ABSTRACT
The EARTHCARE Petition was presented by Nicholas A. Robinson, convenor of the EARTHCARE Conference and chairman of the Sierra Club’s International Committee, to Maurice F. Strong, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, at a press briefing held on 23 October 1975 at United Nations headquarters in New York. The members of the United Nations stated in the General Assembly resolution and the Stockholm Declaration, protection of the environment is prerequisite to all of the other rights specified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The nations signatory to the Antarctic Treaty are questioning whether they ought to divide up the natural resources of Antarctica and exploit them, rather than reserving that area for science. The human-rights bodies of the United Nations have been concerned with introducing the human element, into a number of activities of the organization that did not seem to be concerned with the protection of human rights in the literal meaning of that term.
