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Global Dialogue 2000
World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable Development Global Community Action 1 August 1-22, 2000 Recommendations
A) Summary and assessment of recommendations Scale of Human and Earth Rights * Primordial human rights * The ecological rights, the protection of the global life-support systems and the primordial human rights of future generations * The right that the greatest number of people have by virtue of their number (50% plus one) and after voting representatives democratically * Economic rights (business and consumer rights, and their responsibilities and accountabilities) and social rights (civil and political rights) * Cultural rights and religious rights
b) The formation of global ministries to manage the world affairs in several aspects of our lives: energy, agriculture, environment, health, Earth resources, Earth management,
security and safety, emergencies and rescues, trade, banks, speculation on world markets, peace, family and human development, water resources protection, youth, education, justice, science and technology, finance, human resources, ethics, human
and Earth rights, sustainable development, industry, and manufacturing products, etc. Global ministries will be given power to rule
themselves in harmony with each other. The WTO will not be the only global ministry that can rule on cases related to trade. The Earth Community Organization, the Human Family, is calling for the immediate formation of the Earth Ministry of Health. The globalization of trade, the extensive
mouvement of people all over the world, the increase of poverty and diseases in developing countries and all over the world, have caused pathogens and
exotic diseases to migrate over enormous distances and now, are an increasing threat to local ecosystems and communities, economies and health of
every human being and all life. The Earth Community Organization, the Human Family, is calling this threat of the upmost importance and
must be dealt with immediately by every nation. We must manage health in the world. We are calling for the immediate creation of the Earth Ministry of Health. c) The formation of the Earth Court of Justice to hear cases and to prosecute those nations, corporations, communities, individuals who commit crimes such as:
The Court will also be asked to decide on * the formation of a new nation in the world, The Court decides in accordance with: * the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, d) The debt of the poor nations to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as tax by the rich nations and not as loans. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization was looking for 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, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. e) Reforming the structure and the voting system of the United Nations to reflect democracy. Democracy of the New Age Civilization will blossom out of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. f) Establishing the foundation of Earth Government to govern the world affairs and protect all life, g) The new and natural evolution of democracy towards a democracy based on the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community, h) Including moral responsibility and accountability in our ways of life; 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 cooperation between all nations. ECO 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. This is the new way of doing business, the new way of life. Earth management is about "a sound balance among the interactions of the impacts (positive and/or negative), or stresses, on the four major quality systems: People, Economic Development, Environment and Availability of Earth Resources" with the idea that free trade and the planetary trading blocks are serving the Human Family and not the other way around for self-interests and the benefits of a few people on Earth, and that is a sound SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT of the world. i) 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 New Age Civilization. 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. j) The global economy can be affected by the deregulation in the movement of capital and thus by speculation. Money is made off tiny fluctuations in the relative prices of currencies. Speculation makes it possible for huge amounts of money to be transferred half-way around the world in a matter of seconds. Whereas world trade associated with actual goods and services is estimated at $7 trillion a year, speculation is estimated at $1.5 trillion a day. If a country's economy starts to slow, billions of dollars can be transferred out of the country instantaneously, which can significantly affect its economy and the people. This has been the case in 1997 of a number of East Asia countries. They were bankrupted by speculation. The people were enormously affected for the worst. Speculation can exert tremendous pressure on the internal politics of a country. It can bankrupt a country's economy. Speculation should be de-institutionalized. Humanity has no real need for speculation, and it does way more damage than good. Speculation is a form of gambling and is evil. It is a horrible thought that we would want 'developing countries' or Moslem nations such as those of the Middle East, to accept our institutions, and we are telling them that our institutions are for their own good and that they would be in step with progress or the rest of the world. Speculation is an evil institution. We have many other institutions just as evil. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The ultimate goal of our institutions is to colonize other nations, destroy their economies, bring poverty to the people and destroy the global life-support systems. The Earth Community Organization is asking the United Nations and all Peoples of the world to build sustainable communities in their own nations without considering "help" from the West. Your best chance to survive is to create symbiotical relationships with other nations you can truly trust. Dont believe that their can only be global relationships such as the WTO. There are no advantages in being a member of the WTO. You can create your own global relationships with partners of your choice and to fit your real needs. No more, no less! k) Religious leaders and their followers be acquainted and asked to participate in Earth management as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community; how can you not participate knowing that life is the building block through which you can have a relationship with God, Allah. You must become an activist for the protection of life on Earth. l) Promoting and establishing more new, diversified and meaningful symbiotical relationships between nations, communities,and people of the world. ECO has begun to establish the existence of the New Age Civilization, the age of symbiotical relationships and global cooperation. An economically base symbiotical relationship exists between nations of the European Union. Other types (geographical, economical, social, business-like, political, religious, and personal) may be created all over the world between communities, nations, and between people themselves. There has always been symbiotical relationships in Nature, and between Souls and the matter of the universe to help creating Earth and life on Earth to better serve God. m) Promote Peace in the world as a way of life and shelve the war industry forever from humanity. n) In the light of the U.S.A., Canada, Japan and Russia refusal of taking actions to avert certain global calamity in regard to global warming, the Earth Community has decided to try these nations for their crimes against humanity. We have asked them to ratify the Kyoto Protocol as it is. Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, and temperatures are rising globally due to these activities. There are plenty of observable effects of the global warming. And certainly this ridiculous and false solution of buying environmental credits from each other should not be considered as a way out of resolving the problem. The ratification is only a beginning to protect the global life-support systems. There is much more to do! But those four countries are not even coming close to a first start in resolving the problem. And they are amongst the worst polluters on the planet. The Earth Court of Justice has listed America as the first nation to be prosecuted for a global environmental crime. Because the leader of the USA was responsible for not ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, and because his leadership is questionably believed to be base on his religious believes, President George W. Bush will be first to appear in Court. The reality here is that every American is on trial here. Every consumer producing the deadly gas causing global warming is on trial. The same goes for every person on Earth producing the deadly gas. The gas is just as deadly as the gas that murdered millions of Jews during World War II. It is even more deadly as it is destroying the global life-support systems of all life on Earth. We are killing billions of human beings and countless life species. Americans have closed their conscience to the reality of life on Earth. They are showing a bad example to the other nations of the world. Even Canada is following in their steps. Justice must prevail to stop the "killing fields". And therefore they are guilty as charge. It is a crime against humanity and all life on Earth not to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. It is a terrible crime against the global life-support systems, against the very existence of the next generations. On the Scale of Human and Earth Rights, the crime is of maximum importance. o) The Global Community Assessment Centre (GCAC) is the assessment Centre for the Earth Community, the Human Family. It was created to give individuals or organizations help and/or advice about negative events happening in their communities which cause concern to people, resources, industry or the environment. GCAC is also the Centre of assessment of local/global indicators about the four major quality systems: Environment, People, Economic Development and the Availability of Resources. The assessment of these indicators will result in giving the Earth Community a sense of direction as to ensure a sound future for Earth.In order to do this GCAC will continue to amass a body of scientific information based on formal assessments such as those on Biodiversity, Climate Change, Human Development Report, World Development Report, struggle for Human and Earth Rights, life species Conservation, Health, Economic Analyses, Commission on Sustainable Development, etc., which have bridged the distance between incomplete science and contentious policy. Local and global indicators developed by the Earth Community will also be used as basic scientific information.Furthermore, no one really understands what assessment processes have been most effective in the past, or why others have failed. GCAC’s goal is to explore how assessment of local/global indicators can better link scientific understanding with the progressive implementation of effective policy solutions to global changes. Achieving this integration is fundamental. The Earth Community needs this annual assessment to effectively manage global changes. p) During the past decades various changes have taken place in political, economic and social institutions. Economic reforms, changes in national policies, and global concerns have contributed to redefine the roles of these institutions for Sustainable Development. The 'New Age Movements' are social, political and religious movements in the sense of having a broad organizational structure and an ideology aimed at governing. The environmental movements within the New Age Movements express the concerns of groups of people regarding depletion of water, climate change aspects, degradation of land and other changes in ecosystems affecting traditional patterns of natural resource exploitation. The Earth Community has taken the role of helping these groups in protecting and managing the environment by coordinating efforts. Earth Environmental Governance is the most importance and urgent challenge of the Earth Community. The Earth Ministry of the Environment is proposing a meeting of all the Ministers of the Environment. Each country in the world will send their Minister of the Environment to meet during the global dialogue on Earth Management - all Peoples together. The roundtable discussion will also include experts from interested groups, environmental institutions, policy specialists from non-governmental organizations, and the public. There is a need to centralize and coordinate efforts into one Ministry of the Environment: the Earth Ministry of the Environment. Discussion about the financial support will be a priority. A comprehensive and reliable system will be proposed to coordinate efforts from all over the world. Anyone willing to participate in the discussion roundtable may send an abstract/research paper now. Other topics for discussion: a) Involvement of major groups in monitoring, assessment and early warning Earth Environmental Governance can only be achieved successfully within the larger context of Sustainable Developent and Earth Management. All aspects are inter-related and affect one another. A healthy environment is essential to long term prosperity and well-being, and citizens in Earth Community demand a high level of ecological protection. This is the 'raison d'etre' of the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. Primordial human rights are those human rights that individuals have by virtue of their very existence as human beings: to live, eat, drink fresh water, breath clean air, and have shelter. These rights are separate categories than ecological rights, the right of the greatest number of people, economic rights, social rights, cultural rights and religious rights. Ecological and primordial human rights are the only rights that have existed unchanged throughout the evolutionary origin of our species. Any major change would have threatened our very existence. All other human rights listed here are rights created by human beings and can be changed depending of new circumstances; they are not stagnant but are rather flexible and adaptive, and they can evolve. Ecological and primordial human rights of this generation and of future generations are therefore much more important than any other human rights existing now and in the future. In this way the Scale of Human and Earth Rights gives us a sense of direction for future planning and managing of the Earth. Earth management is now well defined and becomes a goal to achieve. We no longer waste energy and resources in things that are absolutely unimportant. q) Global consumption is a very important aspect of sustainable development. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives, human rights and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development.Just as corporations have social responsibilities and so do consumers in societies. Consumers are socialized to improve the quality of their lives. Quality of life is a multi-dimensional, complex and very subjective concept. For instance, someone who has changed their consumption habits to better ensure that their choices will make a better quality of life for themselves, the environment and future generations, may be seen by others as having a lower or inferior quality of life since they have removed themselves from the materialistic mainstream characteristic of our consumer society. Someone may feel that an absence of violence and abuse in their life leads to a higher quality of living even though they have fewer tangible resources, money, or shelter; peace of mind and freedom from abuse has increased the quality of their daily life relative to what it was like before. There are universal quality of life values which lead to "human betterment" or the improvement of the human condition. In addition to the value of species survival (human and other living organisms), they include: adequate resources, justice and equality, freedom, and peace or balance of power. A better quality of life for all people of Earth Community is a goal for all of us and one of our universal values. The Earth Community Organization is recommending that global education of all consumers be a primary goal to Earth Environmental Governance. r) Fighting against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. s) Establishing 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. Designing, monitoring, and implementing checks and balances for corporations. t) Requiring that the FTAA, the EU and the WTO be governed by the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. The debt of the poor nations to the rich nations was in actuality a form of global tax and therefore the poor or 'developing' nations dont have to pay it back. In fact poor nations should expect way more money as tax by the rich nations and not as loans. The state of the world today is the result of a specific set of interlocking institutions: the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO. These institutions are designed to generate massive wealth for the few and poverty for the rest. The same people who make the decisions in government and corporation make the profit. They create a tight concentration of power. Together they are a form of anti-government whose only goal is profit. The IMF, through Structural Adjustment Programs, now directly runs the economies of over 70 countries. That means that about 1000 economists and bureaucrats control the economic policies for 1.4 billion people in these countries. That is a form of anti-government. The people that profit most from the global economy are white people. The people who are most oppressed by the global economy are people of colour. Racism and sexism have become the norm. The entire planet is in a state of low intensity civil war. The ruling elite profit off of the exploitation of the rest of the world. The Earth Community Organization was looking for 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, but there it was all along right on our eyes. The Earth Court of Justice will be asked to decide on the debt be changed into an actual tax to be paid by the rich nations to the poor nations, and to decide on the amount of tax to be paid. Developing nations will then be able to start rebuilding their communities as per the Scale of Human and Earth Rights and the Charter of the Earth Community. They will not have to satisfy the economic needs and wishes of the rich nations. The Earth Court of Justice will also be asked to rule illegal the activities of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO unless they become a part of a greater whole such as the Earth Ministry of Financial Institutions, a part of the future Earth Government. These institutions will be controlled by the greater whole. u) Promoting moral responsibility and accountability in the ways of dealing between nations. v) Requiring that the creation of a new nation and problems between nations be handled by the Earth Court of Justice. w) Establishing the Earth Resources Ministry that will be assessing, compiling, managing and protecting Earth resources, and the Earth Court of Justice prosecuting cases involving crimes related to the relentless misused of the Earth resources. x) Promoting and establishing a worldwide framework for the restoration of the planet, our home. y) Establishing freshwater and clean air as human and Earth rights. Both are a part of the ecological and the primordial human rights, and therefore are the most important rights on the Scale of Human and Earth Rights. z) Abolition of Nuclear Weapons: security, sustainability and justice in a nuclear free future. aa) For their relentless exploitation of the Moslem nations of the Middle East and of Afghanistan to make an immoral profit and obtain power at all costs, for having abused and killed and being the cause of the deaths of millions of Moslems in that region, for having invaded Moslem nations which itself is a horrible crime against humanity, against all human rights, and against democracy and freedom of a people to exist, and for the hate they have created in the heart and mind of every person in the Moslem Civilization, it is recommended that America, Israel, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia pay eight trillion dollars(American) toward building sustainable communities in the region. The Earth Community shall administer the amount paid and manage the project. It is also recommended that the people from America, Israel, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia who have been involved with the exploitation and invasion of the Middle East and surroundings be try for their crimes against humanity by the Earth Court of Justice. ab) Immediate withdrawal of all invading troops from the Middle East and Afghanistan. ac) Free trade and the Way of Life of the West that is, the way of doing business, have been given a bad reputation in the world, especially in the Middle East where oil and arms sales have always been strategic interests of several Western nations. The West has relentlessly exploited the oil producing nations of the Middle East. By their behavior and ways of doing things, America and the European Union nations have shown that free trade and globalization meant the absence of ethical and moral values, the absence of responsibility and accountability to products and people, abuses of human rights, cause for terrorism, social and economic injustice, poverty, and pollution. They have given to trade a bad name. 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 values, 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 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. ad) The war industry is the "mother of all evils" of our world. It must be shelved. War products and equipment from all nations must be decommissioned. Join the Peace Movement of the Earth Community. Today the war industry is exploiting the issue of terrorism for profit. Everyone knows terrorism cannot be fought by conventional warfare but that would not deter the industry from saying it is the best way to get rid of terrorists. Our governments are now spending tax dollars used for social and environmental programs and services to pay for more war products and equipment. Terrorists have committed the horrible acts of september 11 because the war industry brought terror in their homeland and is continuing to do so today in Afghanistan and in Palestine. In the "Letter to the people of the Middle East", the Earth Community has asked Muslims not to buy war products and equipment from the West or from any country in the world. The only way to fight evil is by not buying its products. The industry should die eventually, hopefully. But now the war industry is organizating a massive international media campaign to make taxpayers pay for their expenses. More illusions about protecting the humble people from nuclear war heads being sent from one continent to another. The terrorist act of September 11 has shown that if terrorists wanted to use war heads they would not use intercontinental missiles. Throughout the 20th Century, the war industry has created the worse evil humanity has ever encountered: the business of conflicts and wars. It is a business that has made trillions of dollars (American) and will continue to do so. It is the "mother of all evils" created by human beings. It has no moral value, no understanding about Life, no respect for anyone or anything, no law except the ones that it makes for itself, and all its products are meant to kill and destroy. It has sold its products to the enemies for the purpose of making more profit. It has subdued governments all over the world to make them buy its products. It has given trade and way of doing business a bad reputation and, therefore, it is a threat to the establisment of business. Although the war industry has a good public image, it does not really matter who is the buyer as long as he pays good money. The proof of this reality was easily verified by finding out what war products and equipment were being used by Iran, Irak, Afghanistan, and other Middle East countries. Over 90% of all war products and equipment were made in the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Russia. Four out of five of these countries are Permanent Members of the United Nations and that means they have almost a 100% control on any proposal submitted to the organization. The fifth Permanent Member missing here is China. Shortly after the September 11 event, the UN Security Council has approved war against the people of Afghanistan. To get China to vote YES they gave China a membership in the World Trade Organization(WTO). ae) Terrorism must be stopped by using means other than war. af) All religions are required to conduct positive actions for peace, join the Peace Movement of the Earth Community, and re-examine their scriptures, precepts, practices, ethical and moral values in light of ecological concerns. The global community is facing a global environmental crisis. It is very important that every person on Earth accept of being part of the process in protecting the global life-support systems. The ecological crisis is as much about saving children as it is about saving other lifeforms on the planet. Our objective is to find statements from all religions that promote the respect, stewardship, protection, ethical and moral responsibility to life and of the environment, the Earth global life-support systems, and statements that promote a responsible earth management. We are also asking for specific statements on environmental conservation such as those expressed by the Islamic religion. ag) It has become a necessity to implement a total embargo on all US, Russian and European Union nations mass destruction chemicals, nuclear war heads, weapons, war products and war equipment. These are the countries that have developed and manufactured the weapons of mass destruction. They are also the countries that have been exploiting the developing countries everywhere in the world and especially in the Middle East, and without due respect to human rights and democracy. They are also the countries that have sold weapons of mass destruction to the poor nations of the Middle East for the purpose of making a profit. The "war industry" throughout the world must be put to a complete halt and shelved forever from humanity. The Earth Community is asking all peoples never again to buy there products. The war industry is the "Mother of all evils in the world". All persons working, directly or indirectly, for the war industry, are responsible and accountable to humanity and to God for anything happening to their products after they are sold. Even here in Ontario, Canada, we manufacture weapons and war products. Workers go home happy after a good day of work. They have to pay for their mortgages and make car payments and others. They are mostly Christians. When they go to work, they leave their religious beliefs at home. Ethical and moral values no longer touch them. They dont think that are actually responsible and accountable for spreading evil all around the world. They think they are "good people", good citizens. Every single bullet you manufacture you are responsible and accountable for it, all of you from the President of the company to the employee on the industrial line. Our Society holds responsibility and accountability as well. And if that bullet happened to be a nuclear war head then it becomes even more imperative to held the manufacturer and the people involved responsible and accountable. It is the same idea for any consumer product in any industry. You manufacture, produce, mine, farm or create a product, you become 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). If a person does anything consciously to damage or destroy the life-support system of the Earth, the ecosystem, and if that person creates or is involved directly or indirectly with conflicts or wars, the Soul of that person is facing the Soul of Humanity. Right now! That Soul is facing the Soul of Humanity right now where all Souls are. God creates particles in places in the Universe, and there is a need for a Soul to serve God in all of those new particles. There is also a need to replace the Souls living in particles between the oldest galaxies and have them come to Earth to taste life. These Souls have been in those particles for more than fifteen billion years and yes, they will be pleased to replace these old Souls on Earth who have gotten too fat for their bellies (a figure of speech) and would rather not bother about the Earth ecosystem and the survival of life on Earth. All Souls within the mineral and plant domains on Earth will also be asked to move up to a higher level, that of the lifeforms. This process has already started a short while ago. In less than a generation a very large number of Souls will be leaving Earth forever and new Souls eager to learn about life in all forms will be replacing them. These new Souls will learn to manage with the living. The merging of all Souls to form the Soul of Humanity may affect significantly this entire process. God prohibits killing, and no exception at all ought to be made to the commandment that it is always wrong to kill. The sanctity of human life is unconditional. A short while ago God, Allah, has spoken to humanity once more. The New Age Revelations are His Word. His Revelations are to be added to previous ones revealed thousands of years ago. Together they are God's Word, and they will guide humanity for the thousands of years to come. His Word reinforce His compassion and love for humanity and His care for all living inhabitants on Earth and of Earth itself. God has said: "Thou shall banish war as a solution to problems between communities. All Souls involved with war, directly or indirectly, shall face the Soul of Humanity to be purified. All Souls involved in the making of weapons, war product and equipment shall be facing the Soul of Humanity." To be purified means a Soul loses all of its attributes as a Human Soul. Then the Soul will be asked to leave Earth forever and to serve God in a particle in the empty space between the oldest galaxies of the Universe. There will be no interaction with an other particle. The Soul will never see the light again. ah) The United Nations are to restructure their organization or start rebuilding it from scratch. The United Nations must reflect the needs and aspirations of the New Age Civilization: all Peoples together, the Human Family, the Earth Community, the Global Community, Global Economic Cooperation, Global Governance, Earth Governance, Earth Environmental Governance, and the Earth Government. It must become a democracy. Join the Global Dialogue on Earth Management to be held on August 2002 in Toronto. ai) Reforming the structure and voting system of the United Nations; the annulment of the special privileges of the Five Permanent Members, and the establishment of a voting system that give to each nation one vote per million people. Earth needs urgently a world system of governance. The United Nations fail to satisfy the needs of the people of the 21st Century. They have never improved upon the old ways and thinking of the middle of the 20th Century. Its voting system no longer satisfy the 6.157 billion people on Earth. The challenges are different and require a world organization up for dealing with the needs of all these people. During the past several years, the Earth Community has been pleading the United Nations leaders to make changes in the UN organizational structure and ways of doing things. There has been an urgent need for fundamental changes in the United Nations organization. The world wants a true democratic world organization. The UN is not! Should we start from scratch? No! There are a lot of good things within the UN, and they need to be protected. The Earth Community is requesting that the United Nations change its voting system to have one vote per million people. This way the rich North will have to deal with the poor in the South in order to obtain votes for decision-making. The eradication of poverty in the world will be achieved. Thousands of other good things will be achieved. The most fundamental requirement of a world organization is a democratic voting system. Democracy must be a priority. The right that the greatest number of people has by virtue of its number (50% plus one) is a human right. It should be respected. Surely, no one believes that organizations such as the European Union and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, or the like, are a substitute to a democracy. They are driven by profits only and are a form of "world anti-government". In the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations, it says "WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS " but in fact any of the five permanent members of the UN has the power to overthrow a proposal brought forward by any member. The Earth Community is proposing a voting system based on democracy: one vote per million people. In total there are 6104 votes. Taken apart the actual five permanent UN members would have a total of 1810 votes i.e., less than 30% of the total number of votes of 6104 votes. A basic democracy requires a 50% plus one vote for ruling. The above calculations were counting all five permanent members together but in fact any of the five members has the power to overthrow a decision brought forward by any of the 190 Member States of the United Nations. This means 1/190 or 0.5% of the membership is more powerful than the remaining 99.5%. If that is not a dictatorship, what is it? It does not say much about democracy at the UN. More like a dictatorship of the five permanent members. In actual fact, the general philosophy of the UN indicates that the more money a country has the more power that country has at the UN. Basically it is all about money. The disrespect of democracy by the United Nations reflects on other worldwide organizations and their thinking with regard to Earth Management. For instance, leaders of the 34 member nations of the Organization of American States (all the independent nations in North and South Americas and the Caribbean, except Cuba) have met in Quebec City, Canada, to discuss hemispheric free trade which would eliminate trade and investment barriers on goods and services between member countries by 2005. They proposed to create the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) which would represent the world’s largest common market. Again here profit is the goal to achieve at the expense of democracy. And that is a form of world 'anti-government'. B) Recommendations from all discussion roundtables
The following recommendations were obtained from the OVERVIEW of the Proceedings of Global 2000. 1. Making sustainable development a universal value in the way we conduct our lives. 2. Realizing and accepting that health is a complex state involving mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social well-being. 3. The important part of the thinking in both community health and ecological sustainability is the need to find a sense of community as a crucial aspect of healthy individual development. 4. Apply a wellness approach in dealing with physical well-being. There is a multitude of influences shaping family life and its well-being. Wellness is a concept related to physical well-being. It is a new health paradigm replacing the old model of doctors, drugs, and treating symptoms. Spiritual well-being deals with mental, emotional and spiritual as well as physical health. Instead of blaming the doctor for an illness and expecting insurance companies and government to pick up the health care tab, a wellness approach places personal responsibility as part of the solution. 5. All cultures and nations value the family as an important social unit. The family is the basic social unit of The Global Community (or Earth Community or Earth Society). 6. Members of The Global Community organization appreciate all people's cultural and religious perspectives on family planning. We are promoting tolerance for their beliefs and practices. 7. We want to cooperate on a global scale in making the world a better place for our children and their families. 8. Our species is threatened of extinction unless we all behave and conduct our lives responsibly. The Global Community organization has taken the role of a unique and universal society that represents the best possible values for the survival of our species and of all life on Earth. We are the new Earth Community or Earth Society. 9. Before making a decision on issues we will
reflect on the universal ethical principles.
We have before us many principles that tell something
about issues:
The principle of justice: all persons within
a given society deserve equal access to goods and services that
fulfill basic human needs. The principle of individual liberty:
individuals have the freedom of decision and action, to the extent
that their actions do not interfere with the rights of others. The utilitarian principle: morally right
actions or policies are those that result in the greatest number of
people. These principles help us in understanding the extent of
the issue. 10. The Global Community organization promotes women’s rights 11. We accept human rights as part of our universal values from which we base our decisions. 12. We promote gender equality. 13. We help adults become interested in the concept of sustainability by transforming their patterns of living and working; adults go through a learning process and we will first enable them to return to their sense of life purpose, re-defining and raising their quality of life, and mobilizing their moral and ethical autonomy, particularly in the context of work. During this process, adults will begin a transformative journey from "the mode of having" including consuming and grasping, to "the mode of being" or relatedness, a mode that is part of an ecological way of being. Both transformative and restorative learning are vital elements for integrating ecological principles into everyday living and working and hence, for creating sustainable societies. 14. We promote political well-being, or an internal sense of power and autonomy, as being in control of one's life, being able to and having the freedom to make decisions, being aware of and able to anticipate the consequences of one's actions on one's self and others and having the skills to act on one's decisions, being individuals who no longer accept unquestioningly those practices in society that are frequently taken for granted, those practices which reinforce inequality and injustice. 15. We promote and live our lives as a personal sustainable development that has to do with each and everyone of us: * being with self-control; eating
to accommodate our body's needs and holding hereditary ills in check;
maintaining a well working physical vehicle (our body); balancing our life
with work, play and rest; feeding our mind and being constantly learning; communicating with others
Everyone has to decide this by himself. Knowing our weaknesses we can work at eliminating them or at least making sure they would not affect significantly our decision-making process. It is a struggle that spans our lifetime. Once an individual is in control of his (or her) own being then he can extend his empowerment out to his 'global community' (the one around ourselves like an imaginary glass bubble surrounding us) and The Global Community. 16. Building the capacity of the poor to develop their own strategies for overcoming poverty and supporting these very strategies enables us to ensure sustainability of poor people’s own initiatives. Moving towards institutional sustainability is important for ensuring that financial services are available on a long-term basis for the poor. This should not, however, compromise the need to ensure the sustainability and development of the poor people’s activities themselves. The human element is a key determinant for growth and sustainability. 17. We have come to realize that achieving sustainable development is linked with policies emphasizing community, the value of information, originality in ideas, and the arts. 18. The Global Community (or Earth Community) is becoming pluralistic. Recognition and respect of this pluralism is a necessity for the survival of mankind. The history of humanity has always been that of an increasingly more complex interrelationship between its members. Clans to tribes, to nations, to empires, and to today's economic and political alliances. Societies have become global and communications have made us all 'neighbours'. Massive migrations within and among countries have contributed to increasing contacts between human beings of different origins, religions, ideologies, and moral-value systems. 19. The Global Community (or Earth Community) recognizes that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Freedom is both a principle and a value. It is because human beings are free that they are subject of law and are creators and holders of rights. Freedom and human rights are therefore basic to each other. Fundamental freedoms are far from being enjoyed by all but it is our common future, it is part of our Vision statement for year 2024. Human freedom is a value to be attained. Equality is a value, an ideal for people who live a hard day-to-day life of economic inequalities such as unemployment, and social inequalities caused by the privileges enjoyed by some people and the exploitation of others, and inequality of educational and health opportunities. Freedom and equality are both indispensable. Equality and freedom are therefore accepted and enshrined as universal values by which The Global Community organization will governed its affairs. As universal values they are concerned with our ability to decide, to choose values and to participate in the making of laws, and they are dependent on the recognition of other people. These values forbid any form of discrimination on the grounds of race, nationality, sex, religion, age or mother tongue. By accepting both values of freedom and equality we can achieve justice. One can be answerable for one's actions in a 'just' way only if judgements are given in the framework of democratically established laws and courts. Social justice is another universal value to which The Global Community aspires and accepts as a universal value. Social justice consists in sharing wealth with a view to greater equality and the equal recognition of each individual's merits. Human rights and democracy are closely intertwined. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is one of the characteristics of a democracy. The typical fundamental freedoms of a democracy (freedom of expression, thought, assembly, and association) are themselves part of human rights. These freedoms were present during the World Congress as we have dialogue and debate on the rights of different people and their accompanying obligations and responsibilities as human beings. These freedoms can exist everywhere. Democracy is a political system based on the participation of the people. It foresees the separation of powers among the judiciary, the legislative and the executive authorities, as well as free and regular elections. The organization promotes efficient forms of management and participation. The political rights of The Global Community define the conditions under which citizens exercise their responsibilities. For our organization to be democratic, we must organized our political and social life with the greatest respect of all peoples. 20. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights resides
in the fact that it gives equal emphasis to cultural rights, economic
and social rights, and civil and political rights. The
Global Community organization asks how meaningful is the right
to life or to participation in political life, if poverty, gender
inequality, destitution
and epidemics prevent individuals from enjoying freedom of movement,
freedom to vote, to marry and so on? We found evident that
economic and social rights are the essential prerequisite for the
effectiveness and exercise of all rights recognized for human beings.
This was the reason for organizing the World Congress: to
find the best ways to sustain us all. The developing countries are
having a harder time than others to achieve the exercise of these rights
on a lasting basis, with the problems of economic globalization
presenting new challenges. We must therefore beware of enforcing
economic rights alone to the detriment of individual civil rights and
the rights of all individuals to decide their own fate and the future of
their country, their political rights.
The universality of human rights recognizes the right of
all individuals to participate in the cultural life of their community
and of other country, to receive education and training, and to be
informed. In this World Congress, you were asked to
list universal values that were the most important, very important, important, not
so important, and values that should be let go in order to sustain all
life on Earth. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is certainly a good start in findings universal values.
We are aware that traditional customs and standards could
burden the sustainability of all life on Earth. They could burden Earth
society or any society forever, and holds individuals in a straitjacket.
We cannot accept that. No one can! There are choices to be made and you
must make them. Cultures can develop and can go on developing. Even
religious beliefs may evolve. We are living now and we are able to
create these changes. We are at least as bright , most certainly
brighter, than the people who were living thousand of years ago. As far as The Global
Community is concerned, cultural and religious differences
cannot be a reason or an excuse or a pretext for not respecting human
rights. Quite the contrary, all kinds of cultures may promote human
rights and especially cultural rights. They are different in their
achievements, but they are equal in dignity where they are expressions
of freedom. At any time or in any given place, men, women and children
use their culture to invent new ways of making human rights a living
reality. Diversity enriches us if it respects the dignity of each
individual, and if it takes account of human rights as a whole.
Human rights represent an ideal and a supreme goal which
can give meaning to life in society. Throughout the history of humanity,
the rights of human beings have been defined and enshrined with
reference to the values of the dignity of each individual and of
freedom, equality and justice. These values are universal. The
Global Community has accepted and enshrined them into its own
ways of behaving and dealing with all peoples. Cultures and societies
differ so much that their expression takes varying forms, but diversity
does not affect the foundation of inalienable values constituted by
human rights. Each individual is recognized as a representative of
humankind. Human dignity resides in each of us and this dignity must be
recognized and respected by all. 21. We accept the Earth Charter as drafted by the Earth Charter Commission. When the organization becomes better structured members will be asked to vote for its inclusion as our Earth Charter. For now there is more work to do. The Earth Charter was part of the Discussion Roundtables of the World Congress and as such new amendments were proposed. For instances, the universal values (and others to come) promoted by The Global Community are to be included in the Charter along with the proposal of new human rights: fresh water and clean air are human rights. We respectfully ask Ms. Mirian Vilela, Earth Charter Project Manager for The Earth Council, to review and amend the draft. All information you need to do so is on our websites. We want to see the spirit of our organization included (in writing) in the draft. For instance The Global Community means the Earth Community. Members may wish to change the name but all basic global community principles, concepts, and values will still be kept and must be included in the Charter. This World Congress has showed us that there is 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 must be drafted to spell out this spirit of collectiveness and global community, and it must be specifically made for our organization, The Global Community (or the Earth Community) organization, and none others. 22. We consider that Indigenous peoples and their nurturing of spiritual and environmental partnership with nature - a valuable and integral part of their socio-economic structure. The change of focus platform preserves the socio-economic relationship with nature that is evident in many Indigenous societies, and calls for the integration of contemporary environmental sciences to assist in environmental goals. Therefore, the change of focus platform encourages the conscious participation of all peoples towards a more environmentally sympathetic global order. By associating Indigenous values with contemporary sciences, it is also possible to produce a strategy to effect environmental consciousness in capitalist production. For instance, in Canada, we are concerned that among First Nations people is the under-representation of Aboriginal students in all science disciplines such as health-related professions. For those students who are interested in working with Aboriginal populations, there is a requirement for an understanding of basic science as well as traditional healing philosophies and approaches. Furthermore, as society continues to rely more and more heavily on technology, it is increasingly important that there should be a large proportion of Aboriginal people with a balanced scientific background. We is, therefore, a great need to initiate, develop, and promote programs in science among First Nations students in order to attract them into scientific professions. 23. In health, an adequate level of health care is a universal value as well as a human right. We expect adequate health services to be accessible, affordable, compassionate and socially acceptable. The Global Community organization is proposing that every individual of a society is co-responsible for helping in implementing and managing health programmes along with the government and the public institutions. 24. Quality of life is a multi-dimensional, complex and very subjective concept. For instance, someone who has changed their consumption habits to better ensure that their choices will make a better quality of life for themselves, the environment and future generations, may be seen by others as having a lower or inferior quality of life since they have removed themselves from the materialistic mainstream characteristic of our consumer society. Someone may feel that an absence of violence and abuse in their life leads to a higher quality of living even though they have fewer tangible resources, money, or shelter; peace of mind and freedom from abuse has increased the quality of their daily life relative to what it was like before. There are universal quality of life values which lead to "human betterment" or the improvement of the human condition. In addition to the value of species survival (human and other living organisms), they include: adequate resources, justice and equality, freedom, and peace or balance of power. A better quality of life for all people of The Global Community is a goal for all of us and one of our universal values. 25. We now have a way of dealing with
globalization: global ethics. In the past, corporation’s rule without checks and balances.
For now on 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.
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.
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
maximization of labour productivity in agriculture and forestry should not be realised at the expense of biodiversity landscapes.
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,
fresh water, clean air and soil erosion.
Supply chains have to be designed in a way, that the goods can enter after usage or consumption into natural
or industrial recycling processes. If serious damages to persons, animals, plants and the ecosystem cannot be excluded, an action or pattern of behaviour should be refrained from.
A striking example is the use of negotiations and community principles to
resolve conflicts in other countries. Never use armed intervention to resolve a
conflict. Never go to war. A measure for supplying goods or services should choose a
path which entails the least possible impact on the ecological and social system concerned.
This way functioning proven systems will not be disturbed, and unnecessary risks
will not be taken. The Polluter Pays Principle applies to all with no exception.
Supply strategies consuming less resources should have preference before those enhancing more resource consumption.
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.
With this World Congress, The
Global Community organization has now at hand the method and framework
to conduct societal checks and balances of sustainable development. A
more balance 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. The
Global Community organization has extended the idea of sustainability to be a moral and ethical state,
as well as an economic and environmental state, wherein sustainable consumption patterns respect the universal values of peace,
security, justice and equity within the human relationships that exist in the global community.
When there is a need to find a solution to a problem or a concern, a sound
solution would be to choose a measure, if possible, which causes reversible
damage as oppose to a measure causing an irreversible loss. 26. Global consumption is a very important aspect globalization. Consumers should be concerned with the impact of their decisions on the environment but also on the lives and well-being of other people. Since one of the key functions of families as a social institution is to engage in production (selling their labour in return for wages) and consumption (using those wages to buy goods and services), then the role of families has impacts on sustainable consumption and development. 27. Employing participatory approaches in identifying needs, solutions and designing
specific mechanisms for poverty alleviation reduces the risk of programme failure.
Building the capacity of the poor to develop their own strategies for overcoming poverty and supporting these strategies enables us
to ensure sustainability of poor people’s own initiatives. Poverty exists everywhere, and
it
takes dramatic forms in developing countries where governments have a hard time
in coping with the basic needs and demands of their populations. 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 Global 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. This requires:
The diversification of production activities thereby
reducing pressure on natural resources A major change in consumer habits so as to be compatible
with the natural environment The development of technologies aimed at specific
environmental and social conditions; 'clean' technologies that have less
impact on the environment Several developing countries are ruled by socio-economic and political structures that are oppressive, and it is the inherently vulnerable and dependent groups that are at a higher risk of neglect and abuse. There has to be an organized NGO sector and active human-rights groups in such societies in order to protect and defend the oppressed people. 28. No more conflicts and wars. Wars begin in our minds, and it is therefore in our minds that the event of peace must be constructed. We may desire peace and abhor war and also be moved by the suffering it causes but this is not enough. We must realize that knowledge of and respect for human rights and other universal values found in this World Congress can lead each member of The Global Community towards the universal peace to which we all aspire. 29. The Global Community is on a massive spiritual quest. The human
species is now going through a major evolutionary stage in its development.
There will be a shift in consciousness that will bring us all together and
closer to God. This change will occur within a generation. The Global
Community organization has a duty to guide people through this process.
This is what the World Congress is about.
Spiritual well-being is in relation to society's loss of spirituality,
spirituality in the family, and spirituality shaping home economics practice,
and the new focus to be attained by The Global Community.
Spirituality does not refer to any specific religion or faith. Spirituality
is not about religion. Spirituality is about reaching one's full potential,
about developing and nurturing supporting and sustaining relationships, and
about seeking and finding meaning in our lives and seeking one's own truth,
values and perspective on life. It is about laughter, joy, happiness, belonging,
acceptance and community spirit. Spirituality is also about finding a new
relationship with humanity based on trust, peace, and universal values we found
in this World Congress.
Spirituality is also a sense of being connected with a positive force
or Being greater than oneself. In the world of spirituality and
religious beliefs it is better to have God closer to us, no tier person in
between. We are with
God anytime and anyplace with think of God. We are also connected with The
Soul of Humanity. Our species can only survive by having each one of us
living responsibly locally and globally so it is better to appreciate a Being
closer to us, The Soul of Humanity. There is true love of us, of
all life on Earth and of Earth itself coming from this Being. It is my
experience that this Being exists and is wonderful. The Soul of Humanity
is with us and God the Spirit. All Souls on Earth are parts of The Soul of
Humanity. We now know that the Souls of all those people who seek
to destroy life on Earth by conflicts and wars will never be allowed back on
Earth to taste life again in whatever form it may be. Nothing or anyone can stop this process. There are trillions of young Souls ready to
replace the entire Earth population if it maybe. No excuse! Not even
humanitarian efforts based on responding to conflicts and wars by conflicts and
wars such as those of the United Nations intervening in other countries
affairs. 30. We need new to create thoughts to sustain Earth not bombs. This World Congress is breaking grounds in its limitless well of new thoughts. We have created (and still thousands more to come) new thoughts, concepts, ideas, ways of doing things to sustain Earth throughout the coming millenniums. During the past thousand years humanity has lived with the "life program information" transferred into the brain via two ways: our genes, and education and upbringing (IMPRINTING theory). The mechanism of biological information protection did the rest. We are lock, stock, and barrel with the old stock. In a way! Today our species is evolving to rid itself of the old thoughts that is threatening its future and survival. This is a survival reaction and is very real. Our species will accomplish the evolutionary leap within a generation. Our consciousness will evolve rapidly. We will reach levels never imagined before. We will get much closer to God and God to us as we are parts of his/her own consciousness. The Soul of Humanity will be guiding us through this process. 31. For a community to be sustainable there has to be a general social and economical well-being throughout the community. Health is the basic building block of this well-being. Health is created and lived by people within a community: where they work, learn, play, and love. Health is a complex state involving mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social and economical well-being. Each community can develop its own ideas of what a healthy community is by looking at its own situation, and finding its own solutions. Health promotion generates living and working conditions that are safe, stimulating, satisfying and enjoyable. To reach a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, a community must be able to identify and to realize aspirations, to satisfy needs, and to change with the environment. The overall guiding principle for the community is the need to encourage reciprocal maintenance, to take care of each other and the environment. The important part of the thinking in both community health and ecological sustainability is the need to find a sense of community as a crucial aspect of healthy individual development. 32. The concept of Sustainable Development was presented for the first time in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development, in the report Our Common Future . The commission was created by the United Nations, and was made of 21 nations, including Canada. The commission, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, said that the planet needs " a new era of environmentally sustainable sound economic development. Dr. Brundtland also said that government must strongly support "a new political approach to environment and development, where economic and fiscal policies, trade and foreign policies, energy, agriculture, industry, and other sectorial policies, all aim to induce development that is not only economically but ecologically sustainable."
The measurement of GSDP gives a proper and sound signal to the public, government and industry about the rate and direction of economic growth; it identifies environmental, health, and social quality; it identifies sustainable and unsustainable levels of resource and environmental uses; it measures the success or failure of sustainable development policies and practices; and it identifies resource scarcity. Values obtained enable us to make meaningful comparisons of sustainable development between cities, provinces, nations over the entire planet. The world population is becoming more urban. It is the quality of the urban environment and its well-being that constitutes a challenge to any society. Cities are the centres of economic and cultural life of a nation's population. The public wants government expenditures to be directed to areas such as urban development, health, housing, education, crime prevention, recreation, environmental pollution control, waste management, aesthetic satisfaction, well-being and many others. It is important to have social indicators that can tell us about the quality and costs of essential elements such as: educational and cultural facilities, suitable community facilities and services, proper shelter, family life, security from crime, efficient and environmentally conscious transportation, social justice, aesthetic satisfaction, and minority status. GESDI can be obtained for all quality indicators that are difficult to give a money value to. Both the GESDI and GSDP are measured together and tell us about the quality and cost of development, locally and globally.
33. We are proposing to make fresh water a human right. The existing and future uses of water are constantly challenged; balancing supply and demand is made even harder by the amounts of pollution found in the air, land and waters. Pollution is widespread and people are dying because of it. As soon as more pollution is added into the fresh water systems than people and all life die. This is true even with the best system in the world. We live on the edge. Rainwater could carry pollution to the fresh water supply, and it is too late. 34. We are proposing to make air a human right. Industrial pollution plays a major role in the deterioration of nature but this time the level of pollution is above the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. 35. Soil and water conservation activities are under taken under various agro-ecological and socio-economic circumstances, in different parts of the
World. However, for a multitude of reasons farmers do not generally engage on their own in investment in soil and water conservation. In the more advanced economies farmers may sometimes take initiative, but in most cases they are stimulated to do so as a result of specific government policies, direct
incentives on participation in specific projects. Despite all help the world is
loosing its best soils and water is getting more polluted. We are proposing that
The Global Community organization becomes a major driving force
for the protection of soils and fresh water in the world. 36. Carbon Tax
The tax system is a device for influencing behaviour so as to
encourage socially and environmentally useful activities and to discourage those
that are not. It can also increase social and economic well-being. The
imposition of a carbon tax can result in a net increase in employment as well as
reductions in greenhouses gas emissions. Although fossil fuel-incentive
industries will decline as a result of such a tax, other sectors of the economy
will grow much faster and generate new jobs. Failures to take these measures to
protect the environment will have greater negative impacts on poorer households
as poorer households suffer more from environmental degradation. We are
proposing here the following scenario: The Better Ecological Tax scenario The Better Ecological Tax scenario is the resulting package obtained after comparing it to the business-as-usual scenario. It includes: Policy measures on a range of environmental, economic and social equity indicators Policy measures in the areas of atmospheric emissions, water use, solid and industrial wastes, forests and natural amenities In the atmospheric emission area, these measures will reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the electricity, industrial and transportation sectors; they will also reduce urban air pollution and result in significant job creation. These measures are:
In the water use area, measures will reduce urban water
consumption and diminish pollution. These measures are:
In the solid and industrial waste area, measures will
reduce resource use and wastes from both industry and households. The measures
are:
In the native forests area, measures will protect high
conservation value native forests. The measures are:
In the natural amenities area, measures will protect
valuable natural amenities from inadequate funding for protection and repair.
The measures are:
Evaluation of indicators show that the Better Ecological
Tax scenario shows that in the long-term there will be definite
improvements in all aspects including the economy. 37. Globalization of the world economic system is proceeding at a very rapid pace, and is generally promoted as being welfare-improving. This phenomenon is also present in the arena of international finance. In this area, however, the presumed virtues of
globalization are far from being materialised. Until now, no orderly or stable financial system has been
implemented. Furthermore, the current financial system does not succeed in channelling sufficient funds to finance crucial world problems such as adequate social development in poor countries.
The line of thought proposed here to cure these shortcomings is to use a tax instrument; a straightforward mechanism designed to tax the currently undertaxed (international) financial flows. More specifically, this proposal calls for the implementation of a tax that is levied on international currency transactions, i.e. a
'Currency Transaction Tax' (CTT) by James Tobin; it is an
internationally uniform tax to be payable every time a currency is converted. From the viewpoint of sustainable development, a very strong case in favour of introducing a
Tobin tax on financial transactions can be made for two main reasons: 38. Fresh water or drinking water is vital to life on Earth. Only 2.5 per cent of all water on Earth is fresh water most of which lies deep and frozen in Antarctica and Greenland. What we drink comes mostly from groundwater, rivers and lakes. Precipitation, melt water from glaciers, dew and fog drip constantly replenish our fresh water resources. They are also constantly depleted by evaporation and transpiration. These water resources are changing due to the the variations in the hydrological cycle from place to place and from day to day. They are all what we have got. Nothing else! They are very precious to all humankind, and to all life as well. Human actions constantly modify the hydrological cycle and also constantly pollute available water. The hydrological balance is changed by:
A Water Resources Assessment is a prerequisite for sustainable development and management of a country's water resources. It provides the basis for a vast range of activities:
The existing and future uses of water are constantly challenged; balancing supply and demand is made even harder by the amounts of pollution found in the air, land and waters. Pollution is widespread and people are dying because of it. As soon as more pollution is added into the fresh water systems than people and all life die. This is true even with the best system in the world. We live on the edge. Rainwater could carry pollution to the fresh water supply, and it is too late. Today there are a multitude of pollution sources and just to name a few:
Water pollution varies in severity from one region to the next depending of the density of urban development, agricultural and industrial practices and the presence or absence of systems for collecting and treating the waste waters. It is necessary to measure the water's quality, quantity and biological characteristics in every country. A lot of the data in the global hydrological network dedicated to measuring these elements are missing. It is non-existent in most developing countries. Data on water use are also scarce. Global demand for water is rising. The rise will accelerate into the future because the world population is expected to reach 8.2 billion by the year 2024. Despite the efforts of worldwide organizations to improve the water services of the developing countries, in 1995 some 20 per cent of the globe's population of 5.7 billion people still lacked a safe and reliable water supply, and 50 per cent were without adequate sanitation. Lack of these services is the basic reason why more than a billion people live in poverty. Even though regulations have been imposed by governments in the industrialized countries to protect their nations' water resources, people are still dying. This is due to the fact that regulations are not enforced as well as they should, regulations are not tough enough, and people dont care and often challenge them their own ways. We basically live on the edge. No safety net! Human health is dependent on a wholesome and reliable supply of water and safe sanitation. It has been estimated that at any given time about half the people living in developing countries are suffering from water-related diseases caused directly by infection, or indirectly by disease-carrying organisms that breed in water. Diarrhoea. infections by parasitic worms, river blindness and malaria are among the most widespread of these diseases. More than five million people are estimated to die each year from diseases related to inadequate sanitation and hygiene practices, and drinking polluted water. In the developed world there is concern about the health effects of exposure to various chemicals in drinking water. Pollutants can build up in shellfish to the point that they harm the people who eat them. The effects of pollution on wildlife are better observed: death, population decline, reduced success of hatching, birth defects for the birds, fish and other forms of life in rivers, lakes, wetlands and deltas. The Water Scarcity Index is the water use as a percentage of the available water resource. It can be shown that the margin between the global available resource and the volume of water used is going to diminish in the future. Population growth is the major factor. By the year 2024, the regions of stress will include two thirds of the world's population. By 2050, they will cover most of the globe. As the crisis approaches and as water resources become scarcer, the risk of conflict over them will become greater. After 2024, climate change will make conditions worse if precipitation amounts decrease in the major food producing regions and evaporation rates increase. With 50 per cent more people to feed than in 1999, the volume of water needed for food production is expected to increase by 50 to 100 per cent. The bulk of the increase in food production will come from irrigation which, in turn, will require more money to be spent on long distance water transfers and dams. There will be greater competition for these waters. The cost of water will certainly rise. In order to avoid conflicts and wars over water,
The Global Community organization is proposing to make water at the top of its
agenda. Better understanding and much more data are needed. All nations need to
assess their water resources and make projections for the future. Water
resources must be managed. We propose here to make fresh water a human right.
For centuries we have found it necessary to control water so as to have
it where we wanted it. Despite our efforts, some areas still suffer from drought, and
some from flood, due partly to the nature variability of climate to change fast than it used to, and this is now impacting on the availability and distribution of water. Our fresh water sources are already being used and yet, the world population is increasing rapidly. This increase in population and the increase of pollutants in our drinking water sources have created conflicts which will only become more and more serious in the near future. The policy of privatization and full-cost pricing of water in a city such as in Canada or the U.S.A. sound appropriate as there is plenty of help to the poor who has a need to drink water. Is this policy appropriate in other countries where drinking water sources
are rare, sometimes non-existant, and sometimes were polluted by transnational corporations from our industrialized world and which companies became rich by mining or manufacturing products in those countries. Should anyone be allowed to control our freshwater resources? Is freshwater a 'human right' or is it a 'human need'? Should water resources be privatized and commodified for profit?
Should privatization be under the condition that there is plenty of help to the poor in a community? Or should water be declared a 'human right' in the Earth Charter of The Global Community organization? Is it no true that water
is just as important to an individual as the air we breathe? Water in the home comes from either spring water, a deep well, a river or a city reservoir, and is never 'pure'. If water was untreated, it would contain man-made contaminants, minerals, gases, salts, and microorganisms, which would cause unacceptable taste or health risks. Hazardous compounds present in water are mercury, lead, agricultural chemicals, arsenic, organochlorine compounds formed by the chlorine added to municipal water to destroy microorganisms, industrial pollutants, solvents, pesticide, fertilizer, and other contaminants. Our body absorbs equally these contaminants through drinking water or while bathing. City water is regulated for health hazards and does not contain dangerous bacterial contamination. It may contain chemical contaminants from industrial discharge or hazardous waste disposal, vinyl chloride from P.V.C. plastic pipe. Most people take for granted the water we use to wash the car, to water the lawn, cook and flush our wastes away, to shower, do half-loads of laundry, run the water while brushing our teeth, and ignore a dripping tap, and dump down the drain motor oil, solvents, paints, cleaners. We treat oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams more like parts of our sewer system them our life-support system. We are being made use to this behavior from childhood while watching television. We often see commercials on TV showing a person washing an automobile or spraying a lawn wastefully and without care. There is also too much violence shown on television and in cinemas. We think it is right, our right to be as we are. The entire television networks and film makers and producers over the world should be re-educated in what is right and what is not. They should be responsible and be made accountable for the counter-educating commercials and products they are advertising on their networks. What the school system is doing in educating children is being negated by the television networks. It is counter-productive and, at the end, the costs hit the taxpayers at home, one way or the other. The Polluter-pays Principle should apply to television networks and film making industry. They may use Human Rights for their defence but they should pay all the costs of the impacts of their advertisings and mindless production. They create behavioral patterns in the general population from childhood and they should be billed big time. As individuals, we can make changes in our ways of using water and dispose of wastes, both inside our homes and outdoors, and find ways to conserve and protect our water supplies. Water conservation is a means to ensure that there will be enough water for future generations. Good quality of water supplies to satisfy our lifestyle carries a price tag defined here: P(water) = P(storing) + P(distributing) + P(treatment) + P(maintaining and operating) + P(e,h) where P(e,h) is the term representing the associated environmental and health price tags i.e. the impacts on the environment and our health. The costs of obtaining, storing, heating, distributing water are
steadily increasing, and so are the environmental and health impacts associated with those costs. The costs for treating wastewater to make it suitable to return to river systems are equally increasing and many communities now charge residents an extra fee for treating wastewater. Consumption rates vary largely from one community to
another, and between urban and rural areas. Some communities have been forced to restrict water consumption for short periods of time.
Human rights are those that individuals have by virtue of their very
existence as human beings:
to live, eat, drink fresh water, breath fresh air, have shelter. Just as human beings have
human rights, they also have moral, legal responsibilities and related
obligations and accountabilities. Every person needs Oxygen to live so clean air is
certainly a primordial human right by our very nature. A large part of our body
is made of water and we could not live without water; therefore water is also a
primordial human rights by our very nature. Fresh water resources and clean air are
therefore proposed to be categorized as human rights.
Globalization in general can be described as a social process of intensifying the relations between the different parts of the world; geographical limits become less and less significant. Economic globalization is seen by the growing interaction and interdependence of the world's different nations and corporations. The major aspects of these increased interactions are capital flows, flows of material goods, and labour. Markets, technologies and consumption patterns thus gradually let go their national or local character and become international and global. Economic globalization leads to globally more standardized sets of products. Political globalization facilitates the spread of individualism and thus Western consumer society. Cultural globalization is concerned with a change of the different sets of values that are connected to tradition, religion and different political systems. Cultural globalization is fed by information passing geographical boundaries through communication systems and media, like TV, Internet, advertisement etc. Cultural globalization homogenizes the sets of value systems of different cultures via constantly evolving The globalization of consumption can be observed. Market analyses can prove the existence and the demand of certain products worldwide and the presence of corporations in different countries of the world. A globalization of consumption is actually taking place because we observe that certain products are sold with success all over the world. Globalization of consumption represents an environmental danger. The consumer society is blamed for causing the largest part of environmental problems through resource depletion, emissions and wastes. The concept of "a Global Community" gives back control on our lives to each one of us. We all have a say about what we want. We feel alive and responsible. We are moral individuals with a conscience but we also belong to The Global Community. We have an identity, a meaning, a part to play in the world. One tends to be alarmed at the popular concept of globalization because it is based on greed. Globalization is here to stay and is a fact of life. The world has become global. Societies throughout the world are struggling to be in step with the most powerful nations. National economies and financial markets are connected through computer link-up and are interlocked. Commercial banking and business ownership has no economic or political borders. Because of the dynamic of trade in goods and services and because of the movement in capital and technology, production in different countries has become increasingly dependent on one another. In consequence of globalization, the new economic and political distribution of power around the world has become very different then we were used to. It has become very fluid, in perpetual motion and affected by global markets. Giant new markets are forming all over the world. Competition is hardening. National economies can no longer insure or guarantee rights of possession on any property. National borders no longer mean protection, security, cultural boundaries, resources ownership, political and economic control. International market regulations try to control or ease the effects of globalization. The effects are often devastating. With globalization comes global problems such as: * unemployment in industrial nations
Human conscience will insist all possible measures be taken to prevent the planet from becoming uninhabitable. Globalization has the effect of a giant tidal wave on all our values. The Global Community organization has the task of proposing to the world a new system of values. Human conscience means humans have the knowledge to keep the planet
healthy; it is the science of determining right and wrong. In case of the
planet's survival it is:
Human conscience can prevent the planet from becoming uninhabitable. The need to survive can put checks and balances on the rampant globalization effects already raging like a virus in our world. To survive what must be re-thought? Old ideas and values, traditions, laws, ways of doing things must be re-evaluated and some left behind. It's your life at stake here. Your life and the lives of your children ~ there is no such thing as you taking a Spectator Sport position in the grandstands, enjoying the happenings of the time with detachment and amusement!
Men have the right to be able to provide for their families. We can help the Planet recover from wanton destruction. We can control the resources of our world with good sense. Greed and power of the few can be replaced by Community Conscience and the desperate will to survive!! The choice is simple survival: * every man has the right to be able to provide for
his family
Actions by groups that lead to revolution and war must be curtailed.
Power based on greed is not in the best interest of humanity.
Globalization is a process interaction which involves growing economic
interdependence of countries worldwide with implications and impacts on social,
cultural, political, environmental and familial aspects and rights. With the
globalization of the economy comes now the task for defining the obligations
that go with the rights. The Global Community organization is concerned with the
sustainability of current levels and patterns of consumption and with the
economic, political, personal, environmental, availability of resources,
societal and spiritual impact of excessive, run-away consumption. The goal of
the World Congress was to find a balanced, sustainable global
consumption. About 20% of Earth’s people account for 80% of the world's total
consumption. We have assigned ourselves the task of finding ways to make consumption,
consumer rights and responsibilities: Fair to the well-being of others Socially responsible and sustainable to future generations In line with the universal values found in this World Congress In line with human rights and responsibilities
Consumers' rights impinge on the rights of other humans living in The
Global Community. The right to choice is the consumer right that refers
to the right to have a range and variety of goods and services at competitive,
fair prices and variable, satisfactory quality. In order to assure choice in the
developed country markets, governments have implemented trade laws to facilitate
cross border transactions and transnational corporations (TNCs) have set up
business off shore so they can lessen the cost of the production process. The
goods that are available in the developed country markets are provided by slave
labour, child labour, sweatshops or in countries that allow the TNCs to forego
adhering to pollution or ecological concerns and human rights in pursuit of
profit. Labour rights are abused in efforts to earn more profits. This leads to
abhorrent working conditions, job insecurity and low living standards (all human
rights). Consumers in developed countries have been socialized to want more and
more things to consume but have not been socialized to appreciate the impact of
their consumption choices on the human rights of other people; that is, they are
not being responsible for their decisions.
One tends to be alarmed at the popular concept of globalization because
it is based on greed. Globalization is here to stay and is a fact of life.
The world has become global. Societies throughout the world are struggling
to be in step with the most powerful nations. National economies and financial
markets are connected through computer link-up and are interlocked. Commercial
banking and business ownership has no economic or political borders. Because
of the dynamic of trade in goods and services and because of the movement
in capital and technology, production in different countries has become
increasingly dependent on one another.
In consequence of globalization, the new economic and political distribution
of power around the world has become very different then we were used to.
It has become very fluid, in perpetual motion and affected by global markets.
Giant new markets are forming all over the world. Competition is hardening.
National economies can no longer insure or guarantee rights of possession
on any property. National borders no longer mean protection, security,
cultural boundaries, resources ownership, political and economic control.
International market regulations try to control or ease the effects
of globalization. The effects are often devastating. With globalization
comes global problems such as:
Human conscience will insist all possible measures be taken to prevent
the planet from becoming uninhabitable. Globalization has the effect of
a giant tidal wave on all our values. The Global Community organization
has the task of proposing to the world a new system of values.
Human conscience means humans have the knowledge to keep the planet
healthy; it is the science of determining right and wrong. In case of the
planet's survival it is:
Human conscience can prevent the planet from becoming uninhabitable.
The need to survive can put checks and balances on the rampant
globalization
effects already raging like a virus in our world.
To survive what must be re-thought? Old ideas and values, traditions,
laws, ways of doing things must be re-evaluated and some left behind.
It's your life at stake here. Your life and the lives of your children
~ there is no such thing as you taking a Spectator Sport position in the
grandstands, enjoying the happenings of the time with detachment and amusement!
Men have the right to be able to provide for their families. We can
help the Planet recover from wanton destruction. We can control the resources
of our world with good sense. Greed and power of the few can be replaced
by Community Conscience and the desperate will to survive!!
The choice is simple survival:
* every man has the right to be able to provide for
his family
Actions by groups that lead to revolution and war must be curtailed.
Power based on greed is not in the best interest of humanity.
A corporation will now be required to:
Be concerned with issues such as climate change, bio-diversity, pollution
prevention and adopt high standards Minimize environmental degradation and health impacts Be responsible for the environmental impact of its products and services
throughout their cycle Adopt a wide environmental code, and policies, health and safety
practices and procedures aimed at reducing resource and energy use in
each stage of a product or service life-cycle Set up appropriate management systems to implement policies Conduct annual checks and balances and provide reports to the community Respect the political jurisdiction of national communities Respect human rights, social and cultural rights Recognize its political and economic impact on local communities Contribute to the long-term social, cultural, environmental and economic
sustainability of the local communities Respect the rights of indigenous peoples, their culture and land, and
their religious and social customs; provide employment and training
opportunities Ensure that each employee is treated with respect and dignity and is not
subjected to any physical, sexual, psychological or verbal harassment or
abuse Respect employees' right to freedom of association, labour organization,
and free collective bargaining Provide equal pay for work of equal value Recognize the responsibilities of all workers to their families, and
provide for maternity leave, and paternity leave Ensure that their be no barriers to the full participation of women within
the company Participate in the creation of child care centres and centres for the
elderly and persons with disabilities where appropriate Ensure no discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, or culture Ensure that persons with disabilities who apply for jobs with the company
receive fair treatment and are considered solely on their ability to do the
job; provide resources and facilities which enable them to achieve
progression in employment in the company Provide training to all employees to conduct their activities in an
environmentally responsible manner Work with organizations concerned with children's rights, human rights and
labour rights to ensure that young workers are not exploited Ensure that a mechanism is in place to address ethical issues of concern
raised by employees Make sure that the company's policies balance the interests of managers,
shareholders, employees, and other affected parties Adhere to international standards and protocols relevant to its products
and services Adopt marketing practices which protect consumers and ensure the safety of
all products Conduct or support research on the environmental impacts of raw materials,
products, processes, emissions and wastes associates with the company and on
the means of minimizing such adverse impacts Make a sustainable use of renewable natural resources such as water, soils
and forests Conserve non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful
planning Conserve energy and improve energy efficiency of internal operations and
of the goods and services being sold
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