United Nations Environment Programme Annual Report of the Executive Director 1987

Just over 15 years ago, I attended the first United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm, as a delegate. My memories of that Conference are still very vivid-the long hours of consultations, the seemingly unsolvable impasses that were nonetheless somehow solved, the sudden flaring of tempers during protracted negotiations, a burst of ringing laughter providing a refreshing relief from the pent-up tension, the endless interventions droning on and on-and then, like a bolt of lightning flashing through a dull sky, a speech that would galvanize the entire assembly.