- The principle of consent governs decision making;
- The organisation is built up of departments / functional groups of a maximum of 25 people, who have a common aim;
- The groups are connected through a double link, in such a way that both the leader and at least one chosen representative from the group take part in decision making on the next higher level (to ensure both top-down and bottom-up communication);
- Allocation of tasks and functions takes place through sociocratic elections, which means (among others): application of the principle of consent to the election process. This means: open discussion within the group about the skills and knowledge of the proposed candidate.

24.    Business and trade, and new ways of doing business

Small businesses can contribute to community and economic development. The need to create and maintain local businesses is recognized as a key element to ensure vital communities. Lack of these activities usually result on a process of community deterioration and the consequent fall in land and property values. The contribution of small and micro businesses to economic and community development is especially relevant in low-income neighborhoods and in areas with concentration of racial and/or ethnic minorities.

Dr. Tao Jiyi File thinks that the adoption of world sustainable development calls for strong international cooperation. The author analyses reasons why international cooperation is needed to achieve world sustainable development. The author also points out that international cooperation can facilitate native people's acceptance of rational policies, financial assistances and advanced technologies provided by the international community and that international cooperation also can contribute to regulating world population distribution, improving low population quality of backward countries, protecting and exploiting natural resources, developing those products and industries which can cause lower consumption of natural resources and energy sources with light pollution of environment, and keeping environmental stability and ecological balance. In a word, international cooperation greatly contributes to world sustainable development. Finally, the author suggests how world sustainable development can be promoted through international cooperation.

In order to promote world sustainable development and create a truly sustainable global society, the nations of the world have to best harmonize interacting impacts upon people, utilization of natural resources, economic development and environmental needs. Many countries have adopted a lot of effective measures on the complex interactions within themselves, but they are by no means sufficient. That is to say, a lot of work remains to be done. The author of this paper think that the adoption of world sustainable development calls for strong international cooperation. This is to say, all countries, including developed countries and develpping countries should cooperate harmoniously with each other in such areas as population issues, resource problems, economic issues and environmental issues. Some scholars have mentioned this topic, but their studies of effects of international cooperation upon world sustainable development are rare, often superficial and not systematic.

Heinrich Wohlmeyer and Hermann Dissemond File describes the Basic Principles of Applied Ethics.

Funding Criterion:

This criterion recalls that those realities, on which others build upon, have to be protected first. A classical example is, that to the stewardship of the ecological base (the base of life) has to be given priority before the fulfilment of various economic and social wishes.

Criterion of Integration:

In the case of conflict wider strategies to keep the system concerned functioning, have to have priority before those addressing narrower fields. E.g. demands resulting from the social system of a particular country have to find their limits in the protection of the global ecosystem or the aim of maximisation of labour productivity in agriculture and forestry should not be realised at the expense of biodiverse landscapes.

Criterion of Urgency:

Vital interests of future generations have to be considered as having priority before less vital interests of the present generation. Typical examples are climate change and soil erosion.

Criterion of Reversibility:

If a measure is inevitable, a variant, which causes reversible damage, has to be preferred before a measure causing irreversible loss.

Criterion of Regenerability:

Regenerable organic raw materials and primary energy carriers have to be preferred versus not regenerable fossil sources.

Criterion of Circular Orientation:

Supply chains have to be designed in a way, that the goods can enter after usage or consumption into natural or industrial recycling processes.

Criterion of Precaution (Precautionary Principle):

If serious damages to persons, animals, plants and the ecosystem cannot be excluded, an action or pattern of behaviour should be refrained from.

Criterion of Least Impact:

A measure for supplying goods or services for humans should choose a path, which entails the least possible impact on the ecological and social system concerned. This criterion is related to the precautionary principle. Its reason is, that functioning proven systems should not be disturbed and that unnecessary risks should not be taken. One example of its application in the eco-sphere is to rely on natural varieties before changing genomes by genetic manipulation.

Criterion of Causation (Causation - or Polluter pays Principle):

The causing agent should be made responsible for all damages he took into account. Negative examples are limited liabilities granted to air- and ship transport, to atomic energy plants and to data high ways.

Criterion of economy:

Human supply strategies consuming less resources should have preference before those enhancing more resource consumption.
A positive example is the Factor 10 Strategy (increasing resource productivity by a factor 10).

Criterion of Cooperation:

If measures or their consequences trespass national boarders, cooperative measures should be preferred.

Criterion of respect of human dignity:

Strategies, which violate human dignity, should not be permitted. Examples are the expulsion of an indigenous population by the flooding of a valley for a hydroelectric power plant or the imposition of overtaxing efficiency aims without a right to a say.

Criterion of wellbeing and aesthetics:

Strategies fostering human wellbeing and beauty of the environment should be preferred. This criterion is especially applicable to the management of cultural landscapes and the design of industrial sites and working places.

Group of Azerbaijan Ecological NGOs explained that ECOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL MONUMENTS OF AZERBAIJAN UNDER THREAT OF DESTRUCTION (construction of Baku – Cheyhan pipeline will destroy them). We call for all relevant international organizations to pay attention to the issue of laying the Baku - Cheyhan oil pipeline through the territory of Gobustan historical and Archeological Reserve and through territories of other Natural Reserves of Azerbaijan. BP spends the huge financial resources allocated as a loan by both International Finance Organizations and Banks, and by companies - participants of the pipeline project for destruction of large quantity of the ecological and cultural monuments, as well as destruction of the environment of Azerbaijan.


The Corporate Sector and Earth Management: don't let the fox guard the chicken coop by Germain Dufour File

The Earth Community Organization (ECO) found a way of dealing with globalization: global ethics. In the past, corporations ruled without checks and balances. For now on global ethics will be a basic minimum to do business, and there will be checks and balances. Our judgement will be based on global ethics.Global ethics must always be grounded in realities. But realities are changing constantly and are different in different places. We live in a world that makes progress toward democracy. Ethics and morality exist only when human beings can act freely. In our free society, rights are tied to responsibilities. Corporations are committed to improvement in business performance and want to be seen as 'good corporate citizens' on a local and a global scale. Corporations have social responsibilities as they are an integral part of society. Global ethics recalls that those realities, on which others build upon, have to be protected first. ECO has found that universal values and human and Earth rights as described above were the foundation of global ethics.

ECO has now at hand the method and framework to conduct societal checks and balances of a global sustainable development. A more balanced world economy will result of annual checks and balances. Corporations will take their social responsibilities and become involved in designing, monitoring, and implementing these checks and balances. Several corporations have already done so. Results will be taken into account in the evaluation of sustainable development. Corporations are required to expand their responsibilities to include human rights, the environment, community and family aspects, safe working conditions, fair wages and sustainable consumption aspects.

Allowing the corporate sector to review their own activities and conducting their own checks and balances is like letting the fox guard the chicken coop, i.e. multinational corporations have a vested interest in making sure that they make money and go unpunished for breaking all Ten Commandments and much more. By the time we realize it was wrong to choose a world economic model based entirely on profit, it will be too late. The Earth ecosystem, our life-support system, will have been destroyed beyond repair.

What to do about this situation? Here in the Americas, we are planning to do just that: choosing an economic model totally based on profit making. The Summit of the Americas (see Article "The Summit of the Americas, the FTAA and Earth Management") planned for April 2001 in Quebec city will give green light to the corporate sector with no checks. If the corporate sector was truly willing to honestly do such checks and balances then it should not matter to them to have the system put in place before they sign such an agreement. ECO is proposing to oversee such a system be put in place to the satisfaction of Earth Community.

Isabelle Lambiel File explained that globalization has changed the world : all dimensions of the universe are getting smaller. We have to think in a global way and look for new possibilities of being competitive. All the companies nowadays must develop new ways of maintaining existing lines of markets and finding new ones, which constitute the fundamental source of competitive advantage. Only learning can create new knowledge that is manifested in innovations, which then require new learning to use the new technologies effectively. Therefore knowledge contributes to productivity growth. When new technologies are launched in the market and the Dow Jones Industrial Index goes up, this is an indicator that the companies are successful. The economy expands and the standard of living can rise. Innovations have positive social effects because they create confidence in the mind of entrepreneurs, customers and employees. When people see their wealth increasing, they are more motivated to allocate part of their revenue to buy more products which are not harmful to the environment.

Dr. Tao Jiyi File stipulated that in order to promote world sustainable development and create a truly sustainable global society, the nations of the world have to best harmonize interacting impacts upon people, utilization of natural resources, economic development and environmental needs. Many countries have adopted a lot of effective measures on the complex interactions within themselves, but they are by no means sufficient. That is to say, a lot of work remains to be done. The author of this paper think that the adoption of world sustainable development calls for strong international cooperation. This is to say, all countries, including developed countries and develpping countries should cooperate harmoniously with each other in such areas as population issues, resource problems, economic issues and environmental issues. Some scholars have mentioned this topic, but their studies of effects of international cooperation upon world sustainable development are rare, often superficial and not systematic.

Heinrich Wohlmeyer and Hermann Dissemond File analysed of the effects of the present World Trade Order on the agricultural markets in the light of conditioning sustainable development. They recommended that concessions in the field of agriculture should not be made, if it is not agreed, that the protection of man and the environment is incorporated at least at the same level as trade concerns and that a bridging between GATT/WTO and Social and Environmental Agreements is institutionalised. Otherwise the asymmetric and partly destructive dynamics will continue and the world economy would not be directed towards balanced welfare and human wellbeing.

Germain Dufour File explained that national governments and large corporations have taken the wrong direction by asserting that free trade in the world is about competing economically without any moral safeguards and accountability to peoples and the environment. The proper and only way is for Free Trade to become a global co-operation between all nations. Surely, if we can cooperate in fighting against terrorism, then we should also be able to cooperate in fighting against the effects of the type Free Trade and the emergence of the planetary trading blocks as applied by national governments members of the World Trade Organization(WTO). It has already been shown that these effects will be desastrous socially and environmentally and are a direct threat to the existence of Life on Earth. The Earth Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation.

The Earth Community has made clear that globalization and planetary trading blocks should be serving the Earth Community and not the other way around, the people around the world serving the very few rich people. The September 11 event was the result of bad trading of arms and oil in the Middle East. By applying proper moral safeguards and accepting responsibility and accountability of all products (arms and oil in this case), we would make free trade and globalization serving the Human Family.

Earth 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 sustainable development in the world 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 leads 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.

Free Trade encourages countries to change their economic infrastructures to be in line with the free trade policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Many member countries have already prioritised economic growth over social aspects and human rights.

The World Trade Organization, foreign corporations and world business leaders claim that Free Trade brings sweeping democracy to all. They claim trade globalization is a forerunner of democracy in nations where it is non-existent. The Earth Community Organization does not believe that democracy will automatically succeed in a global free market. In fact, Free Trade is itself a flagrant abuse of democracy.

Free Trade entrenches corporate power at the expense of democratically elected officials from local communities, municipal governments, provincial governments, national governments and states. It is a form of "world anti-government" (such as the European Union block) as citizens lose the ability to act in their best interests and find sound solutions to their own problems. Citizens become disconnected with the decision-making process. Their lives are then driven by the desire of making profits. Fear is used to force people to behave with the dollar sign as their god. In such scenario, democratic principles lose meaning and no longer prevail. All that we have worked for over the past decades to build sustainable communities is gone with Free Trade. People were never asked to discuss and were never invited in its development. The principles of a sustainable development are let go and replaced by the desire of the world business leaders to make larger profits.

The distribution of wealth around the world demands more compassionate approaches to bridging the continuously widening gap between the rich and the poor. Understanding the economic and social development of a balance world is a priority of the Earth Community Organization. The eradication of poverty in the world is a priority and our responsibility. The interaction of poor health, poverty and environmental deterioration has been measured and was found to have a direct relationship with the stage of economic and social development of a country. Policies to combat poverty should not damage the environment. Environmental policies should not create poverty.

Vladimir Victorovich Lagutov File developed an ecological basin policy in the former Soviet Union. The existing situation could be characterized as following:

- complete failure of the governmental ecological policy;
- inability of the first sector (national authority) to improve situation by structural reorganization or funding changes;
- insignificant influence of nongovernmental organizations on current situation and the decision-making process;
- inapplicability of western experience to the local conditions due to the big scale of the work to be done and absence of civil society.

The concept of the study was aimed at the stabilization of the environment under conditions of limited resources and authority degradation. The main idea behind the realization of this goal is the dislocation of the most active social part of the local population in the key areas of river basins.

Natalia Knijnikova File concluded in her study that the cost expression of damage caused by pollution of natural environment to a total internal product will show a real picture of well-being.

John M. Bunzl File explained that today’s competitive global economy subtly yet effectively reduces the span of feasible policy options open to national governments. Today we live in a global and largely borderless economy where capital and transnational corporations freely move wherever profits are highest, costs lowest and where governments live in fear of the ‘reaction’ of global markets. No government can now impose higher taxes or regulations on corporations for fear of them moving employment elsewhere. Similarly, governments seeking to impose protective environmental or labour legislation would be seen by global financial markets as ‘uncompetitive’, prompting instant punishment through devaluation, capital flight, inflation and unemployment. Even the mooting of such policies would cause the computers of market traders to instantly move capital to some other economy offering an environment ‘more conducive to business needs’. Democracy presupposes that political parties can freely represent a wide diversity of public opinion and consequently a wide range of feasible policies covering the entire political spectrum. But globally competitive markets now represent a sinister ‘hidden hand’ which narrows the policy parameters to what has now become a highly restricted, business-friendly stance which excludes all those restorative policies traditionally espoused by the political Left to balance social and environmental concerns against those of business.

Prof. Richard C. Rich stipulated that because a community's sustainability depends on the choices and actions of its residents, "top-down" or "command-and-control" approaches to achieving sustainable development are often very limited in their effectiveness. An emerging approach to responding to local environmental issues, however, provides a model for actively involving community residents in ways that can encourage sustainability. Variously referred to as "collaborative environmental management" or "civic environmentalism," these approaches involve all sectors of society in a "ground-up," holistic effort to envision desirable futures for the community and to act to move toward those visions. They have the important advantage of creating a sense of place, a community identity, and an attitude of environmental citizenship that can provide a foundation for life-style and policy changes that lead to sustainability.

This paper explores the relationship between the features of collaborative environmental management and the conditions necessary for achieving sustainability. It draws on examples from eight cases of collaborative environmental management in the state of Virginia to discuss the conditions under which this is an appropriate response to environmental problems. The analysis asks how collaborative environmental management practices could be extended to efforts to promote community sustainability, and identifies the elements of this approach that are especially relevant to application in developing nations.

Dr. Tao Jiyi File analyzed the effects of international cooperation upon world sustainable development and suggest how world sustainable development can be achieved through international cooperation. He concluded that all countries, including developed countries and develpping countries should cooperate harmoniously with each other in such areas as population issues, resource problems, economic issues and environmental issues. Some scholars have mentioned this topic, but their studies of effects of international cooperation upon world sustainable development are rare, often superficial and not systematic.

Fileexplained that the human species has reached a point in its evolution where it knows its survival is being challenged. In the past, human beings have had some kind of symbiotical relationship (which is something common in Nature between lifeforms in an ecosystem) with the world. We work together for both our survival and well-being. Cooperation and symbiosis between lifeforms (especially human beings) on Earth have become a necessity of life. We help one another, joint forces, and accomplish together what we cannot accomplish separately. Symbiotical relationships exist between nations of the European Union. It is mainly an economic base symbiotical relationship. But there are many different kind of symbiotical relationships and many more will be created. The Earth Community is proposing a solution that the process of trading within the planetary trading blocks be changed from a spirit of global competition to that of global economic cooperation. The Earth Community has made clear that globalization and planetary trading blocks should be serving the Earth Community and not the other way around, the people around the world serving the very few rich people. The September 11 event was the result of bad trading of arms and oil in the Middle East. By applying proper moral safeguards and accepting responsibility and accountability of all products (arms and oil in this case), we would make free trade and globalization serving the Human Family.

The world has become global in most fields of life. Nowadays it is a necessity to co-operate in resolving global problems which makes global governance a quality of the New Age Civilization. The next most important achievement of the Human Family will be the signing of a global agreement on the Scale of Earth Rights. The Earth Community is requesting all members of the World Trade Organization(WTO) to change their ways by:

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 Earth 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.