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Roundtable
7:
Non-Governmental
Organisations
(revised
January 08, 2002) |
Introduction
(in
french)
In
the course of preparations for the World Summit
for Sustainable Development, NGOs worldwide have
expressed a number of concerns and priorities
to be addressed in Johannesburg. In particular,
NGOs assert that most governments have failed
to meet their obligations or fulfill political
commitments made at the Earth Summit in 1992.
NGOs cite a number of factors that have contributed
to this so-called implementation failure: the
overwhelming dominance of the neo-liberal development
paradigm; lack of civil society education, awareness
and participation in decision-making; and excessive
corporate influence over government policy.The
central objective of this Roundtable is to identify
the full range of ethical factors, which have
impeded the global transition to sustainable development
and to examine the role of NGOs in highlighting
more effectively the ethics dimensions of their
sustainable development advocacy campaigns.
Session
One: The Ethics-Related Obstacles and Challenges
to Achieving Sustainable Development
- A
growing number of NGOs assert that the underlying
causes of implementation failure are more
fundamental than are currently recognized
by governments. They cite the following factors,
which they maintain have led to a situation
where economic growth and trade liberalisation
override social and environmental concerns:
(a) overwhelming dominance and acceptance
of an unsustainable development paradigm;
(b) lack of education and awareness; and (c)
excessive corporate influence over government
policy. Do you agree with these factors? What
are the specific elements of the unsustainable
development paradigm? Provide examples of
excessive corporate influence over national
governments?
-
NGOs assert that there has been far too little
progress on poverty eradication since 1992
and that new issues have emerged, notably
new forms of poverty in CEE and NIS nations
as well as a deepening of poverty in LDCs.
What are the underlying factors that have
contributed to the worsening of poverty and
in particular what role does over-consumption
in the North play in exacerbating poverty
in the South?
-
NGOs also argue that while voluntary corporate
responsibility mechanisms represent an important
step forward, they are insufficient because
they fail to raise the standards of companies.
Do you agree with this assertion? If so, what
are the specific reasons why voluntary initiatives
are not sufficient, and how should they be
complemented by more command and control type
regulatory approaches?
-
John Hoyt, Earth Charter Commissioner, President
of the Center for Life and the Environment
and former CEO of the Humane Society, asserts
that media increasingly reinforces the very
values and habits of mind that lead people
to live and consume unsustainably. Do you
agree with this assertion? If not, provide
examples where media has been successful in
transmitting and reinforcing positive values
and attitudes. If you do agree with this assertion,
how is this particular ethical challenge reflected
in different cultures and provide concrete
examples of the problem?
Session Two: The Role of Fundamental Ethical Principles
and Values in Facilitating the Promotion of Sustainable
Development
- In
recent WSSD consultations, NGOs have identified
the following principles that should be addressed
by the Global Deal in Johannesburg:
Equity - eradicating poverty through
equitable and sustainable access to resources;
Rights - securing environmental and social
rights as human rights, including the right
to a healthy.environment,
equitable access to resources, the right of
participation, access to information
and justice;
Limits - reduction of resource use
to levels within sustainable limits;
Justice - recognition of ecological
debts and cancellation of financial debts;
Democracy - Ensuring access to information
and public participation;
Ethics - rethinking values and principles
that guide human behaviour.
Do you agree with these principles? How should
they be further elaborated upon in the Global
Deal, and what additional principles should
be included as well? What are the ethical
norms that should describe the concept of
environmental limits? What are the ethical
norms and values that could give further expression
to the principles of justice and democracy?
-
NGOs have recently called on governments to
re-affirm the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities and to elevate it as the
operating principle of all international institutions
in their efforts towards sustainable development.
How should this principle be elaborated upon
more specifically, and how might its application
differ from institution?
Session
Three: Policy Recommendations for Action and Implementation
- The
Secretary-General's report on the Implementation
of Agenda 21 highlights a wide range of new
partnerships that should be formed with NGOs
in the promotion of sustainable development.
These include:
(i) multi-stakeholder approaches and public
private cooperation to improve outreach in
basic agricultural techniques and knowledge
to small farmers and the rural poor;
(ii) innovative forms of partnerships between
national and international private firms,
cooperative societies and governments and
NGOs for improving efficient and equitable
delivery of water resources;
(iii) cooperation with non-state actors in
the promotion of the Millennial Development
Goals;
(iv) Multi-stakeholder approaches to dialogue
and planning with a view to linking local
and national-level policies and decision-making.
What are the specific elements that should
be included in these partnerships? What are
the other forms of partnerships that should
be fostered to more effectively promote sustainable
development? What are the ethical norms and
values that should underlie these partnerships?
-
NGOs have made the following recommendations
for the elaboration of environmental and social
rights: (a) launch of a negotiation process
for a global convention, building on Rio Principle
10, to implement these rights, with participation
of civil society in the negotiation process;
(b) development of programmes to enhance the
integration of environmental and human rights
issues as proposed by the consensus decision
of the 56th meeting of the UN Commission
on Human Rights. Do you agree with this recommendation
to launch a global convention on Environmental
Rights? If so, how should it be elaborated
for the Johannesburg preparatory process and
what additional policy recommendations might
be necessary to promote the environmental
rights agenda at Johannesburg? IF not, what
other instruments should be developed to promote
environmental and social rights?
-
NGOs have recommended the following actions
to promote the poverty agenda more effectively
at WSSD: (a) Review and reform development
finance; (b) Develop a programme to fund and
meet the International Development Targets
(IDTs), including the 0.7% target and the
Millennium Poverty Target; (c) Implement and
expand programmes of debt relief and cancellation;
(d) Reallocate financial resources from military
budgets to poverty eradication.
Are there additional policy recommendations
that are needed to complement the above noted
measures? How should the above be elaborated
in more detail? What are the concrete measures
needed to reform development finance, beyond
the scope of the Financing for Development
process.
-
Many NGOs recommend the initiation and development
of a legally binding convention on corporate
accountability and liability. Do you agree
with this recommendation? IF so, what are
the specific elements of an effective framework
for regulation of the corporate sector? IF
you do not agree with this assertion, what
new and additional voluntary initiatives should
be undertaken by TNCs to ensure that they
promote sustainable development goals in all
aspects of their operations?
-
NGOs have recommended the following elements
of a sustainable consumption and production
policy package:
(i) green procurement policies
(ii) tools to promote informed consumer choices
and options
(iii) sustainable and GMO-free agriculture
(iv) CO2 emission reductions
(v) energy conservation and renewable energy
measures
(vi) elimination of environmentally perverse
subsidies
(vii) economic instruments based on the polluter
pays principle
Do you agree with these recommendations? What
additional measures are needed to promote
the sustainable consumption agenda?
Session
Four: Political Strategies for Johannesburg and
Beyond
- Given
the current political climate and the resistance
of developed countries to the establishment
of new sustainable development funds, what
are the political strategies needed to engage
political support for the launching of a fund
to promote the international development targets?
-
Given that the ECE Assessment Report clearly
shows that governments have failed to meet
their obligations or fulfil political commitments
at Rio, what are the new political strategies
needed to ensure that governments face up
to the crisis of implementation and address
the reasons, which have contributed to their
failure to act?
-
What are the political strategies needed to
address the environmental and social rights
agenda and in particular, to advance the cause
of the right to a safe and healthy environment
as a basic human right?
-
Given the influence of the corporate sector
and their resistance to command-and-control
regulatory approaches, what are the political
strategies needed to launch a global process
to develop a system of corporate accountability
and liability?
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| Copyright
- Green Cross International - Geneva/Switzerland - February
2003 |
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