Development, Agenda 21, Forest Principles, and 3 legally binding agreements: Convention on Biological Diversity, Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development generally follows the Stockholm Declaration, and contains 27 principles which are not substantially different from the 21 principles of the Stockholm Declaration. There are, however, some important modifications.
First, the concept of sustainable development is clearly articulated for the first time in a document of international importance.
The idea itself can be traced earlier to the UN Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, but the term itself was missing.
The UN Brundtland Commission report in 1987 was vital in crystalizing the concept of sustainable development, which found its acknowledgement in the Rio Declaration.
Second, the right to the clean environment is expressed as a right “to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.”
The Stockholm declaration defines it somewhat differently: “Man has the fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being”. Even though there is no contradiction between these two expressions, the Rio Declaration does not make the right to the clean environment subordinate to the right to freedom, equality, etc.
Thirdly, there is a greater emphasis on the duty of the states to cooperate in “in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem.”
In other words, international environmental law is not only about conserving and protecting the environment, it undertakes the arduous task of restoring the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem.
This idea was not so clearly expressed in the Stockholm Declaration.