Stockholm, Brundtland, Rio, Johannesburg and the SDGs

Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment · Unit III · Topic 8 of 17 · 6 min read

The Stockholm Declaration of 1972 and its Principles 1 and 21; the Brundtland Commission's Our Common Future (1987) and the definition of sustainable development; the Rio Declaration, Agenda 21, UNFCCC and CBD of 1992, with the principles of common but differentiated responsibility, precaution and polluter pays; the Johannesburg Declaration of 2002; and the 2030 Agenda's SDGs, with the targets that mention TRIPS, genetic resources and technology transfer.

← All Law of Intellectual Property Rights, Human Rights and Environment topics

On this page

1. Stockholm, 1972
2. The Brundtland Commission, 1987
3. Rio, 1992
4. Johannesburg, 2002
5. The Sustainable Development Goals, 2015
How this is examined

Cases checked to exist. Read the judgment before quoting a holding.

Every case cited here has been checked to exist — the citation resolves and names the right parties. The propositions attributed to each case have not been verified line by line against the judgment. Case names link through to the full judgment: read it before quoting a holding in an examination answer, and never carry a proposition from notes into court on trust.

The examinable core. These five instruments are soft law, but they produced the principles Indian courts now apply as law. For each, learn the year, the forum, two or three key principles and its link to India. For this paper, also learn where each mentions technology transfer, genetic resources or IP: Agenda 21 chapter 34, the CBD, and SDG targets 3.b, 2.5, 15.6 and 17.7.

1. Stockholm, 1972

The UN Conference on the Human Environment met at Stockholm in June 1972, the first global environmental conference. It adopted a Declaration of 26 principles and an Action Plan, and led to the creation of the UN Environment Programme at Nairobi. 5 June, the opening day, became World Environment Day.

Principle 1: a fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being, and a responsibility to protect it for present and future generations.
Principle 2: natural resources to be safeguarded for present and future generations.
Principles 9 to 12: development and environment are linked; developing countries need financial and technical assistance. Principle 20 asks that environmental technologies be made available to developing countries on terms that encourage their wide dissemination without being an economic burden on them.
Principle 21: states have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction do not damage the environment of other states or of areas beyond national jurisdiction.

India and Stockholm. Indira Gandhi, the only head of government other than the host to attend, argued that poverty and need are among the greatest polluters, so that development and environment could not be separated. India’s response was legislative: the Water Act 1974, the Forty-second Amendment 1976 (Articles 48A and 51A(g)), the Air Act 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, whose preamble recites the Stockholm decisions.

2. The Brundtland Commission, 1987

The World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway, reported in 1987 as Our Common Future. Its definition is the one every answer needs: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” It contains two ideas: the concept of needs, especially of the world’s poor, to which priority should be given; and the idea of limits set by technology and social organisation on the environment’s ability to meet present and future needs. The report also stressed intergenerational equity and the link between poverty and environmental degradation. The Supreme Court adopted the concept in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v. Union of India, 1996 INSC 952.

3. Rio, 1992

The UN Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) at Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 produced five instruments: the Rio Declaration (27 principles), Agenda 21, the Forest Principles, and two treaties opened for signature, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Commission on Sustainable Development was set up to follow it.

Principle	Content
1	Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development
2	Sovereign right over resources and no-harm duty (restating Stockholm 21)
3	The right to development must meet the needs of present and future generations
4	Environmental protection is an integral part of development
7	Common but differentiated responsibilities
9	Cooperation in scientific understanding and transfer of technologies
10	Information, public participation, access to justice
15	Precautionary approach
16	Internalisation of costs: the polluter should bear the cost of pollution
17	Environmental impact assessment
22	The role of indigenous people and their knowledge

Principle 15 in full: “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.” Indian courts applied it with a shifted burden of proof in A.P. Pollution Control Board v. Prof. M.V. Nayudu, 1999 INSC 24.

Agenda 21 and IP. Chapter 34 deals with transfer of environmentally sound technology. It recognised that much such technology is privately owned and patented, and called for access on favourable terms, including concessional terms, with measures to prevent abuse of IP rights, including through compulsory licensing with fair compensation, while respecting IP. Chapter 15 covers biodiversity and Chapter 16 biotechnology. This is the first global text to treat IP as a question of environmental policy.

4. Johannesburg, 2002

The World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10) at Johannesburg in August–September 2002 adopted the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and a Plan of Implementation. Its main points:

the three “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development: economic development, social development and environmental protection, at local, national, regional and global levels;
poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, and protecting the natural resource base;
a call to negotiate an international regime on benefit sharing from genetic resources, which led to the Nagoya Protocol (2010);
support for the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and public health; and
“Type II” partnerships between governments, business and civil society.

Critics saw Johannesburg as weaker than Rio: few binding targets, a stronger role for business, and a shift from environment to development and trade. Rio+20 (2012, The Future We Want) launched the process for the SDGs and replaced the Commission on Sustainable Development with the High-level Political Forum.

5. The Sustainable Development Goals, 2015

Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, General Assembly Resolution 70/1 of 25 September 2015, set 17 goals and 169 targets for 2030, replacing the Millennium Development Goals. Unlike the MDGs they apply to all countries. The targets that bear on IP:

Target 3.b: support research and development of vaccines and medicines, and provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines in accordance with the Doha Declaration, which affirms the right of developing countries to use in full the TRIPS provisions on flexibilities to protect public health.
Target 2.5: maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, plants and animals, and promote fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.
Target 15.6: fair and equitable sharing of benefits from genetic resources and appropriate access to them.
Goal 9: industry, innovation and infrastructure; Goal 13: climate action.
Target 17.7: promote the development, transfer and diffusion of environmentally sound technologies to developing countries on favourable terms.

NITI Aayog monitors India’s progress through an SDG India Index.

The thread for the answer. From Stockholm to the SDGs the instruments move from “environment” to “sustainable development”, from state duties to shared responsibilities, and from pollution to the use of resources and knowledge. Technology transfer appears in every one of them, and each time the obstacle named is cost and IP. That is why Unit IV and Unit V of this syllabus ask how IP law can serve sustainable development, the theme of Philippe Cullet’s prescribed book.

How this is examined

Likely long questions: “Trace the development of the concept of sustainable development from Stockholm to the SDGs,” “Discuss the principles of the Rio Declaration and their application by the Indian judiciary,” or “Critically evaluate the Johannesburg Declaration.” Short notes: the Brundtland Report; the precautionary principle; common but differentiated responsibility; Agenda 21; SDG 3.b. Use a table of the instruments in the long answer and link each to an Indian statute or case.