The Heyday of the Environmental Movement, 1960–1979 145
spirit by all countries, big or small, on an equal
footing. Cooperation through multilateral or
bilateral arrangements or other appropriate
means is essential to effectively control, prevent,
reduce and eliminated adverse environmental
effects resulting from activities conducted in all
spheres, in such a way that due account is taken
of sovereignty and interests of all States.
Source: Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment (New
York: United Nations Environmental Programme, 1972), pp. 1-4.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 dam-
age to the environment of other States or of
areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
Principle 24 International matters concern-
ing the protection and improvement of the envi-
ronment should be handled in a cooperative
DOCUMENT 120: Endangered Species Act (1973)
The Endangered Species Act, in its original form, came close to acknowledging the rights of species to exist. In
the framing of the law, no references were made to the utility of the species; the task was only to identify and
list them and to find a way to develop a plan, when necessary, to encourage their recovery.
The history of the act and its enforcement is filled with conflicts in which the rights of property owners and
other financially interested parties are pitted against spokespeople for the preservation of endangered species.
The conflict over the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Teleco Dam, situated on the Little Tennessee River, and the
endangered snail darter (a rare species of perch) has been cited for many years as the exemplification of the
absurdity of some of these conflicts.^3 In the 1980s and 1990s the controversy surrounding the preservation of
the spotted owl in the ancient forests of the Northwest produced a similar exchange of invectives. Over the
years, compromises had to be made to enable the country to live with the act, and consequently the law has
been substantially altered from the original version presented here.
The act has had its share of both successes and failures. Ospreys, brown pelicans, bald eagles, and peregrine
falcons have moved from the brink of extinction to a certainty of survival if current environmental conditions
continue, but spotted owls have not.Sec. 2 (a) Findings.—The Congress finds and
declares that—
(1) various species of fish, wildlife, and
plants in the United States have been rendered
extinct as a consequence of economic growth
and development untempered by adequate con-
cern and conservation;
(2) other species of fish, wildlife, and plants
have been so depleted in numbers that they are in
danger of or threatened with extinction;
(3) these species of fish, wildlife, and plants
are of esthetic, ecological, educational, his-
torical, recreational, and scientific value to the
Nation and its people;
(4) the United States has pledged itself as a
sovereign state in the international community
to conserve to the extent practicable the various
species of fish or wildlife and plants facing
extinction, pursuant to—
(A) migratory bird treaties with Canada and
Mexico;
(B) the Migratory and Endangered Bird
Treaty with Japan;
(C) the Convention on Nature Protection
and Wildlife Preservation in the Western
Hemisphere;
(D) the International Convention for the
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries;
(E) the International Convention for the High
Seas Fisheries of the North Pacific Ocean;
(F) the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora; and