UNEC D-344 72 C9•11•1111111'• tL i CLWZIFTEP REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT STOCKHOLM SWEDEN z JUNE 5 - 16 1972 I Submi t d to the SECRE'f y OF STATE cD 11 ' _ -I - I 01-L - Christian - OEt Sy SSlflEO J ft fO 5I J1 JJ A Herter Vice Chairman of Deleg tion July 28 1972 -ulhorilY 11__ iiU IUE iilllL C tbbli 125 IWZ bitl OF THE UNITED STATES DELEGATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENir STOCKHOLM SWEDEN JUNE 5 - 16 1972 SUMMARY On the whole tbe Conference was a considerable success in terms of U S interests 109 action pro sals were approved We supported all but two - one deali g I with compensat ion for the LDCs the other with an inter- national fund for housing As to the Declaration it was finally approved y acclamation with the exception of the PRC who simpl could not accept t he provision on the effect of nucl ar weapons on the environment On this issue the PRC w s tota l ly isolated With respect to Institutional Arrangements aftJr intensive negotiation a very complete resolution waa accepted providing for an Executive Director a 54-cduntry Governing Council an Interagency Coordinating Board and a Fund The result is largely satisfactory to us On the Fund 6 countries in addition to the O S have pledged specific amounts A dozen or more coun ies asiditionally have pledged a contribution but wi thout aming a figure It is fair to assume that we will get pledges for· the full $100 million Congress has already indicated by resolut ion tha is broadly in favor of such a fund it The PRC with Tanzania and Algeria pursued thropghout a fairly activist radical line They d i d not prevail and there was no major confrontation between the DCs nd LDCs In fact an extraordinary willingness to get r psults was manifested in both C l llps Brazil Egypt and India were particularly helpful 0E SSIFIE0 i RJWTPWITID I AuU- ority J Sy - j f f05 I - 2 OOHPiDGtiTiP I Canada and France were unhelpful the UK gave unusually fine support s The USSR did not attend nor any of the Easter The Specialized Agencies fought us every inch way on the proposed Institutional Arrangements Bloc the Maurice Strong and his Secretariat did an outstand- ing job both during the preparatory period and at t h e Conference itself The U S Delegation 35 delegates 25 technical advisers was constructive interested and held togetf'er The Delegation included 11 members of Congress I_ However any delegation this size is difficult o handle and requires special attention In particular where the White House participates in the Conference and has appointed a number of delegates extra effort mu t be undertaken with respect to both administrative arrangements and public relations IJ au lb• lll if ct - 3 - 66 1£ 1291111 aL l Soviet Bloc Participation Romania and Yugoslavia were the only countries from Eastern Europe to attend the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment The Soviet Union and other Edstern European countries boycotted the Conference because the Western powers w uld not allow East Germany to atten the Conference as a full-fledged part icipating member of the United Nations It is worth noting that the absence of the Soviet Delegation was only mentioned in passing by f ur or five speakers and the Conference went on without the No one seemed to oa e whether they were absent or not Neither Romania nor Yugoslavia played a major ' ole in the Conference deliberations although Yugoslavia worked constantly for an acceptable Declaration particular yin regard to Principle 26 concerning the use of nuclear weapons 1 2 PRC Participation The People's Republic of China sent a 16-man d legation to Stockholm and their delegates attended all o f the Conference aessions Their role was a strange one however They rarel y apoke or voted in any of the commi ttees or in the Plenary itself on substantive issues Their gen ral debate speech was so highly critical of the United States that the United States exercised its right of reply and urged in a low-key tone that political issues should not be discussed in this forum The PRC from the outset of the Conference sought to establish a leadership role with the Third World pattieularly the Africans and Asians They i m mediately urged that the draft Declaration ba reopened for further discu•sion even though the document before the Conference was the result of months of exhaustive negotiation and many co ntries urged that it be accepted without amendment The PRQ se n timent was shared by a nWllber of other developing countries The PRC was primarily interested in eliminatin in the Declaration any reference to nuclear weapons and l their 0 IUf 11 I HI l h b - 4 - C92il l • tlllP i effect on the envi ronment a principle which the rest of the world insisted on retaining Even the United tates was able to ag ree on the languag'-' which was finall approved and at the end of the Conference when the Declara ion was adopted by accl amation the PRC insisted it be recdrded as not voting It was totally isolated At an earl i r stage of the procee ings it found itself with France and Gabon as the only countries voting against a ban on atmospheric testing ' I There is no question that the members of the PRC delegation were inexperienced at conducting themselves in an international conference and earlier concession made by their delegation were obviously countermanded i 1 Peking The entire experience must have been humiliating The Chinese speeches and their general attitude were blunt uncooperative and in most instances without jtinesse They did not nego t iate - they merely pronounced Their rol e appeared to be one of spoiler and propagandist wit virtually no interest in substantive proposals A Latin A merican Mr Eglesias of Uruguay told a member of the United tates Delegation that he had asked a member of the PRC Delegati on why they had painted themselves into a corner on the Draft Declaration since the Chinese were wide l y respected for their wisdom and experience He was told We have ample wisdom but no experience 3 Sweden The President of the Conference Mr Bengtssdn was an able and effective Chairman and succeeded in maintaining the Conference schedule Two working members of t e Swedish Delegation also did an extraordinary job Dr Hans Blix represented his Government in the prolonged negotiat ons on the Draft Declara tion and Mr Ove Heyman chaired e informal Working Group discussions on institutional arrange ents Both delegates performed in an outstanding manner and we re a credit to their Delegation and to their country DE J SSlflED cum 11re nr -· A Jil ority Sy J ft f05 f I J - 5 11ur11•111us 4 Brazil Because the PRC and to some extent Tanzaniaj and Algeria tended to preempt the traditional extremi t LDC positions Brazil found itself working very closel with the United States and other countries that had par ici- pated ·extensively in the preparations for the Conf rence Brazil had played a constructive part in negotiati g a L draft declaration and resolution on institutional qrrange- ments and rather than go along with efforts to charige these documents Brazil defended them stoutly In addition through their chairmanship of C ittee III dealing with environment al pollution and inst tutional arrangements they made it quite clear that an adv nced developing country was completely capable of handling' such a position l Ambassador Carlos Calero Rodrigues Chairman f Committee III conducted the work o f the committee wit b abi l ity clarity and effectiveness 1 In addition he showed f ourage and skill in the Plenary when he spoke in support of the draft resolution on institutional a r rangements and as able to convince the Algerian Delegation to withdraw an amendment which would have seriously undermined the effectiveness of the resolution Mention should also be made of thi l outstanding work of Bernardo Brito of the Brazilian Delega worked long hard and effectively on the problems tutional arrangements and the draft declaration 5 on who insti- France The French Delegation was generally speaking uncooperative and unconstructive particularly with res ect to institutional arrangements It should be pointed o t how1 rd to ever the Ministry of Environment i s pushing very hp get a contribution to the Fund from the French Mini try of Finance 0E SSlflE0 cua roan I tm -- uU or• y J Sy I i f f05I - 6 - lUUliiO t OTPT 6 Australia Singl e-handedly the Australian Delegation forc d t he expansion of the previously agreed size of the Governing Counci l from 48 to 54 members This was done for pul-el y nationa lis tic reasons in an effort to ensure their· phr ic- ipation in the Governing Council and all arguments wi th regard to efficiency passed them by 7 Federal Republic of Germany The Federal Repul lic of Germany did not fair w ll diplomatical l y Their unending demand for membershi t on the Governing Council of the Fund to be spelled out in writing and based on contributions to the Environmen al Fund was overbearing and clumsy and led some · Devel ping Countries to accuse them of trying to subject the F d to the e xc lusive control of the donor countries 8 Canada The Canadian Delegation was most unhelpful on arious occasions and in the opinion of some unt rustworthy Particularly Mr J Allen Beesley was difficult and unfooperative throughout the complex negotiations on the draf t declaration He continually courted the PRC and at no time really supported the United Sta es Delegat ion in advocating its position 9 Egypt and India Both developing a moderate resolution 10 countries were very useful with the less nformed countries' delegations in persuading them to take and intelligent stand on the declaration on institut ional arrangements nd the United Kingdom The United Kingdom having taken a very negati e att i tude throughout the Preparatory Committee meetings f' ielded OECj ASSIFIED 111111111111111 eL 1-ulhOfil ' By M ft f05 I - 1 - 7 - CfillfllililUS I L a high level delegation including Mr Peter Walker Secretary of State for the Environment and Mr Eldon Griff iths Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Enviropment Their contribution was effective constructive and forceful 1 They could not have been more cooperative with the u ted States ll Specialized Agencies All of the major Specialized Agencies spent a c erable amount of time energy and effort in lobbying the developing world and certain Developed Countries UNESCO with Belgium IAEA with the United States ag the institutional arrangements resolution nsidith e g ' nst They were all fearful that the resolution would place constraints op their own jurisdiction in the environmental field and were responsible for the introduction of various crippling amendments The United States Delegation and others were aware of these lobbying efforts and in the vast majority of cases were able to prevent these amendments from passing _1 2 Secretariat Mr Maurice Strong the Secretary General of the Conference and his small st ff in cooperation with Uni d Nations personnel and personnel from Sweden performe in a rnagnificant manner and were successful in carrying out a major conference with success 13 Miscellaneous a The Group of Ten caucussed every day and· although there was by no means common agreement on man issues we can expect to see the expanding Common Market acti g more and more as a bloc in various international fora this tendency is beginning to appear in the OECD Al ready b Contrary to expectations there was no major confrontation between developed and developing countries The general seriousness and concern of the developing co'¥'tr y 86U filiBUiIJL - 8 - QQ lFIIZ i IAL delegations to achieve positive results was impret sive and reassuring It is most encouraging to reali ze th t after two weeks there was virtually worldwide agreement on over 100 action proposals and the two specially sensit ve subjects the Declaration and the resolution on inst tutional arrangements 14 U S A4ministrative Arran ements and Public Relations If the United States ever fields as large a delegation again 35 delegates 25 technical advisors to an international conference a strong adJllinistrative contingent sh -u l d be on the spot well in advance of the arrival of the de egation This is particularly true where the White House h s selected some of the delegates i s represented itself on e delegation and has a particular political interest in the we fare of its appointees The same admonition is valid with respect to public relations when there is a distinct White House p esence The State Department on the whole is well geared p to handling normal press and media arrangements and n terms of substantive coverage of the Conference did a g od job After the first few days when it became apparent that the press was not getting intelligent information abo t the conference daily press briefings were instituted and this helped a good deal in improving the tone of the c verage These press briefings should have started the wee end before the Conference began Where the White House is concerned however there is a need for a special type of talent that on thle whole the Department does not possess The White House is very adept at creating publicity at any cost includin all sorts of public relations gimmickry and continuous phot'flraphic coverage It is recommended that at future conteriences of this kind where there is a special White House i terest the White House be asked to send along the sort o specialized talent described above 4 OEtSSlflED OiifJIIUllf l Aullloril' Sy J ft fO5I -1 - 9 - llllt'IIJiiliiH 15 The United States Delegation The Delega ion was too large for easy· h dl ing It was possible howevJr to give every member o lthe Delegation an assignment if only for two or three d ys as a member of a team de4ling with a particular subject matter Each team had professional staff support The entire delegati on including technic1l advisors met every day at 8 30 with remarkably full and ponsistent attendance These daily briefings normally were conducted by the Chairman and p rovided the only opportun ty to give the delegation the ne cessary instructions for the work at hand to hear complaints and to keep everyone breast of what was going on In my judgment where a delegation is as t arge as this one i n the f uture an officer should be as igned exclu ively to handle both the personal and pro -essional needs of its members Even though the Embassy rovided control Officers for each delegate a di f ficult feat considering the size of our Embassy in Stockholm ll O t of the Control Officers simply d isappeared once they had their charges safe ly tucked away in a hotel room It p ecame necessary to correct this situation after the fi st two or three days I Despite the si ze of the delegation including about a dozen congressional representatives and some yery distinguished non-governmental i ndividuals all of rhom could have behaved like prima donnas the delegation w s exemplary in terms of supporting previously agreed O S positions on a great variety of issues By and larg the membership was both knowledgeable and intereste j and hopefully had a sense of participation With extre ly few exceptions the technical advisors did an outsta ding job Cctii SLttii L OE J SSIFIED Authocay J fC 105I Sy I •