The Stockholm Declaration: The Proclamation

Paragraph 4: the two kinds of environmental problem. In the developing countries most of the environmental problems are caused by under-development. Millions continue to live far below the minimum levels required for a decent human existence, deprived of adequate food and clothing, shelter and education, health and sanitation. The developing countries must therefore direct their efforts to development, bearing in mind their priorities and the need to safeguard and improve the environment; the industrialized countries should make efforts to reduce the gap between themselves and the developing countries. In the industrialized countries, environmental problems are generally related to industrialization and technological development.

Paragraph 5: population. The natural growth of population continuously presents problems for the preservation of the environment, and adequate policies and measures should be adopted, as appropriate, to face these problems. Then, immediately: of all things in the world, people are the most precious; it is the people that propel social progress, create social wealth, develop science and technology and, through their hard work, continuously transform the human environment.

Paragraph 6: prudence, and the goal. A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences, because through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well-being depend. To defend and improve the human environment for present and future generations has become an imperative goal for mankind, to be pursued together with and in harmony with the established and fundamental goals of peace and of worldwide economic and social development.

Paragraph 7: who has to act. The goal demands the acceptance of responsibility by citizens and communities and by enterprises and institutions at every level, all sharing equitably in common efforts. Local and national governments will bear the greatest burden for large-scale environmental policy and action within their jurisdictions; international cooperation is also needed to raise resources to support the developing countries; and a growing class of problems, being regional or global in extent, will require extensive cooperation among nations.

The four propositions to take away

Environmental quality is a condition of human rights, including the right to life. Paragraph 1.

There are two different environmental problems, and they need opposite remedies. Paragraph 4. In the poor country the answer is development; in the rich country it is restraint. That single paragraph explains why an international environmental instrument cannot impose one rule on everybody, and it is the origin of common but differentiated responsibilities twenty years later.

Population is a factor, and people are not the problem. Paragraph 5 says both things in successive sentences, and the juxtaposition is deliberate. It is the diplomatic compromise between the countries that wanted population control on the agenda and those that regarded that as an attack on the poor.

Prudence in the face of irreversibility. Paragraph 6 is the seed of the precautionary principle, which Rio would state as Principle 15 twenty years later.

Worked example

A question asks for the significance of the Stockholm Conference in environmental protection, which is MU's 2026 short note.

Most candidates will write about the twenty-six principles. A candidate who has read the proclamation can do something better in the same space: quote paragraph 1 on the right to life, quote paragraph 4 on the two kinds of environmental problem, and then say that these two sentences are the origin, respectively, of the Indian Article 21 jurisprudence and of common but differentiated responsibilities.

Two sentences from the instrument, two consequences that reach the present day. That is a better use of the space than a list.

What the proclamation does NOT do

It is not operative. The principles are where the Declaration states what States should do. The proclamation states why.

Its language has dated. It speaks throughout of "man". Reproduce it accurately when quoting and use ordinary modern language in your own sentences.

It is not the precautionary principle. Paragraph 6 asks for prudent care and warns of irreversible harm. It does not say what happens when the science is uncertain, which is what Rio Principle 15 added.

Distinctions that carry marks

Quick revision

• The Declaration has a proclamation of seven numbered paragraphs before its twenty-six principles, and the two most useful sentences in the instrument are in it.
• Paragraph 1: both the natural and the man-made environment are essential to well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights, even the right to life itself.
• Paragraph 4: in developing countries most environmental problems are caused by under-development; in industrialised countries they are generally related to industrialisation.
• Paragraph 5 is the only treatment of population, and it says both that population growth presents problems and that of all things in the world people are the most precious.
• Paragraph 6 asks for prudent care in the face of massive and irreversible harm, and is the seed of the precautionary principle.
• The proclamation states why; the principles state what.

Test yourself

1. Which sentence of the proclamation is the ancestor of the Indian right to a wholesome environment, and what does it say?

Paragraph 1: that both aspects of a person's environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights, even the right to life itself. That is the link between environmental quality and the right to life which the Supreme Court later made enforceable through Article 21.

2. State paragraph 4 and say what it leads to.

That in the developing countries most environmental problems are caused by under-development, with millions living below the minimum for a decent human existence; that those countries must direct their efforts to development while bearing in mind the need to safeguard the environment; that the industrialised countries should reduce the gap; and that in the industrialised countries environmental problems are generally related to industrialisation. It leads to common but differentiated responsibilities, stated as Rio Principle 7 twenty years later.

3. What does paragraph 5 say about population, and why is it phrased that way?

That the natural growth of population continuously presents problems for the preservation of the environment and that adequate policies should be adopted, and immediately afterwards that of all things in the world people are the most precious and it is the people who propel social progress and create social wealth. The juxtaposition is a compromise between the delegations that wanted population control on the agenda and those that regarded that as an attack on the poor.

4. Why is paragraph 6 not the precautionary principle?

Because it asks for prudent care and warns that ignorance or indifference can do massive and irreversible harm, but says nothing about what a State must do when the science is uncertain. The rule that lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures is Rio Principle 15, twenty years later.