The 1971 Prague Conference on Problems Related to Environment—A Forgotten Contribution to International Environmentalism. Translated title: Arcadia: Explorations in Environmental History, Spring 2019, no. 11: The 1971 Prague Conference on Problems Related to Environment—A Forgotten Contribution to International Environmentalism.

Abstract

In May 1971, the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) held a conference on Problems Related to Environment, attended by 300 delegates from ECE countries and international organizations. In contrast to the UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm a year later, the Prague meeting did not focus on the development-environment nexus in the Global South but on the environmental costs of economic development in industrialized countries. In country reports, many governments collected relevant information for the first time, and ensuing conference discussions called for a comprehensive, integral approach to environmental management and a critical view of continuing economic growth.