World Environment Day, which originated from the adoption of the Stockholm Declaration in 1972, is a reminder of one of the most important roles of humans on the Earth, which is protection of biodiversity and the environment. Since life would be impossible without air, water, plant and animal diversity, we should strive all our might in preserving the ecological cycles and the natural species within them. This includes not only living beings but also extends to the support of the inanimate natural environment, such as space, mountains, seas, wetlands, caves, and even non-natural inanimate man-made environments.
In recent decades, we have witnessed events such as deforestation, mountain encroachment, drying up of riverbeds, streams and wetlands, burning of reed beds and croplands, destruction of coastal and desert environment, soil erosion, subsidence of plains, construction of destructive and unregulated dams, release of sewage into rivers and seas, accumulation of dry and wet waste in forests, nuclear and chemical experiments and the pollution associated with them and the relevant waste and so on. These events indicate an increase in environmental crises. They have consequences such as climate change and its serious challenges that require careful attention.
The most important document regarding climate change, which mandates collective and individual efforts by nations to reduce the production of greenhouse gasses such as methane, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide and to construct sinkholes to remove these gasses from the atmosphere, all of which are serious threats to the Earth, has been ratified in the most industrialized country in the world (New York 1992).
According to the ’21st Century Agenda’, all countries must cooperate at the highest level of practical planning in the field of environmental development and preservation in order to prevent the gradual destruction and devastation of ecosystems with the help of each other. They should also fight against social and economic inequalities, poverty, illiteracy, and lack of healthcare, which directly and indirectly impose increasing destructive pressure on the Earth. One of the most important concerns of the ’Third Generation of Human Rights’ has been the ’Right to Development’, the conceptual relationship and linkage of which to ‘environmental protection’ the notion of ‘sustainable development’ has emerged.
Based on ‘Article 1’ Section 1 of the United Nations Declaration of 1986’, the third generation of human rights goes beyond civil and social conditions and encompasses the environment, development and other inspiring aspects of ’Soft Rights’.
Furthermore, according to the ‘First Principle of the Rio Declaration of 1992’, humans are at the center of concern for any development and possessing physical and spiritual abilities is a part of their rights in harmony with nature. It is obvious that the realization of ’Development’ should not harm the living and non-living environment. Fortunately, we have witnessed various activities in this regard, such as: