The conference Stockholm+50: International Environmental Law in Perspective was organised in a hybrid format, with some attending online and others on-site at Aula Magna at the Frescati campus, Stockholm University. Photo: Natalie Oliwsson.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm 1972 - a decisive moment for international environmental law, as a discipline and an important chapter of international law.  Hardly any other area of international law has been subject of so many and various changes in the past five decades as international environmental law.

In recognition of this, the Stockholm Environmental Law Centre organised a major international conference on the subject in September 2022, with the emphasis on reflecting on the many developments that have taken place over the past half century; what has been done, what should have been done and how should today’s environmental problems be addressed in the light of the lessons of our past performances. 

– We thought it was important that the Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre organised an international conference to give perspectives on the development of international environmental law from the UN 1972 Conference in Stockholm on the Human Environment to the UN Meeting Stockholm+50, which took place this summer. Thus, we could highlight and examine what has happened and not happened in international environmental law during these 50 years, says Jonas Ebbesson, director of the Stockholm Environmental Law and Policy Centre.

Many environmental challenges remain

The conference brought together a large number of leading international researchers in climate and environmental law in no less than eight thematic panels relating to international environmental law (“Structure, Governance and the Institutional Landscape”; “North-South”; “Human Rights and Public Participation”; “Consumption and Production”; “The Atmosphere (Air, Ozone Layer, Climate Change)”; “Chemicals and Waste”; “Oceans and Water”; and “Nature and Biological Diversity”), spread over three days. In addition, a book launch (The Cambridge Handbook of the Sustainable Development Goals and International Law by Jonas Ebbesson and Ellen Hey (eds.), published by CUP) was organised as a side event, and two parallel workshops were held, where conference participants could present their research papers for other participants.

– The Conference was successful, and it was clear that many of the issues debated in Stockholm in 1972, for example the North-South dimension and global environmental justice, are as important today. On top of that, new complex environmental problems have been identified. It is also exciting to see the strengthening of the link between environment protection and human rights in this time span, and also how the international rules on public participation in environmental matters have expanded, says Jonas Ebbesson.

Conference programme

Sponsors and partners

Stockholm+50: International Environmental Law in Perspective was carried out with the financial support of the Cassel Foundation, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Granholm Foundation and the Stockholm University (Human Science Academic Area). Partners were the Environmental Policy and Law and the European Society of International Law (ESIL).

Photos