Global economy and trade

The spirit of global competition be changed to a spirit of global cooperation; over its long past history trade has never evolved to require from the trading partners to become legally and morally responsible and accountable for their products from beginning to end. Now trade must be given a new impetus to be in line with the global concepts of the Global Community. You develop, manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become legally and morally responsible and accountable of your product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be anything and everything.

Obtaining one ECO, the Certified Corporate Global Community Citizenship will help businesses to be part of the solution to the challenges of globalisation. In this way, the private sector in partnership with the civil society can help realize a vision: allowing a global equitable and peaceful development and a more stable and inclusive global economy.

Global economy

1.0 A democratically planned global economy
2.0 Profit-based conservation strategies for natural ecosystems

Business and trade

3.0        New way of doing business
4.0        Profit-based conservation practices
5.0        Do not become a member of the WTO
6.0        Global trading practices
7.0        The policy of private-enterprise solutions to global warming

Societal sustainability

8.0        Food production for the Global Community
9.0        Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth
10.0        A global sustainable development
11.0        Portal of sustainable development
12.0        A democratically planned global economy - Societal Sustainability
13.0        Long term well-being as a solution to world sustainable development

Global economy

1.0 A democratically planned global economy
2.0 Profit-based conservation strategies for natural ecosystems

1.0 A democratically planned global economy

Implemented through the Global Community with built-in mechanisms for optimum input and oversight guaranteed to all member-states, a democratically planned global economy offers the Global Community a practicable starting point for achieving:

(a)     a healthful, sustainable environment for every global community citizen,
(b)     universal health care, publicly supported,
(c)     education for all based upon individual capability,
(d)     creative/productive employment for every global community citizen, and
(e)     post-retirement security.

This effort will lead over time to an escalation of human values and symbiotical relationships transcending money centered economics.

2.0 Profit-based conservation strategies for natural ecosystems

The Global Community is promoting a methodological approach to an economic valuation as a framework incentive to enforce profit-based conservation strategies for natural ecosystems. Biodiversity and Protected Areas exist neither in isolation nor independent of human activities. For local communities, this may mean conservation represents a hindrance rather than an opportunity for sustainable development and thus lead to increasing avoidance of the regulatory framework in effect. Changes are needed to conservation practices in order to create a broader consensus around objectives and practices. One means of doing this is to ensure people adopt profit-based conservation practices.

Business and trade

3.0        New way of doing business
4.0        Profit-based conservation practices
5.0        Do not become a member of the WTO
6.0        Global trading practices
7.0        The policy of private-enterprise solutions to global warming

3.0 New way of doing business

1.    building social and environmental concerns into the WTO trade rules;
2.     including ethical and moral safeguards, responsibility and accountability in all situations and places;
3.     developing a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations;
4.     making a transition from global competition to global co-operation which allows communities the freedom to pursue social and environmental objectives;
5.     assuring that globalization and planetary trading blocks serve the Global Community, the Human Family and not the other way around for the benefit of a few rich people in the world; and
6.     developing a method of raising global taxes, of redistributing incomes to the poorest communities, of providing debt-free technical assistance to non-industrial and developing countries to help them out of poverty and to meet environmental and social standards.

Over its long past history trade has never evolved to require from the trading partners to become legally and morally responsible and accountable for their products from beginning to end. At the end the product becomes a waste and it needs to be properly dispose of. Now trade must be given a new impetus to be in line with the global concepts of the Global Community. You manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become legally and morally responsible and accountable of your product from beginning to end (to the point where it actually becomes a waste; you are also responsible for the proper disposable of the waste). This product may be anything and everything from oil & gas, weapons, war products, to genetically engineered food products. All consumer products. All medicinal products! All pharmaceutical products! In order words, a person becomes responsible and accountable for anything and everything in his or her life.

7.0 The policy of private-enterprise solutions to global warming

Carbon dioxide is one of the main culprits for greenhouse gases and the reduction of emissions of this toxic substance has become the topic of the agenda. Greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. Accelerated industrial activity in many developed and developing countries has dramatically increased the levels of these emissions in the air. Mass deforestation has also cut the globe’s ability to absorb these gases. The dilemma is how to find ways that permit the economic growth without jeopardising the environment. Canada along with other 37 countries has ratified the 1997 Kyoto protocol according to which the emissions of greenhouse gases must be reduced significantly by year 2012. It has adopted the policy of private-enterprise solutions to the global warming problem.

As the date of reducing significantly the emissions of greenhouse gases is approaching, many wonder whether governments would ever consider the adoption of some measures to reduce the accelerated deterioration of the atmosphere. It is feared that the uncontrolled industrial activity may lead to a situation where further economic development would be impossible. Greenhouse gases believe to cause warming of the Earth’s climate, leading to erratic whether, melting polar caps and drought in already warm regions. The ecological equilibrium is in jeopardy. From a policy perspective the radical plan hammered out by politicians in Kyoto is the first concrete initiative to fix targets for a significant reduction of greenhouse gases. Although the timetable set for gases emissions reductions is considered by some too long and by others too short, the fact of the matter is that the countries which ratified the Kyoto protocol have not taken, as yet, any concrete measures to the application of the agreement. Plausible questions arise as to the seriousness of politicians and policy makers to tackle this problem.

Canada is a case in point. It has pledged, under the Kyoto agreement, to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6 per cent from 1990 levels by 2012. It has opted to use a market where every ton of carbon dioxide that is removed from the atmosphere or prevented from being emitted is bought and sold on an exchange like the one that already exists in the U.S. for sulphur dioxide emissions – a market that is now worth an estimated $500-million (U.S.) in trade a year. Under such a regime overpolluters could offset their reduction obligations with credits. Demand and supply for credits would provide the appropriate incentives for reducing emissions. Actually, prices, as determined in the auction exchange market, would provide the appropriate signals for emissions reduction. A strong demand for market credits would push up the price of the units and create a powerful incentive for others to create more credits by devising innovative means of cutting emissions. Such an environmental regulation provides incentives for technological change and better environment.

The Kyoto accord has set the bases for a cleaner environment and the participating countries are currently trying to develop the necessary means for attaining the targets established. The most favoured approach is the use of trading permits. This private-firm solution is debated by many as far as its efficiency is concerned. Economists, however, demonstrate the superiority of this approach compared to most direct ones such as taxes and direct penalties. Little progress has been done though world wide even in the use of this approach. The apparent difficulty lies in the uncertainty surrounding the real threat emanating from the presence of sulphur dioxide and the sheer size of costs associated with the reduction or the curtailment of the emissions of gases. Given that the costs are ten times higher than the estimated benefits little interest exists from private firms and governments to implement the necessary measures for cleaner environment. The estimated costs and benefits, although valid in a strict economic sense, neglect some important facets that can make an important difference in the outcome. The benefits arising from the reduction of CO₂ emissions are calculated as the environmental damages that are avoided by preventing rising concentrations of gases. Although costs are calculated in a more direct way the benefits are at best uncertain. Even the direct benefits are really difficult to calculate, never mind the indirect ones. Cleaner environment and better standards of living arising out of emissions curtailment are difficult to quantify accurately. Should such comprehensive calculations were possible we would have a more balanced picture of the true costs and benefits. The international trade in emission rights reduce the calculated costs without altering drastically the ecological capital. Weak sustainability is possible and it can be achieved by relying on the market mechanisms, such tradable pollution permits.

In an ever increasing competitive environment firms have a particular interest and incentive to comply with the Kyoto accord first before their competitors do so. The competitive advantage thus gained makes them more efficient and financially stronger, not weaker. The very recent experience with an ever increasing number of firms seeking to strike deals in getting trading permits is an evidence in point. Such a market is worth more than $60 billion-a-year in the U.S. alone. If politicians agree on clear rules for international trading, the global market could in time reach a trillion dollars a year. Such a growth in the market of tradable permits is quite promising as far as weak sustainability is concerned. Governments should abide to concrete and permanent rules on trading of pollution permits so that polluters and non polluters find the way to trade their permits and reduce the pollution of the environment. By rendering markets more perfect (information becomes more symmetric) the quality of the environment in the future can only get better.

Societal sustainability

8.0        Food production for the Global Community
9.0        Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth
10.0        A global sustainable development
11.0        Portal of sustainable development
12.0        A democratically planned global economy - Societal Sustainability
13.0        Long term well-being as a solution to world sustainable development

8.0 Food production for the Global Community

We need to form a global ministry dealing only about agriculture and the protection of our soils. All nations will be part of the ministry. We have to design systems of food production that meet our own needs, and also leave room for these other lifeforms we want to take along with us. Western agriculture is designed in the end to maximize profit. As a primordial human right, the prime concern of the human species is to feed people. Therefore we have to do things differently. We will have to produce less livestock as we effectively double the population we need to feed: ourselves, plus the livestock that is supposed to be feeding us. We also have to apportion the land surface of the whole world more efficiently, using some for highhly intensive food production (which makes use of less land), some for extensive agriculture (combining food production with wildlife conservation) and designing some specifically as wilderness areas with global corridors between them.

9.0 Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth

The Global Community has given back responsibility to every global community citizen on Earth. Everyone shares responsibility for the present and future well-being of life within Earth Community. We will work together in working out sound solutions to local and global problems. It would be wrong and dishonest to blame it all on the leader of a country. Most problems in the world must find solutions at the local and global community levels (and not assume that the leader alone is responsible and will handle it). There is a wisdom in the ways of very humble people that needs to be utilized. Every humble person deserves to have ideas respected, and encouraged to develop his or her own life for the better. Sound solutions to help manage and sustain Earth will very likely be found this way. Everyone can help assess the needs of the planet and propose sound solutions for its proper management, present and future. Everyone can think of better ideas to sustain all life on Earth and realize these ideas by conducting positive and constructive actions. When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound solution would be to choose a measure or conduct an action, if possible, which causes reversible damage as opposed to a measure or an action causing an irreversible loss; that is the grassroots process. The Global Community Organization can help people realized their actions by coordinating efforts efficiently together.

10.0 A global sustainable development

The Global Community believes all citizens have the right to share the wealth in the world. Foreign investment and the trade agreement must protect and improve social and environmental rights, not just the economy. A global sustainable development would mean finding a sound balance among the interactions designed to create a healthy economic growth, preserve environmental quality, make a wise use of our resources, and enhance social benefits. Free trade cannot proceed at the expense of the environment, labour rights, human rights and the sovereignty of a nation. Free trade will lead to an increase in poverty by giving investor rights priority over government decision-making. Employers will be looking for more concessions from workers. Small businesses will find it more difficult to grow and compete against large corporations.

For the first time in human history, and the first time this millennium, humanity has proposed a benchmark:

*     formation of global ministries in all important aspects of our lives
*     the Scale of Human and Earth Rights as a replacement to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
*     an evolved Democracy based on the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Global Community
*     a central organization for Earth management, the restoration of the planet and Earth governance: the Global Community Assessment Centre (GCAC)
*     the Earth Court of Justice to deal with all aspects of the Governance and Mangement of the Earth
*     a new impetus given to the way of doing business and trade
*     more new, diversified (geographical, economical, political, social, business, religious) symbiotical relationships between nations, communities, businesses, for the good and well-being of all
*     the event and formation of the human family and the Soul of Humanity
*     proposal to reform the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the IMF, NAFTA, FTAA, and to centralize them under the Global Community, and these organizations will be asked to pay a global tax to be administered by the Global Community
*     the Peace Movement of the Global Community and shelving of the war industry from humanity
*         a global regulatory framework for capitals and corporations that emphasizes global corporate ethics, corporate social responsibility, protection of human and Earth rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects
*     the ruling by the Earth Court of Justice of the abolishment of the debt of the poor or developing nations as it is really a form of global tax to be paid annually by the rich or industrialized nations to the developing nations
*     establishing freshwater and clean air as primordial human rights