UN General Assembly
1972

152. One of the most important developments this year in the field of international co-operation has been, beyond question, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in Stockholm last June. It implies that there is a formal awareness on the part of the international community of a series of almost new problems in the life of mankind. We are dealing here with serious threats which affect us all equally. This latter point should be emphasized: it is not valid for each of our countries to feel that it is protected because it stands at a greater distance in time or space from this or that specific polluting agent or from this or that specific process of the degradation of nature. In a "compact world" such as is rapidly emerging before our eyes the reality of our immediate natural environment is already rigorously unitary and in the common endeavor to protect it, either we all act by common accord and effectively or we shall hurl ourselves in the course of a few decades into a disastrous situation.