The institutionalization of environmental discourse: an analysis of the history of international conferences

Abstract

Using documentary research as a methodology, the article builds a historical trajectory that demonstrates the institutionalization of the environmental protection discourse based on international conferences sponsored by the United Nations. The corpus of the survey of official, unofficial and civil society documents is situated within the framework of the Stockholm-72 and Rio-92 conferences. The critical analysis of the documents points in particular to the clash of political, economic and social forces around concepts such as eco-development and sustainable development. It concludes by pointing out that, although the environmental discourse has become institutionalized at government level, these concepts were aimed first and foremost at producing a global consensus. Despite the limits of the institutionalized environmental discourse, civil society entities have strengthened their capacity to reflect on ethical and political issues in environmental matters.