PREAMBLE
We stand at a critical moment in Earth's history, a time
when humanity must choose its future. As the world
becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the
future at once holds great peril and great promise. To
move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a
magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are
one human family and one Earth community with a common
destiny. We must join together to bring forth a
sustainable global society founded on respect for
nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a
culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative
that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our
responsibility to one another, to the greater community
of life, and to future generations.
Earth, Our Home
Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth,
our home, is alive with a unique community of life.
The forces of nature make existence a demanding and
uncertain adventure, but Earth has provided the
conditions essential to life's evolution. The
resilience of the community of life and the well-being
of humanity depend upon preserving a healthy biosphere
with all its ecological systems, a rich variety of
plants and animals, fertile soils, pure waters, and
clean air. The global environment with its finite
resources is a common concern of all peoples. The
protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty
is a sacred trust.
The Global Situation
The dominant patterns of production and consumption
are causing environmental devastation, the depletion
of resources, and a massive extinction of species.
Communities are being undermined. The benefits of
development are not shared equitably and the gap
between rich and poor is widening. Injustice, poverty,
ignorance, and violent conflict are widespread and the
cause of great suffering. An unprecedented rise in
human population has overburdened ecological and
social systems. The foundations of global security are
threatened. These trends are perilous-but not
inevitable.
The Challenges Ahead
The choice is ours: form a global partnership to care
for Earth and one another or risk the destruction of
ourselves and the diversity of life. Fundamental
changes are needed in our values, institutions, and
ways of living. We must realize that when basic needs
have been met, human development is primarily about
being more, not having more. We have the knowledge and
technology to provide for all and to reduce our
impacts on the environment. The emergence of a global
civil society is creating new opportunities to build a
democratic and humane world. Our environmental,
economic, political, social, and spiritual challenges
are interconnected, and together we can forge
inclusive solutions.
Universal Responsibility
To realize these aspirations, we must decide to live
with a sense of universal responsibility, identifying
ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as
our local communities. We are at once citizens of
different nations and of one world in which the local
and global are linked. Everyone shares responsibility
for the present and future well-being of the human
family and the larger living world. The spirit of
human solidarity and kinship with all life is
strengthened when we live with reverence for the
mystery of being, gratitude for the gift of life, and
humility regarding the human place in nature.
We urgently need a shared vision
of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the
emerging world community. Therefore, together in hope we
affirm the following interdependent principles for a
sustainable way of life as a common standard by which
the conduct of all individuals, organizations,
businesses, governments, and transnational institutions
is to be guided and assessed.
PRINCIPLES
I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE
1. Respect Earth and
life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are
interdependent and every form of life has value
regardless of its worth to human beings.
b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human
beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and
spiritual potential of humanity.
2. Care for the community of
life with understanding, compassion, and love.
a. Accept that with the right to
own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty
to prevent environmental harm and to protect the
rights of people.
b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and
power comes increased responsibility to promote the
common good.
3. Build democratic societies
that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
a. Ensure that communities at
all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental
freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to
realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all
to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is
ecologically responsible.
4. Secure Earth's bounty and
beauty for present and future generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of
action of each generation is qualified by the needs of
future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions,
and institutions that support the long-term
flourishing of Earth's human and ecological
communities.
In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is
necessary to:
II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY
5. Protect and
restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems,
with special concern for biological diversity and the
natural processes that sustain life.
a. Adopt at all levels
sustainable development plans and regulations that
make environmental conservation and rehabilitation
integral to all development initiatives.
b. Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere
reserves, including wild lands and marine areas, to
protect Earth's life support systems, maintain
biodiversity, and preserve our natural heritage.
c. Promote the recovery of endangered species and
ecosystems.
d. Control and eradicate non-native or genetically
modified organisms harmful to native species and the
environment, and prevent introduction of such harmful
organisms.
e. Manage the use of renewable resources such as
water, soil, forest products, and marine life in ways
that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that
protect the health of ecosystems.
f. Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable
resources such as minerals and fossil fuels in ways
that minimize depletion and cause no serious
environmental damage.
6. Prevent harm as the best
method of environmental protection and, when knowledge
is limited, apply a precautionary approach.
a. Take action to avoid the
possibility of serious or irreversible environmental
harm even when scientific knowledge is incomplete or
inconclusive.
b. Place the burden of proof on those who argue that a
proposed activity will not cause significant harm, and
make the responsible parties liable for environmental
harm.
c. Ensure that decision making addresses the
cumulative, long-term, indirect, long distance, and
global consequences of human activities.
d. Prevent pollution of any part of the environment
and allow no build-up of radioactive, toxic, or other
hazardous substances.
e. Avoid military activities damaging to the
environment.
7. Adopt patterns of
production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard
Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and
community well-being.
a. Reduce, reuse, and recycle
the materials used in production and consumption
systems, and ensure that residual waste can be
assimilated by ecological systems.
b. Act with restraint and efficiency when using
energy, and rely increasingly on renewable energy
sources such as solar and wind.
c. Promote the development, adoption, and equitable
transfer of environmentally sound technologies.
d. Internalize the full environmental and social costs
of goods and services in the selling price, and enable
consumers to identify products that meet the highest
social and environmental standards.
e. Ensure universal access to health care that fosters
reproductive health and responsible reproduction.
f. Adopt lifestyles that emphasize the quality of life
and material sufficiency in a finite world.
8. Advance the study of
ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange
and wide application of the knowledge acquired.
a. Support international
scientific and technical cooperation on
sustainability, with special attention to the needs of
developing nations. b. Recognize and preserve the
traditional knowledge and spiritual wisdom in all
cultures that contribute to environmental protection
and human well-being. c. Ensure that information of
vital importance to human health and environmental
protection, including genetic information, remains
available in the public domain.
III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
9. Eradicate poverty
as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.
a. Guarantee the right to
potable water, clean air, food security,
uncontaminated soil, shelter, and safe sanitation,
allocating the national and international resources
required.
b. Empower every human being with the education and
resources to secure a sustainable livelihood, and
provide social security and safety nets for those who
are unable to support themselves.
c. Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable,
serve those who suffer, and enable them to develop
their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.
10. Ensure that economic
activities and institutions at all levels promote human
development in an equitable and sustainable manner.
a. Promote the equitable
distribution of wealth within nations and among
nations.
b. Enhance the intellectual, financial, technical, and
social resources of developing nations, and relieve
them of onerous international debt.
c. Ensure that all trade supports sustainable resource
use, environmental protection, and progressive labor
standards.
d. Require multinational corporations and
international financial organizations to act
transparently in the public good, and hold them
accountable for the consequences of their activities.
11. Affirm gender equality and
equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and
ensure universal access to education, health care, and
economic opportunity.
a. Secure the human rights of
women and girls and end all violence against them.
b. Promote the active participation of women in all
aspects of economic, political, civil, social, and
cultural life as full and equal partners, decision
makers, leaders, and beneficiaries.
c. Strengthen families and ensure the safety and
loving nurture of all family members.
12. Uphold the right of all,
without discrimination, to a natural and social
environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health,
and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the
rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.
a. Eliminate discrimination in
all its forms, such as that based on race, color, sex,
sexual orientation, religion, language, and national,
ethnic or social origin. b. Affirm the right of
indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge,
lands and resources and to their related practice of
sustainable livelihoods. c. Honor and support the
young people of our communities, enabling them to
fulfill their essential role in creating sustainable
societies. d. Protect and restore outstanding places
of cultural and spiritual significance.
IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE
13. Strengthen
democratic institutions at all levels, and provide
transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive
participation in decision making, and access to justice.
a. Uphold the right of everyone
to receive clear and timely information on
environmental matters and all development plans and
activities which are likely to affect them or in which
they have an interest.
b. Support local, regional and global civil society,
and promote the meaningful participation of all
interested individuals and organizations in decision
making.
c. Protect the rights to freedom of opinion,
expression, peaceful assembly, association, and
dissent.
d. Institute effective and efficient access to
administrative and independent judicial procedures,
including remedies and redress for environmental harm
and the threat of such harm.
e. Eliminate corruption in all public and private
institutions.
f. Strengthen local communities, enabling them to care
for their environments, and assign environmental
responsibilities to the levels of government where
they can be carried out most effectively.
14. Integrate into formal
education and life-long learning the knowledge, values,
and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.
a. Provide all, especially
children and youth, with educational opportunities
that empower them to contribute actively to
sustainable development.
b. Promote the contribution of the arts and humanities
as well as the sciences in sustainability education.
c. Enhance the role of the mass media in raising
awareness of ecological and social challenges.
d. Recognize the importance of moral and spiritual
education for sustainable living.
15. Treat all living beings
with respect and consideration.
a. Prevent cruelty to animals
kept in human societies and protect them from
suffering.
b. Protect wild animals from methods of hunting,
trapping, and fishing that cause extreme, prolonged,
or avoidable suffering.
c. Avoid or eliminate to the full extent possible the
taking or destruction of non-targeted species.
16. Promote a culture of
tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.
a. Encourage and support mutual
understanding, solidarity, and cooperation among all
peoples and within and among nations.
b. Implement comprehensive strategies to prevent
violent conflict and use collaborative problem solving
to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and
other disputes.
c. Demilitarize national security systems to the level
of a non-provocative defense posture, and convert
military resources to peaceful purposes, including
ecological restoration.
d. Eliminate nuclear, biological, and toxic weapons
and other weapons of mass destruction.
e. Ensure that the use of orbital and outer space
supports environmental protection and peace.
f. Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by
right relationships with oneself, other persons, other
cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of
which all are a part.
THE WAY FORWARD
As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to
seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of
these Earth Charter principles. To fulfill this promise,
we must commit ourselves to adopt and promote the values
and objectives of the Charter.
This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a
new sense of global interdependence and universal
responsibility. We must imaginatively develop and apply
the vision of a sustainable way of life locally,
nationally, regionally, and globally. Our cultural
diversity is a precious heritage and different cultures
will find their own distinctive ways to realize the
vision. We must deepen and expand the global dialogue
that generated the Earth Charter, for we have much to
learn from the ongoing collaborative search for truth
and wisdom.
Life often involves tensions between important values.
This can mean difficult choices. However, we must find
ways to harmonize diversity with unity, the exercise of
freedom with the common good, short-term objectives with
long-term goals. Every individual, family, organization,
and community has a vital role to play. The arts,
sciences, religions, educational institutions, media,
businesses, nongovernmental organizations, and
governments are all called to offer creative leadership.
The partnership of government, civil society, and
business is essential for effective governance.
In order to build a sustainable global community, the
nations of the world must renew their commitment to the
United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing
international agreements, and support the implementation
of Earth Charter principles with an international
legally binding instrument on environment and
development.
Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new
reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve
sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for
justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.
All
content © 2003 Earth Charter USA Campaign. All design
© 2003 Electroglyph. All rights reserved.
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