Based in the Swedish capital half a century after the conference that put environmental concerns on the global agenda, Stockholm+50 impresses with strong speeches and few concrete actions. The to-do list that governments take home after the two-day Stockholm+50 Conference, the summit on the environment that commemorated five decades of the world’s first such meeting, is loaded with all too familiar terms.
Respect for human and environmental rights, faster compliance with agreements and targets already assumed, and more money for sustainable projects are part of the key recommendations approved in the document at the end of the plenary sessions, this Friday (03), in the capital of Sweden. .
For the Swedish government, which chaired the conference, the feeling is of accomplishment. “We believe that we have mobilized and harnessed —collectively— the potential of this meeting. Now we have an acceleration plan to go further”, declared the Swedish Minister of the Environment, Annika Strandhäll, after reading the document.
Strandhäll argues that Stockholm+50 was a milestone “on our path towards a healthier planet for everyone, leaving no one behind”.
For the other participants, the feeling is that the speeches, unanimous as to the urgency of changes for the continuity of human life on Earth, do not go much beyond the words of effect.
Former Brazilian environment minister Izabella Teixeira, for example, realizes that political tensions and complex relationships between richer and poorer countries do not go away. Without money and with less participation in the negotiation processes, it is difficult for the less developed to do the expected homework.
“There is no way to move forward if environmental multilateralism does not play a more strategic role in the construction of development processes. [como o Fundo Monetário Internacional] to help exposed and vulnerable countries. It is necessary to change metrics, scales and environmental-climate governance for the direction of the prose to change”, Teixeira tells DW, in Stockholm.
A sense of emptying the conference was also present. “There is a certain feeling of loss, that something is missing here, but I think it has to do with the historical moment we are living. There is a war on the side, and the issues of climate change and biodiversity are separated, sectored, with their their own paths”, comments the minister of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) Antonio Herman Benjamin, very active in the environmental area, referring to the specific conventions within the United Nations that have their own diplomatic negotiations.
Without speaking on the platform or participating in the debates promoted during the conference, Joaquim Leite, current Minister of the Environment, refused to give an interview when approached by the report towards the end of the event.
Young Brazilians break barriers
Mentioned as “next generations” at the inaugural meeting on the Environment in 1972, young people moved the halls of the 2022 edition. Among them was Samela Sateré Mawé, 25, an indigenous person from the state of Amazonas.
“It’s practically impossible, inaccessible, for young people like me to be here,” he tells DW. “Our generation is very concerned about the future and about the present. We live in a country where there is more deforestation, but which has the greatest diversity. And we care about that, we want everyone to have the possibility of life, to breathe clean air “, he adds.
Mikaelle Farias, 19, decided to activism after seeing the impact on fishing communities brought by the oil slicks in the city where she lives, João Pessoa, in ParaÃba. In 2019, a mysterious spill hit part of the Brazilian coast, an environmental crime that was later attributed to a Greek ship by the Federal Police.
She now wants to be heard by those who decide. “The UN conferences have always been occupied by white people, by men in suits. It is very difficult for black women, for indigenous peoples to arrive within these spaces and manage to voice their voices. They decide our future, but they do not include us in the debate.” , criticizes.
Karina Penha, 26, an activist and biologist from Maranhão, has seen the increase in youth participation in events of this type since 2016. “Still, it’s super complex to get here. We’re always looking for crowdfunding, support, it’s never easy, even more bring young people to these very expensive countries”, she says about going to Sweden, a country that has one of the highest HDI (Human Development Indexes) and a high cost of living — especially when compared to Brazil.
From unknown topic to priority
At the age of 89, Swedish diplomat Jan Martenson saw environmental concern go from “zero” to “top of the global agenda”. In 1972, he received from the government, which took the initiative to take the issue to the UN, the mission of organizing the historic United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.
“A lot has been done and created since then, but it’s true that there’s been a lot of talk, not a lot of action. And the degradation of the environment continues,” he says in an interview with DW. “Look at the case of Brazil, where the Amazon rainforest is being cut down, burned. People don’t seem to be very aware of the consequences of this.”
For Martenson, one of the most valuable gains of the Stockholm Declaration, a document that came out at the end of that meeting 50 years ago, was the inclusion of the human environment as a human right. “At that time, the environmental issue was non-existent. Dense smoke coming out of tall chimneys and concreted rivers were considered signs of progress, development, wealth. Nobody saw the destructive part of this process”, he recalls.
Martenson believes that the 2022 edition, despite the criticism, will be remembered as important in the future. “It brings new air, a new impetus to this process that started way back,” he explains.
Greta in the streets
A constant presence on Fridays in front of the Swedish Parliament since 2018 as a form of protest against the lack of action against climate change, the young Greta Thunberg did not participate in any official Stockholm+50 event.
As the meeting drew to a close, Thunberg marched with other protesters of all ages through the streets of Stockholm, holding up signs calling for more action, an end to climate ecocide, climate justice and protecting environmental defenders.
At the end of the march, young activists from different regions of the world spoke on the microphone about the difficulties faced in their countries. Brazilian Adriani Maffioletti, from the Greve pelo Clima Brasil movement, was one of them.
“How do you care about protecting the trees, but not protecting the people who are being murdered for protecting all this biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest?”, she asked the international audience, who applauded her.
