The history of international cooperation on safeguarding the natural environment stretches back to the late nineteenth century, but it was not until the 1960s, and the dawning realisation that environmental degradation – pollution, resource depletion and biodiversity loss – was an inevitable result of the ways in which modern societies and economies were structured, that environmental protection became a key element of national policy and international diplomacy.
The world’s first major international environmental conference, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, was held in Stockholm in 1972. Its main aim was to set guidelines for the future handling of environmental issues by the international community. One of its outcomes was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
