| |
Lead Papers
Elena BIVOL,Germain Dufour, Anne M. Karanja, Mirian Vilela
Opening Remark by Leader
The Earth Charter is the result of worldwide dialogue based on our shared
values. It is through this consultation process that the final version
of the Earth Charter was launched in The Hague on June 29th. It is with
a continued interest in engaging people and groups from all parts of the
world in receiving support and endorsement to the Earth Charter that we
are very pleased to participate in the World Congress discussion. We
hope to receive constructive comments, forge new partnerships and hear
alternatives for implementation and promotion regarding the Earth
Charter. Our focus is moving towards using the Earth Charter as an
educational tool in formal and non-formal education, and as a basis for
business and professional codes of conduct and national development plans.
We hope that together we can move forward, with a shared notion of
interdependence and responsibility, towards the achievement of a global
patrnership of sustainable development.
Read the Earth Charter: embrace it, promote it, and integrate it into
activities you are involved in. If you can do nothing more, please
endorse it:
http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr/template/endorse/
For more information please visit our website:
www.earthcharter.org
Mirian Vilela
As explained by Vilela, An Earth Charter Commission was formed in 1997 to oversee the project and the drafting of the Charter. The Secretariat for the
Commission is at the Earth Council in Costa Rica. In March, 1997, at the conclusion of the Rio+5 Forum in Rio de Janeiro, the Earth
Charter Commission issued the Benchmark Draft Earth Charter. The Commission also called for ongoing international consultations on
the text of the document.
Between 1997 and 1999 over forty national Earth Charter committees were formed, and numerous Earth Charter conferences were
held. Comments and recommendations from all regions of the world were forwarded to the Earth Council and the Drafting Committee.
Guided by these contributions to the consultation process, the text of the Charter has been extensively revised. In April, 1999, the
Earth Charter Commission issued Benchmark Draft II. The consultation process continued throughout 1999 in order to provide
individuals and groups with a further opportunity to make contributions to the drafting process. As a result of the worldwide
consultation process, the Earth Charter Commission issued a final version of the Earth Charter after their meeting on March 12 – 14,
2000 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The Earth Charter Commission plans to review responses to the document in two or four
years and consider possible amendments.
Bivol explains that the revolution in communications and transportation made the world smaller and the people closer to each other in their needs and
preferences, consumption patterns and lifestyles. This circumstance makes the existence of an Earth Charter rather promising as
regards to its possible impact on man’s mentality and behaviour. However, the revolution in social life and education made for a huge
diversity of personalities and tastes, hobbies and standards of life, methods of earning and entertainment. The combined efforts of
many sciences revealed a close interdependence between the human health, the conduct of the people, the quality of their environment,
the type of their professional occupation, the motives and objectives of their lives, the relationships with other people and with the
natural elements. The Earth Charter shall make good use of this interdependence and, at the same time, avoid huge enumeration of
degradation factors and their consequences.
|
