4.1 Multilateral Environmental Affairs
123
Nonetheless, this period brought together the conservation community and strengthened the global view that biodiversity conservation and environmental pollution
control required long-term, collaborative, and holistic actions. The Stockholm milestones were resuscitated after the publication of Brundtland Commission report titled
‘Our Common Future’ (Brundtland 1987) followed by 1992 the Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro (Summit 1992). The Earth Summit led to the development of secondgeneration conventions such as CBD and UNFCCC that gave stress on the holistic
approaches to conservation reflecting the sensitivities of poverty, rural development, equal participation, sustainable use, education, and awareness. The Brundtland
Commission’s report essentially exposed the myth that industrial development and
environmental conservation were complimentary. It also warned that natural tropical
forests had been ruthlessly destroyed at an annual rate of 11 million hectares during
last three decades, the use of fossil fuels grew nearly 30-fold, and industrial growth
increased more than 50-fold. There was hardly any realization that the cost of repair
and restoration from environmental damage was extremely high and in some cases
the process was irreversible as well. The burning of fossil fuels and forest biomass
was eventually responsible for global warming leading to sea level rise over the next
45 years threatening to inundate low-lying countries and disrupt national agriculture
production and trade.
Ten years after Stockholm Declaration, the UN General Assembly, on October 28,
1982, adopted the World Charter for Nature (Assembly 1982), to respect every form
of life and the uninterrupted functioning of natural systems on which life depends and
thus called for maintaining the stability and quality of nature and natural resources.
The Charter cautioned that degradation of natural systems through overconsumption
and misuse of natural resources as well as failure to establish appropriate economic
order may lead to breakdown of social, economic, and political framework of civilization. During this period of industrialization and environmental destruction, all
such nations that had protected their environment at the cost of economic development formed a close-knit group and divided the world in two parts—the South
(the third world) and the North (the industrialized world). The third world countries
often blamed the rich industrial nations for deforestation and pollution, whereas
the industrial nations blamed the third world for lack of necessities, infrastructure, energy, scientific and technological advancement, and so on. Eventually, the
desire for survival, opulence, and replication of human genome forced the conservation of nature and natural resources to take a back seat in the interest of economic
development.
After almost five decades, the humanity is at crossroads facing serious challenges
as the earth heats up.
Forests and its biological as well as non-biological resources have played a pivotal
role in building global economy prior to the advent of industrial revolution. This role
changed after the discovery of coal and oil and its commercial use during the industrial
revolution. Industrial expansion led to massive destruction of natural aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems, especially during the First and Second World Wars. It was
only after the global conservation experts expressed serious concerns at the rapid
disappearance of flora and fauna and threat of annihilation due to global warming,
123
Nonetheless, this period brought together the conservation community and strengthened the global view that biodiversity conservation and environmental pollution
control required long-term, collaborative, and holistic actions. The Stockholm milestones were resuscitated after the publication of Brundtland Commission report titled
‘Our Common Future’ (Brundtland 1987) followed by 1992 the Earth Summit in
Rio de Janeiro (Summit 1992). The Earth Summit led to the development of secondgeneration conventions such as CBD and UNFCCC that gave stress on the holistic
approaches to conservation reflecting the sensitivities of poverty, rural development, equal participation, sustainable use, education, and awareness. The Brundtland
Commission’s report essentially exposed the myth that industrial development and
environmental conservation were complimentary. It also warned that natural tropical
forests had been ruthlessly destroyed at an annual rate of 11 million hectares during
last three decades, the use of fossil fuels grew nearly 30-fold, and industrial growth
increased more than 50-fold. There was hardly any realization that the cost of repair
and restoration from environmental damage was extremely high and in some cases
the process was irreversible as well. The burning of fossil fuels and forest biomass
was eventually responsible for global warming leading to sea level rise over the next
45 years threatening to inundate low-lying countries and disrupt national agriculture
production and trade.
Ten years after Stockholm Declaration, the UN General Assembly, on October 28,
1982, adopted the World Charter for Nature (Assembly 1982), to respect every form
of life and the uninterrupted functioning of natural systems on which life depends and
thus called for maintaining the stability and quality of nature and natural resources.
The Charter cautioned that degradation of natural systems through overconsumption
and misuse of natural resources as well as failure to establish appropriate economic
order may lead to breakdown of social, economic, and political framework of civilization. During this period of industrialization and environmental destruction, all
such nations that had protected their environment at the cost of economic development formed a close-knit group and divided the world in two parts—the South
(the third world) and the North (the industrialized world). The third world countries
often blamed the rich industrial nations for deforestation and pollution, whereas
the industrial nations blamed the third world for lack of necessities, infrastructure, energy, scientific and technological advancement, and so on. Eventually, the
desire for survival, opulence, and replication of human genome forced the conservation of nature and natural resources to take a back seat in the interest of economic
development.
After almost five decades, the humanity is at crossroads facing serious challenges
as the earth heats up.
Forests and its biological as well as non-biological resources have played a pivotal
role in building global economy prior to the advent of industrial revolution. This role
changed after the discovery of coal and oil and its commercial use during the industrial
revolution. Industrial expansion led to massive destruction of natural aquatic and
terrestrial ecosystems, especially during the First and Second World Wars. It was
only after the global conservation experts expressed serious concerns at the rapid
disappearance of flora and fauna and threat of annihilation due to global warming,