SustainabilityLINKS

Linking People, Sustainability & Participation

 

  

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Further Sits & info.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

    Earth Summit 1992

    Agenda 21

    The United Nations’ Agenda 21 was a main outcome of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro from 1 – 15 June 1992.  The text is divided into four main sections, on social and economic issues, resources, strengthening civil society for the challenges ahead and implementation.  

    See this site’s Agenda 21 Chapter 27 page for some extracts now relevant to local participation in the production of Sustainable Community Strategies.  The developmental links between Agenda 21 and today’s Sustainable Community Strategies and Local Strategic Partnerships are outlined in this site’s Programme Rationale page.

    “Humanity stands at a defining moment in history.  We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities within and between nations, a worsening of poverty, ill health, hunger and illiteracy, and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystems on which we depend for our well being.”

                               Preamble 1.1 - Agenda 21

     http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    This is the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Sustainable Development site: its front page hyperlinks to all major international sustainable development agreements on social, economic, natural resource and other issues.  

    http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/

    Agenda 21, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Convention on Biological Diversity, Statement of Principles on Forests

    http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/treaties/index.htm

    Agenda 21 – NGO Alternative Treaties.  Divided into ten sections, these cover 46 areas of concern, including climate change, SDE, news media, alternative economics, global decision making, transnational corporations, poverty, food security, nuclear power, marine life, biodiversity, women, population, indigenous peoples, urbanisation.

    http://www.iisd.org/rio+5/agenda/default.htm

    Plain language version of Agenda 21 and Rio Declaration on Environment and Development.  Also of the other 1992 Earth Summit documents – Convention on Biological Diversity, Statement of Principles on Forests and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

     

    Rio Declaration

    The United Nations’ Rio Declaration on Environment and Development was published on 16 June 1992, following the Earth Summit.  It comprises 27 Principles outlining the need for action and the ways countries should proceed in their efforts to address global unsustainability.

    “Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level.  At the national level each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment… and the opportunity to participate in decision making processes.”

                             Principle 10 - Rio Declaration

      

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    See Major International Agreements

    http://www.iisd.org/rio+5/agenda/default.htm

    See Agenda 21

    http://hei.unige.ch/~clapham/hrdoc/docs/riodeclaration.htm

    http://www.dryerlint.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Eve/RioDeclaration

     

    Earth Charter

    This is the Earth Charter Commission document setting out an international code of values for a sustainable future.  The principles are defined as respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice and democracy, non-violence and peace.  

    http://www.earthcharter.org

    In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development called for a charter that would set forth fundamental principles for sustainable development.  When the charter was left unfinished at the subsequent Rio Earth Summit, Summit secretary general Maurice Strong – together with Mikhail Gorbachev – took it forward by establishing the Earth Charter Commission, with steering committees in Africa and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.  The final draft of the Earth Charter was approved in March 2000 and officially launched three months later.

    “We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must chose its future...

    “…we must decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole earth community as well as our local communities.  We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked.  Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future will-being of the human family and the larger living world.”

                             Preamble - The Earth Charter

    The Earth Charter website includes advice on how we can use the document as an educational tool, values framework, discussion springboard and ethical blueprint within our communities.  Its endorsement indicates a commitment to the spirit and aims of the document and an intention to work for the implementation of its principles.

    bullet02_green.gif   Has your Local Strategic Partnership considered the Earth Charter yet?

     

    The NGO Alternative Treaties

    The Alternative Treaties were published from the Earth Summit’s Global Forum at Rio de Janeiro, 1 – 15 June 1992.

    http://habitat.igc.org/treaties/index.htm

    As well as the Earth Charter, these Alternative Treaties include the; People’s Earth Declaration, Rio de Janeiro Declaration, Treaty on Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility, Code of Conduct for NGOs, Treaty on Alternative Economic Models, Alternative Treaty on Trade and Sustainable Development, Debt Treaty, Treaty on TNCs; Democratic Regulation of the Conduct, Treaty on Consumption and Lifestyle, Poverty Treaty, Food Security Treaty, Alternative Non-Governmental Agreement on Climate Change, Treaty on Energy, Treaty on the Nuclear Problem, Forest Treaty, Pollution of the Marine Environment, Citizen’s Commitments on Biodiversity, Citizens’ Commitments on Biotechnology, Global Women’s Treaty for NGOs Seeking a Just and Healthy Planet, Treaty on Population, Environment and Development, Youth Treaty, Treaty on Militarism, the Environment and Development, Treaty on Urbanisation.

      

    WSSD 2002

    Johannesburg Declaration

    The United Nations‘ Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development was published by the UN from the World Summit on Sustainable Development on 4 September 2002.  Its four pages are divided into 37 statements which outline WSSD concerns and commitment to actively address global unsustainability.

    “At the beginning of this Summit the children of the world spoke to us in a simple but clear voice that the future belongs to them, and accordingly challenged us al to ensure that through our actions they will inherit a world free of the indignity and indecency occasioned by poverty, environmental degradation and patterns of unsustainable development.”

                Statement 3 - Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    See Agenda 21.  The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation can also be accessed on this site.

    www.johannesburgsummit.org/html/basicinfo/agenda21.html

    www.joburg.org.2a/cleancity/johannesburgdeclaration

    www.dryerlint.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Eve/JohannesburgDeclaration

    “…we solemnly pledge to the peoples of the world and the generations who will surely inherit this earth, that we are determined to ensure our collective hope for sustainable development is realised.”

              Statement 37 - Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development

      

    Johannesburg Key Outcomes

    Following the WSSD of 26 August – 4 September 2002, the United Nations’ Key Outcomes document outlined the Summit initiatives and implementation framework.  

    “The views of civil society were given prominence at the Summit in recognition of the key role of civil society in implementing the outcomes and in promoting partnership initiatives.”

                 Bullet 7 Key Outcomes of the Summit - Johannesburg WSSD, 2002

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    Key Outcomes cover commitments on poverty eradication, water and sanitation, SPC, energy, chemicals, natural resources, corporate responsibility, agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystem management and health.  There were also provisions made for the particular needs of small islands and Africa.

    See Agenda 21 and Johannesburg Declaration.  The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation can also be accessed on this site.

     

    Johannesburg Plan of Implementation

    The United Nations published the WSSD Plan of Implementation in September 2002.  54 pages long it reaffirms commitment to the Principles of the Rio Declaration and full implementation of Agenda 21.  

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    The text covers a wide range of sustainability concerns, ranging from resource depletion and globalisation to desertification and sustainable tourism as well as commenting on different regional perspectives.  It urges that within the transparency and broad public participation framework of Agenda 21 there should be a strengthening of partnerships between governmental and non-governmental actors, and of institutional arrangements on programmes of action.

    Stockholm Declaration

    Of The United Nations Conference On The Human Environment 1972

    http://www.aviation.go.th/airtrans/airlaw/HumanEnvironment.html

      

    Climate Change

    Kyoto Protocol

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was published by the UN on 11 December 1997.  The document’s 28 Articles span 23 pages and require its signatories to reduce their countries’ greenhouse gas emissions.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyoto_Protocol

     

    IPPC Climate Change Assessment Reports

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was set up in 1988 by the United Nations Environment Programme and World Metrological Organisation.  The IPCC is the most authoritative body monitoring climate change.  

    “The successful implementation of greenhouse gas mitigation options needs to overcome many technical, economic, political, cultural, social, behavioural and / or institutional barriers which prevent the full exploitation of the technological, economic and social opportunities of these mitigation options… In the industrialised countries, future opportunities lie primarily in removing social and behavioural barriers.”

                      Paragraph 17 IPCC Third Assessment Report, 2001

     www.ipcc.ch/

    The IPCC’s last study, the Third Assessment Report, was approved at the WG III session at Accra, Ghana of 28 February – 3 March 2001.  The follow up was published in February this year.  (IPPC Working Group I addressed the scientific aspects of climate change, WGII the socio-economic and national implications and WGIII how we can mitigate the impacts.)

    The Third Assessment Report’s Summary for Policy Makers outlines the need for a comprehensive response to climate change – its recommendations do not simply relate to government, but recognise the need for a universal action.  It sidesteps the (then more contentious) issue of cause, asserting that it matters not whether natural cycles or some human lifestyle demands are to blame, the urgent need is for people to make mitigating behavioural changes through means such as social re-education, institutional and other collective rules.

    “These innovations frequently meet with resistance, which may be addressed by encouraging greater public participation in decision-making processes.  This can help contribute to new approaches to sustainability and equity.”

                     Paragraph 10 - IPCC Third Assessment Report, 2001

      

    Other Key Documents

    Major International Agreements

    Those Major Agreements relevant to S&P work are gathered together on the website hosted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Division for Sustainable Development.  

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agreed.htm

    Documents accessible on the UNDESA site include: The Millennium Declaration, The Monterrey Consensus, documents from Earth Summit +5 (the Special Session of the General Assembly to review and Appraise the Implementation of Agenda 21), The Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (1972), Programme Of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (1994), The Report of the World Summit for Social Development (1995).  The site serves to illustrate the extent to which national governments are failing to enable communities to take the very necessary, internationally agreed, actions.

     www.virtualcentre.org.en/library/key-pub/longshad/ao701e/AO701EOO.pdf

    The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation report ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’ says that the “livestock sector has such deep and wide ranging impacts that it should rank as one of the leading focuses for environmental policy” and that its “impact is so significant that it needs to be addressed with urgency”.

    ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’ assesses the significant impacts of the livestock industry on the environment – from biodiversity, water and air pollution and deforestation to overgrazing, desertification and land degradation and climate change.  It was intended to examine the links, raise their profile and encourage technical and political remedies.  The multi-stakeholder report was co-ordinated by the UN’s FAO against a background of rising global demand for animal origin foods (production is forecast to double by 2050) and consequent pressure on natural resources.  It was based on previous work undertaken by LEAD, which brought together R&D on livestock and the environment.

    The most recent LEAD assessment had differed from its earlier work in shifting from a livestock perspective to one considering livestock’s contribution to environmental changes.  It was anticipated that this would enable decision making to embrace those issues necessary to effectively address the true nature of the identified environmental problems.  ‘Livestock’s Long Shadow’ says that although the international demand for animal produce is growing and the industry is competing for scarce natural resources, it is “economically not a major global player”.

    “The livestock sector emerges as one of he top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.”

                              Executive Summary,

                              Livestock’s Long Shadow

                              UN FAO, 2007

    There are various concerns discussed, ranging from globalisation, land-use changes, increased transportation, loss of eco-systems, carbon and nitrogen emissions.  

    1. Animal origin food production is responsible for 18% of total greenhouse gas emissions.  Livestock are responsible for emissions with a “far higher potential to warm the atmosphere”.  Methane has 23 times the GWP of CO2 and nitrous oxide 296 times.

    2. In discussing land degradation a significant factor is the extent of the livestock industry’s high demand for land; it exceeds that of any other user.  

    3. A diet including foods of animal origin also places a large demand upon water supplies – while “64% of the world’s population (are) expected to live in water stressed basins by 2050” livestock is a major cause of increasing water usage and is “probably the largest sectoral source of water pollution”.

    4. Asserting that “the livestock sector may well be the leading player in the reduction of biodiversity” the FAO report refers to the IUCN Red List which shows, “most of the world’s threatened species are suffering habitat loss where livestock are a factor”.  An unprecedented rate of species loss is running up to 500 times higher than fossil records.

     

    However, the FAO report also identifies those communities of interest responsible for making the necessary policy and practice changes as extending beyond the livestock industry and agriculture, showing how they  range from private to public, inter-governmental to non-governmental, corporate to individual, global to local.

     

    One of the most crucial cross-cutting remedies is the introduction of real costings, natural resources are routinely regarded as inexpensive or free or subject to perverse subsidies, which actually serve to encouraging environmental damage.