History of Environmental Consciousness in 20th centuary

Man has been in close interaction with the Environment all the time and environment has always been critical to life , but environment assumed international dimensions only after the second half of twentieth centaury . At the end of the 1960s , the voice of environmental concern was heard in the industrialized developed nations . In most of the developing countries environmental concerns were regarded as western luxuries . During early 1970s due to various environmental problems , the attention was focused mainly on biophysical environment and main issues at that time were Wild life management , Soil conservation , Water and Air pollution , Land degradation and Desertification . An International conference on environment was held in 1972 in Stockholm ( Sweden) and Stockholm declaration was signed by 72 countries of the world .This United Nations conference on Human Environment was the event that made the environment a major issue at the international level and this conference also established the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP) as “the environmental conscience of the United Nation system . The main responsibilities of UNEP were –

• Coordinating environmental programmes within the United Nations system.
• Advising on the formulation and implementation of environmental programme .
• Securing cooperation of the scientific and other professional communities from all parts of the world
• Advising on international cooperation in the field of environment

After the Stockholm conference many countries of the world recognized clean environment as a fundamental human right and passed various legislation on the environment. Following international conventions were also adopted during 1970s-

- Convention on Wetlands of international importance ( Ramsar convention)
- Convention concerning the protection of world cultural and natural heritage
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES)
- Convention on Conservation of Migratory species of wild animals

During 1974 a symposium organized by UNEP and United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was held in Cocoyoc (Mexico ) . This symposium identified the Economic and Social factors which lead to environmental degradation . At that time consciousness towards environmental degradation and its impact on economic activities of humankind increased all over the world .Various new aspects of environmental degradation were also recognized and in 1979 first World climate conference was held in Geneva and it concluded that anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission could have a long term effect on climate . The World Climate Programme ( WCP) was established and it provided framework for international cooperation in research and the platform for identifying the important climate issues like Ozone depletion and Global warming .

In the next decade ( 1980 to 1990 ) the interdependence of environment and development became increasingly clear . and it was considered that various environmental issues require systematic approach and addressing them requires long term strategies . In 1980 IUCN launched World Conservation Strategy ( WCS) . WCS recognized that addressing environmental problems calls for long term efforts and the integration of Environmental and Development objectives . The WCS also envisaged Governments in different parts of the world undertaking their own National Conservation Strategies to incorporate environment in development planning . At present more than 100 countries all over the world have initiated multi sector strategies at national , provincial and local level to address various environmental problems such as land degradation , deforestation , habitat conversion , air and water pollution , waste management and poverty .

During 1982 the United Nations General Assembly adopted the World Charter for Nature , general principles of this charter were

· The genetic viability on the earth shall not be compromised;
· The population levels of all life forms, wild and domesticated, must be at least sufficient for their survival, and to this end necessary habitat shall be safeguarded.
· All areas of the earth, both land and sea, shall be subject to these principles of conservation; special protection shall be given to unique areas, to representative samples of all the different types of ecosystems and to the habitat of rare or endangered species.
· Ecosystems and organisms, as well as the land, marine and atmospheric resources that are utilized by human shall be managed to achieve and maintain optimum sustainable productivity, but not in such a way as to endanger the integrity of those other ecosystems or species with which they co-exist.
· Nature shall be secured against degradation caused by warfare or other hostile activities.

In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also known as the Brundtland Commission was formed to hold hearings across the globe and produce a formal report of its findings. The report was issued after three years of worldwide interaction with government leaders and the public on environment and development issues. Public meetings were held in both developed and developing regions, and the process empowered different groups to articulate their views on issues concerning agriculture, forestry, water, energy, technology transfer and sustainable development . Our Common Future, the Commission’s report, defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (WCED 1987). The Commission highlighted environmental problems such as global warming and ozone layer depletion that were new at the time. The Commission concluded that existing decision-making structures and institutional arrangements, both national and international, simply could not cope with the requirement of sustainable development (WCED 1987)
Number of Industrial accidents/disasters and a range of catastrophic events happened during 1980s that left a permanent mark both on the environment and on the understanding of its impact to human health and economy. Events like Bhopal Gas tragedy , Explosion in the reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power plant , Famine in Ethiopia . Spill of million liters of oil from Exxon Valdez supertanker into Alaska’s sea in 1989 demonstrated that no area is safe from the impact of human activities .These events also established the close linkage between environment and economy . These incidences forced various Industrial organizations / Economic institutions to adopt Environmental Management principles in their working and policy decisions. In 1984 , UNEP organized the World industry Conference on Environmental Management and all over the world various regulatory mechanism were adopted and implemented for better environmental management in business sector.
In the later part of 1980s awareness on climatic deterioration due to pollution increased very much and in 1989 ,the Intergovernmental panel on climate change ( IPCC) was established with three working groups focussed on the –

· Scientific assessment of climatic change
· Environmental and Socio-Economic impact
· Response strategies

The establishment of the IPCC by UNEP and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) helped to develop a broad consensus on the science , social impacts and best response to human induced Global warming. During this decade ( 1980 -90) number of major Multilateral Environmental Agreements were also signed . These are –

· United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea( UNCLOS) ( 1982)
· Montreal Protocol on substances that depleted the Ozone layer
(implementation of the 1985 Vienna Convention for the protection of Ozone layer) ( 1987). The implementation of the protocol has been tightened and expanded significantly over the year through the London ( 1990), Copenhagen(1992) , Montreal (1997) and Beijing(1999) amendments.
· Basel Convention on the control of Trans boundary movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal ( 1989 )

The last decade of 20th centaury was characterized by the search of increased understanding of the concept and significance of sustained development. This was accompanied by accelerating trends of globalization. Due to these factors Environment became the top agenda items of International conferences and discussions. The conviction grew that increasing number of global environment problems require international solutions. At the institutional level the ideas that have taken shape during the late 1980s were given a higher profile by a number of international events. The ministerial level conference on the environment held in Bergen (Norway) in May 1990, where such ideas were first formally endorsed. This conference was convened to prepare for the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED or the Earth Summit) that was held in June 1992 in Rio de Janerio , Brazil. The Earth Summit was attended by an unprecedented number of representatives of State, Civil and Economic society (more than hundred Heads of State attended the Summit) . Major achievements of the Summit were –

· Rio Declaration on Environment and Development ( containing 27 principles)
· Agenda-21 ( A blueprint for environment and development into 21st centuary)
· Two major International Conventions , United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change ( UNFCCC) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
· Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
· Agreement to negotiate a World Desertification Convention
· Statement of Principles for the Sustainable Management of Forests

The Rio Principals reaffirmed the issues that had been articulated 20 years earlier in Stockholm Conference and placed human beings at the centre of sustainable development concerns by stating that “Humans are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with Nature”. Five year after the Earth Summit , in 1997 the international community convened a review summit known as Rio+5, in New York, where progress of Agenda- 21 was reviewed.
Before the Earth Summit in Brazil, The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was created in 1991 as an experimental partnership involving UNEP, UNDP and World Bank to generate ecological dividends from local and regional development by providing grants and low interest loans to developing nations. GEF was intended to be the financing mechanism for the Agenda-21 and was expected to mobilize the necessary resources. GEF has funded number of national, regional and global projects which benefited the world environment in four focal areas – Climate change, Biodiversity, Ozone depletion and International waters.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) was created in 1995 to encourage industry to look for improvements in profitability by reducing waste of both resources and energy and by reducing emissions. Further , International Organization for Standardization created a new voluntary standard in 1996 for environmental management system in industry , the ISO 14000. During this decade (1990-2000) , number of Multinational Corporations greatly improved their environmental image and corporate environment reporting also became more common during this decade . Global Reporting Initiative was created to establish a common framework for voluntary reporting of environment , economic and social performance of an organization.
During this decade ( 1990-2000) various international conferences related to environment were also held . Some of the important conferences are –

· 1993 - World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna;
· 1994 - International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo
· 1994- Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States in Bridgetown, Barbados
· 1995 - World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen
· 1995 - Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing
· 1996 - United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat- II) in Istanbul
· 1996 - World Food Summit in Rome.
· 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by the United Nations General Assembly in New York.