Two remarkable anniversaries will be marked by politicians, scientists and activists this week. Fifty years ago, the United Nations conference on the human environment opened in Stockholm. It was the first world forum to focus on the issues involved in caring for Earth’s oceans, land and forests and led directly to the creation of the UN Environment Programme (Unep). In 1992, the Rio de Janeiro environment conference – the Rio Earth summit as it is known today – committed nations to take an ecologically responsible approach to economic growth. Conventions on climate change, biodiversity and forestry ensued.
These hallmark events marked a transition in political thinking. World leaders were being made to realise Earth’s resources are finite and that environmental problems are not local issues to be ignored but are part of a worsening global predicament caused by soaring human numbers. But how much was actually achieved? How have our forests fared over the decades? How far have we gone in halting global warming? And what is the status of Earth’s biodiversity today?
