UN Conference on Environment and Development

UNCED History

The foundations for the UNCED were established 20 years earlier at the UNCHE held in Stockholm in 1972. Preparations and then negotiations at UNCHE were marked by a split between industrialized countries and developing countries, many of whom had recently gained independence from colonial powers. Industrialized countries pushed for regulations on transboundary air and water pollution, arguing that the origins of environmental problems were the same regardless of economic system or level of industrialization, and that developing countries stood to gain the most from measures to protect the environment. Developing countries countered that air and water pollution were primarily caused by industrialized countries, which should thus bear the economic burdens associated with pollution mitigation. Moreover, developing countries were very concerned that an environmental logic would be used to restrict their development, and that assistance for environmental protection would take the place of development aid. Negotiations at UNCHE were not able to overcome these fundamental conflicts, though they did succeed in putting global environmental issues on the international political agenda, as well as leading to the formation of the United Nations Environment Programme, the first United Nations secretariat with headquarters located in a developing country.

The conflict between environmental protection and economic development continued throughout the 1970s. In the early 1980s, the United Nations General Assembly established the World Commission on Environment and Development to formulate a long-term agenda. The resulting Brundtland Commission produced the widely influential report Our Common Future in 1987, solidifying the call for linking environmental protection efforts [Page 416]with social and economic development. In particular, the Brundtland report focused on intergenerational equity, stating that development was sustainable only if the needs of future generations are not compromised in meeting the needs of the present.

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