ALGIERS- Fifty years after the holding of the 1st United Nations Conference on the Environment, the Swedish capital Stockholm will host from Thursday a High-Level International Meeting convened by the UN General Assembly to assess global efforts in dealing with climate and environmental crises and five decades of work in this direction.
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The Prime Minister, Mr. Aïmene Benabderrahmane will participate as the representative of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in this meeting placed under the theme “Stockholm+50: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all – our responsibility, our luck”.
Representatives of several countries around the world will take care during this meeting to highlight the importance of adopting a sustainable way of life and in harmony with nature and the imperative of continuing international environmental action to strengthen environmental diplomacy and standards, even sound environmental practices.
This international event organized by the UN aims, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office, to “encourage the adoption of ecological recovery plans following Covid-19 and to serve as a springboard to accelerate the implementation of the United Nations +Decade of Action+ to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Global Biodiversity Framework for ‘post-2020’.
The Stockholm+50 Meeting should inject new momentum in terms of environmental awareness to sustain the work started five decades ago over the next half-century.
A preparatory meeting for this event was held on March 28 at the UN headquarters in New York, to which were invited UN member countries, UN agencies and parties to multi-party environmental conferences within the framework of national consultations aimed at promoting a comprehensive national dialogue on the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals and developing recommendations for a healthy planet for the prosperity of all.
The Swedish capital will host the festivities organized on the occasion of World Environment Day 2022 on June 5, under the theme “One Earth”, the same theme chosen for 50 years, in partnership with the United Nations Program for development (UNDP).
The day’s celebrations have evolved over the years to become the world’s largest platform for environmental awareness, celebrated by millions of people around the world.
On the eve of this celebration, Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), warned that as the world tries to overcome the danger curve concerning the Covid-19 pandemic , “we are still facing the three planetary crises, namely climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution”.
The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 elaborates the principles of good environmental management
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment was held in Stockholm from June 5 to 16, 1972 and adopted the “Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment”. The Conference also gave rise to the creation of the United Nations Environment Program and the institution of June 5 each year as “World Environment Day”.
It was the first world conference to make the environment a major issue and to adopt a series of principles for better environmental management, including the Declaration of the “Stockholm Action Plan” which defined principles for the preservation and enhancement of the human environment, in addition to formulating recommendations for international environmental action.
The Conference also resulted in the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, the first United Nations program dedicated exclusively to environmental issues, which for 50 years coordinated a global effort to tackle the greatest environmental challenges. of the planet.
Among the most significant achievements of the program over the past 50 years is the inclusion of the environment on the governmental and international agenda, and the development of a legal framework through dozens of agreements and treaties international standards, particularly with regard to pollution, waste, desertification, biodiversity and climate change.
The 1972 Stockholm Conference encouraged the creation of environmental ministries and agencies around the world and launched a series of new global agreements to collectively protect the environment.
The Declaration, which contained 26 principles, placed environmental issues on the international agenda and marked the beginning of a dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on the link between economic growth, pollution and global commons (air, water, oceans), and the well-being of people worldwide.
The Action Plan contains three main categories, namely the global environmental assessment program (watch plan), environmental management activities, and international measures aimed at supporting the assessment and management activities carried out at the national and international levels. These categories are broken down into 109 recommendations issued.
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