We're releasing this list on a special occasion. Almost exactly 50 years ago, on June 5-16, 1972, the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (also known as the Stockholm Conference) was held in Stockholm, Sweden. It was the UN's first major conference on international environmental issues, and marked a turning point in the development of international policies.

When the participating 122 countries — 70 of them considered to be developing and poor — adopted the Stockholm Declaration, they essentially committed to 26 principles and an action plan that set in a multilateral environmental regime.

One of the overarching principles was that sovereignty should be subject to not causing harm to the natural world of other countries as well.

This was the first globally subscribed document that recognized the "interconnections between development, poverty and the environment."

These principles were celebrated as a harbinger of "new behavior and responsibility which must govern their relationship in the environmental era."

In a way, the planet's environment and natural resources became a common resource with countries resetting their relationship with nature — from sovereignty over resources to shared responsibility for their sustainable uses.

The key agreements of the Stockholm Declaration were:

Earth's natural resources, including air, water, land, flora and fauna, especially representative samples of natural ecosystems, must be safeguarded for the benefit of the present and future generations through careful planning or management.

The discharge of toxic substances or of other substances and the release of heat, in such quantities or concentrations as to exceed the capacity of the environment to render them harmless, must be halted in order to ensure that serious or irreversible damage is not inflicted upon ecosystems. The just struggle of the peoples of ill countries against pollution should be supported.

States shall take all steps to prevent pollution of the seas by substances that are liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea.

States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

The environmental policies of all States should enhance and not adversely affect the present or future development potential of developing countries, nor should they hamper the attainment of better living conditions for all, and appropriate steps should be taken by States and international organizations with a view to reaching agreement on meeting the possible national and international economic consequences resulting from the application of environmental measures.