ABSTRACT

The unanimous adoption on December 3, 1968 of United Nations (UN) General Assembly Resolution 2398 (XXIII) was a seminal event. In accepting the proposal made by Sweden for the convening of a United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, the UN took on a vast new cross-sectorial area, the human environment, for international cooperation at the highest global political level. Earlier, such cooperation had been fragmentary, scientižcally oriented, and mainly based on nature conservation. Environment diplomacy was born as a new and distinct type of diplomacy. A unique multilateral process followed, marked by strong continuity and agenda strength, which has been carried on up to the present day. Its high points were the pioneering Stockholm Conference in 1972, the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.