
Lindner worked previously as the Deputy Director General of the World Wide Fund for Nature and at SOGENER, an energy investment company in Switzerland.
- 37.
Network’92 is archived at The Earth Summit NGOs CD-ROM, available at the Government Documents Department, Lamont Library, Harvard University.
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Egelston, A.E. (2013). From Stockholm to Our Common Future. In: Sustainable Development. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4878-1_4
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