| Earth is our home and home to all living beings. Earth
itself is alive. We are part of an evolving universe. Human beings are members of an
interdependent community of life with a magnificent diversity of life forms and cultures.
We are humbled before the beauty of Earth and share a reverence for life and the sources
of our being. We give thanks for the heritage that we have received from past generations
and embrace our responsibilities to present and future generations. The Earth Community stands at a defining moment. The biosphere is governed by
laws that we ignore at our own peril. Human beings have acquired the ability to radically
alter the environment and evolutionary processes. Lack of foresight and misuse of
knowledge and power threaten the fabric of life and the foundations of local and global
security. There is great violence, poverty, and suffering in our world. A fundamental
change of course is needed.
The choice is before us: to care for Earth or to participate in the
destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life. We must reinvent
industrial-technological civilization, finding new ways to balance self and community,
having and being, diversity and unity, short-term and long-term, using and nurturing.
In the midst of all our diversity, we are one humanity and one Earth
family with a shared destiny. The challenges before us require an inclusive ethical
vision. Partnerships must be forged and cooperation fostered at local, bioregional,
national and international levels. In solidarity with one another and the community of
life, we the peoples of the world commit ourselves to action guided by the following
interrelated principles:
1. Respect Earth and all life. Earth, each life form, and all
living beings possess intrinsic value and warrant respect independently of their
utilitarian value to humanity.
2. Care for Earth, protecting and restoring the diversity,
integrity, and beauty of the planet's ecosystems. Where there is risk of irreversible or
serious damage to the environment, precautionary action must be taken to prevent harm.
3. Live sustainably, promoting and adopting modes of
consumption, production and reproduction that respect and safeguard human rights and the
regenerative capacities of Earth.
4. Establish justice, and defend without discrimination the
right of all people to life, liberty, and security of person within an environment
adequate for human health and spiritual well-being. People have a right to potable water,
clean air, uncontaminated soil, and food security.
5. Share equitably the benefits of natural resource use and a
healthy environment among the nations, between rich and poor, between males and females,
between present and future generations, and internalize all environmental, social and
economic costs.
6. Promote social development and financial systems that
create and maintain sustainable livelihoods, eradicate poverty, and strengthen local
communities.
7. Practice non-violence, recognizing that peace is the
wholeness created by harmonious and balanced relationships with oneself, other persons,
other life forms, and Earth.
8. Strengthen processes that empower people to participate
effectively in decision-making and ensure transparency and accountability in governance
and administration in all sectors of society.
9. Reaffirm that Indigenous and Tribal Peoples have a vital role
in the care and protection of Mother Earth. They have the right to retain their
spirituality, knowledge, lands, territories and resources.
10. Affirm that gender equality is a prerequisite for
sustainable development.
11. Secure the right to sexual and reproductive health, with
special concern for women and girls.
12. Promote the participation of youth as accountable agents
of change for local, bioregional and global sustainability.
13. Advance and put to use scientific and other types of
knowledge and technologies that promote sustainable living and protect the
environment.
14. Ensure that people throughout their lives have opportunities
to acquire the knowledge, values, and practical skills needed to build sustainable
communities.
15. Treat all creatures with compassion and protect them from
cruelty and wanton destruction.
16. Do not do to the environment of others what you do not
want done to your environment.
17. Protect and restore places of outstanding ecological,
cultural, aesthetic, spiritual, and scientific significance.
18. Cultivate and act with a sense of shared responsibility
for the well-being of the Earth Community. Every person, institution and government has a
duty to advance the indivisible goals of justice for all, sustainability, world peace, and
respect and care for the larger community of life.
Embracing the values in this Charter, we can grow into a family of
cultures that allows the potential of all persons to unfold in harmony with the Earth
Community. We must preserve a strong faith in the possibilities of the human spirit and a
deep sense of belonging to the universe. Our best actions will embody the integration of
knowledge with compassion.
* * *
In order to develop and implement the principles in this Charter,
the nations of the world should adopt as a first step an international convention that
provides an integrated legal framework for existing and future environmental and
sustainable development law and policy.
Source: Earth Council
http://www.ecouncil.ac.cr.
rio5/mar18/earthen.html
March 18, 1997 |