The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. Created by a global consultation process, and endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, the Charter "seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, the greater community of life, and future generations." [1] It calls upon humanity to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history. The Earth Charter's ethical vision proposes that environmental protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent and indivisible. The Charter attempts to provide a new framework for thinking about and addressing these issues. The Earth Charter Initiative organization exists to promote the Charter.
The idea of the Earth Charter originated in 1987, by Maurice Strong and Mikhail Gorbachev as members of The Club of Rome, when the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development called for a new charter to guide the transition to sustainable development. In 1992, the need for a charter was urged by then-Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, but the time for such a declaration was not believed to be right. The Rio Declaration became the statement of the achievable consensus at that time. In 1994, Strong (Chairman of the Earth Summit) and Gorbachev, working through organizations they each founded (the Earth Council and Green Cross International respectively), restarted the Earth Charter as a civil society initiative, with the help of the government of the Netherlands. [2]
Strong died in November 2015. [2]
"The Ark of Hope [3] was created for a celebration of the Earth Charter held at Shelburne Farms, Vermont on September 9, 2001." [3]
The drafting of the text was done during a six-year worldwide consultation process (1994–2000), overseen by the independent Earth Charter Commission, which was convened by Strong and Gorbachev with the purpose of developing a global consensus on values and principles for a sustainable future. The Commission continues to serve as the steward of the Earth Charter text.
One of the members of the Earth Charter Commission and Steering Committee was Steven Clark Rockefeller, who, among other things is professor emeritus of Religion at Middlebury College and an advisory trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. [4] According to a 2001 interview with Rockefeller, [5] he "chaired the Earth Charter international drafting committee". Other members included Amadou Toumani Touré (Mali), Princess Basma bint Talal (Jordan), Mohamed Sahnoun (Algeria), A. T. Ariyaratne (Sri Lanka), Wakako Hironaka (Japan), Erna Witoelar (Indonesia), Ruud Lubbers (The Netherlands), Federico Mayor (Spain), Mercedes Sosa (Argentina), Leonardo Boff (Brazil), Yolanda Kakabadse (Ecuador), Shridath Ramphal (Guyana), Elizabeth May (Canada), Severn Cullis-Suzuki (Canada), and others. [6]
The final text of the Earth Charter was approved at a meeting of the Earth Charter Commission at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in March 2000. The official launch was on 29 June 2000 in a ceremony at The Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended the ceremony.
The approximately 2,400 word document is divided into sections (called pillars), which have 16 main principles containing 61 supporting principles. [7] The document opens with a preamble and ends with a conclusion entitled "The Way Forward".
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. [8]
The four pillars and sixteen principles of the Earth Charter are: [8]
I. Respect and Care for the Community of Life
II. Ecological Integrity
III. Social and Economic Justice
IV. Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace
The Charter has been formally endorsed by organizations representing millions of people, including the UNESCO, [9] over 250 universities around the world, [10] the World Conservation Union of IUCN, the Indian National Capital Territory of Delhi, [11] the 2001 U.S. Conference of Mayors, [12] and dozens of youth organizations. [13]
Various religious groups from a wide range of religions support the Earth Charter. The Soka Gakkai International, representing more than 12 million Buddhists worldwide, has supported the Earth Charter since its inception. [14] The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations representing over 1000 Unitarian Universalist congregations in the United States supports the measure. [15] The official body of the Baháʼí Faith religion reacted by saying "While not officially endorsing the Earth Charter, the Baháʼí International Community considers the effort toward drafting it and activities in support of its essential objectives to be highly commendable, and it will continue to participate in related activities, such as conferences, forums and the like." [16] The World Pantheist Movement, which supports a naturalistic view of religion, endorses the plan. [17] The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a Catholic organization in the United States approved the measure in 2004. [18] The Episcopal Diocese of Newark (New Jersey), an Episcopalian Christian organization, endorsed the Earth Charter in 2009. [19]
In May 1992, more than 650 representatives of indigenous peoples adopted their own 109-point Indigenous Peoples Earth Charter. [20] Representatives of indigenous peoples also participated in the Earth Charter consultations in 1996. [21] In 2000, the Russian Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON), representing 31 indigenous peoples living in Siberia and far eastern Russia, formally endorsed the Earth Charter. [22]
Mayor Hsu of Tainan, a city of 750,000 in Taiwan, endorsed the charter in 2007. [23] The cities of Corvallis (Oregon), Berkeley (California), Pickering (Canada) and 21 towns in Vermont have endorsed the measure. [24] [25] [26] Nine other towns in Vermont rejected measures endorsing the Earth Charter. [27]
Engineers Without Borders, an international association whose mission is to help its member groups assist poor communities in their respective countries and around the world, also endorses the Earth Charter. [28] The Green Party of Botswana supports the plan. [29] The African Conservation Foundation describes the Earth Charter movement as a "partner". [30]
In the UK, Bournemouth Borough Council endorsed the Charter in 2008.[ citation needed ]
Earth Charter International, the organization responsible for promoting the Charter, states in its literature that the Earth Charter is respectful and inclusive of all religious traditions. They say that the Charter itself makes no statements to support claims of intent to supplant any of the world's religions or to create a world government. ECI asserts that the Charter is a statement of common ethical values towards sustainability, that recognizes humanity's shared responsibility to the Earth and to each other. [31]
The Charter has received opposition from several groups. For example, in the United States, members of religious groups, such as the Religious Right have objected to the document on the grounds that it is secular, and espouses socialism. [32] In addition, some conservatives[ who? ] cite an informal comment by Mikhail Gorbachev that the document is "a kind of Ten Commandments"; and point to the fact that at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, a copy of the document was placed symbolically in an "Ark of Hope" [3] — an independent project by the American artist Sally Linder.
The University for Peace (UPEACE) is an international university and intergovernmental organization established as a treaty organisation by the United Nations General Assembly in 1980. The university offers postgraduate, doctoral, and executive programmes related to the study of peace and conflict, environment and development, and international law.
The United Religions Initiative (URI) is a global grassroots interfaith network.
Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels.
The United Nations Global Compact is a non-binding United Nations pact to get businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies, and to report on their implementation. The UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiative, with more than 20,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders in over 167 countries. The organization consists of a global agency, and local "networks" or agencies for each participating country. Under the Global Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labor groups and civil society.
Spiritual ecology is an emerging field in religion, conservation, and academia that proposes that there is a spiritual facet to all issues related to conservation, environmentalism, and earth stewardship. Proponents of spiritual ecology assert a need for contemporary nature conservation work to include spiritual elements and for contemporary religion and spirituality to include awareness of and engagement in ecological issues.
There have been several meetings referred to as a Parliament of the World's Religions, the first being the World's Parliament of Religions of 1893, which was an attempt to create a global dialogue of faiths. The event was celebrated by another conference on its centenary in 1993. This led to a new series of conferences under the official title Parliament of the World's Religions with the same goal of trying to create a global dialogue of faiths.
Global governance refers to institutions that coordinate the behavior of transnational actors, facilitate cooperation, resolve disputes, and alleviate collective action problems. Global governance broadly entails making, monitoring, and enforcing rules. Within global governance, a variety of types of actors – not just states – exercise power. Governance is thus broader than government.
The International Day of Peace, also officially known as World Peace Day, is a United Nations-sanctioned holiday observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first established in 1981 and first observed in September 1982 and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and people.
Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality or other, more local identities, but that such identities are given "second place" to their membership in a global community. Extended, the idea leads to questions about the state of global society in the age of globalization.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Bolivia, with Roman Catholicism being its largest denomination. Before the arrival of Spanish missionaries, the people residing in the territory of modern day Bolivia practiced a variety of faiths.
The organization SEKEM was founded in 1977 by the Egyptian pharmacologist and social entrepreneur Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish in order to bring about cultural renewal in Egypt on a sustainable basis. Located northeast of Cairo, the organization now includes:
The Earth Charter Initiative is the collective name for the global network of people, organizations, and institutions who participate in promoting the Earth Charter, and in implementing its principles in practice. The Initiative is a broad-based, voluntary, civil society effort, but participants include leading international institutions, national government agencies, university associations, NGOs, cities, faith groups, and many well-known leaders in sustainable development.
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The Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare (UDAW) is a proposed inter-governmental agreement to recognise that animals are sentient, to prevent cruelty and reduce suffering, and to promote standards on the welfare of animals such as farm animals, companion animals, animals in scientific research, draught animals, wildlife and animals in recreation.
The Global Peace Foundation (GPF) is an international nonprofit organization with a stated mission to promote “an innovative, values-based approach to peacebuilding, guided by the vision of One Family under God.” GPF partners with government ministries, community and faith-based organizations, and United Nations offices to develop and execute programs in 20 countries.
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A sustainability organization is (1) an organized group of people that aims to advance sustainability and/or (2) those actions of organizing something sustainably. Unlike many business organizations, sustainability organizations are not limited to implementing sustainability strategies which provide them with economic and cultural benefits attained through environmental responsibility. For sustainability organizations, sustainability can also be an end in itself without further justifications.
The term "Harmony with Nature" refers to a principle of amicable and holistic co-existence between humanity and nature. It is used in several contexts, most prominently in relation to sustainable development and the rights of nature, both aimed at addressing anthropogenic environmental crises. In 2009, the United Nations created a program of the same name. Following support from the Bolivian Government, the UN General Assembly approved further resolutions on the topic. Events like the United Nations Earth Summit 2012 have provided a platform for exchange between different stakeholders. Below is the text of the proposal.
