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Integrating science, law and diplomacy: 50 years after the Stockholm Declaration
Cross-disciplinary integration, such as in the "Merdeka Belajar" initiative, is vital for Indonesia to present a solid position on the environment at the international negotiating table.
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Environment and Forestry Ministry climate change control general director Laksmi Dhewanthi speaks at the G20 Second Environment Deputies Meeting and Climate Sustainability Working Group on June 21, 2022, in Jakarta (KLHK/File)
L
ast month marked the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, also known as the Stockholm Conference. This meeting resulted in the Stockholm Declaration, the very first international document that underlined the environment as a major global issue.
The June 1972 conference was crucial to raising environmental issues as an inseparable part of development.
Even though the declaration is not legally binding, history has noted that it was one of the most important leaps in the global effort to protect the environment.
Fifty years after the Stockholm Conference, what has Indonesia learned about discussing environmental issues at an international forum? The answer might be the importance of integrating science, law and diplomacy.
Back in 1972, then-president Soeharto sent Emil Salim, his state minister of state apparatus control, to head the Indonesian delegation to the Stockholm Conference.
In a retrospective released on June 24 on the Tempo Media YouTube channel, Emil professes that as an economics professor, he does not know anything about the environment. He adds that he focused solely on economic recovery following the massive financial crisis in the late 1960s, so the conference was a huge challenge for him.
Recognizing his limited knowledge on environmental issues, Emil had recruited his colleagues as expert advisors to discuss Indonesia’s position on global environmental issues. These experts included Mochtar Kusumaatmadja, an international law professor at Padjadjaran University, Soedjatmoko, a seasoned diplomat, and scientist J.A. Katili, who discussed the environmental framework in the context of Indonesia’s economic development.
