The Rights of Nature
The proposals developed by the Plurinational State of
Bolivia bring together and build upon the progress made in the World Charter
for Nature (1982), the Rio Declaration (1992), the Earth Charter (2000),
and the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother
Earth (2010):
I. A DEEPER COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE
21ST CENTURY
1. In this century, the central challenges of
sustainable development are: on the one hand, to overcome poverty and the
tremendous inequalities that exist and, on the other hand, reestablish the
equilibrium of the Earth system. Both objectives are intrinsically linked and
one cannot be reached independently of the other.
2. It is essential to recognize and affirm that growth
has limits. The pursuit of unending development on a finite planet is
unsustainable and impossible. The limit to development is defined by the
regenerative capacity of the Earth’s vital cycles. When growth begins to break
that balance, as we see with global warming, we can no longer speak of it as
development, but rather, the deterioration and destruction of our home. A
certain level of growth and industrialization is needed to satisfy basic needs
and guarantee the human rights of a population, but this level of “necessary
development” is not about permanent growth, but rather, balance among humans
and with nature.
3. New technologies will not allow unending economic
growth. Scientific advances, under some circumstances, can contribute to
resolve certain problems of development but can’t ignore the natural limits of
the Earth system.
4. The main challenge for the eradication of poverty is
not to grow forever, but to achieve an equitable distribution of the wealth
that is possible under the limits of the Earth system. In a world in which 1%
of the population controls 50% of the wealth of the planet, it will not be
possible to eradicate poverty or restore harmony with nature.
5. Sustainable development seeks to eradicate poverty in
order to live well, not generate wealthy people who live at the expense of the
poor. The goal is the satisfaction of basic human needs in order to allow for
the development of human capabilities and human happiness, strengthening
community among human beings and with Mother Earth.
6. To end poverty and achieve an equitable distribution
of wellbeing, the basic resources and companies should be in the hands of the
public sector and society. Only a society that controls its principal sources
of income can aspire to a just distribution of the benefits needed to eliminate
poverty.
7. The so-called “developed” countries must reduce their
levels of over-consumption and overexploitation of resources of the world in
order to reestablish harmony among human beings and with nature, allowing for
the sustainable development of all developing countries.
8. Developing countries should realize their right to
development following patterns and paradigms that are distinct from those of
developed countries. It is not sustainable or viable for all countries to
follow the example of developed countries without causing the collapse of our
Earth system. The ecological footprint of the developed countries is between 3
and 5 times larger than the average ecological footprint that the Earth system
can sustain without an impact on its vital cycles.
9. Sustainable development can only be achieved from a
global perspective and cannot be achieved only in the national level. The
wellbeing of a country is only sustainable if it also serves to contribute to
the wellbeing of the entire Earth system. The so-called developed countries are
still far from reaching sustainable development.
10. Sustainable development should ensure equilibrium
among the three pillars – social, economic, and environmental – which are
interrelated, preserving the fundamental principle of common but differentiated
responsibility.
II. THE NEW EMERGING CHALLENGE: RESTORING THE
EQUILIBRIUM OF THE EARTH SYSTEM
11. The emerging challenges of the 21st Century are the
product of exaggerated ambition and accumulation of wealth concentrated in a
few sectors, the exacerbation and combination of different contradictions that
were present in the last century. The various crises that exist in the areas of
food, energy, the environment, climate, finance, water, and even institutions
have reached chronic levels and are feeding off of one another, in some cases
to the point of no return.
12. We are living an environmental crisis that, as it
deepens, threatens the existence of human beings and life as a whole. The
Earth is a living system and the source of life. It is an indivisible,
interdependent and interrelated community comprised of human beings, nature,
the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and geosphere. The Earth system has intrinsic laws
that regulate its functioning, articulating the physical, chemical, biological
and ecological elements in a manner that makes life possible. Through the term
Mother Earth, we express this relationship of belonging to a system and respect
for our home.
13. Human activity is altering the dynamics and
functioning of the Earth system to a degree never before seen. The capitalist
system is the principal cause of the imbalance because it puts the rules of the
market and the accumulation of profit above the laws of nature. Nature is not
simply a sum of elements, it’s not a source of resources that can be exploited,
modified, altered, privatized, commercialized and transformed without any
consequences.
14. Human beings and nature are at the center of
concerns for sustainable development. It is essential to get beyond the
anthropocentric vision. Until now, no species besides Man has been able to
modify the characteristics of the planet in such a substantial way and in such
a short period of time. It is essential to restore and guarantee the existence,
integrity, interrelation, interaction and regeneration of the Earth system as a
whole and of all of its components in order to achieve a sustainable
development that is capable of confronting the multiple crises facing humanity
and the planet today.
III. TOOLS FOR FIXING THE PERSISTENT GAPS AND ACHIEVE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
15. To reestablish harmony with nature, we must
recognize and respect the intrinsic laws of nature and its vital cycles. Not
only do human beings have a right to a healthy life, but so do the other
components and species belonging to the system we call nature. In an
interdependent and interrelated system like the planet Earth, it is not
possible to recognize the rights of just the human part of the system without
affecting the whole. Just as human beings have rights, the Mother Earth also
has the right to exist, the right to maintain its vital cycles, the right to
regeneration, the right to be free from structural alteration, and the right to
relate to the other parts of the Earth system. In order to reestablish balance
with nature, it is necessary to clearly establish the obligations of humans
toward nature, and to recognize that nature has rights that should be
respected, promoted, and defended.
16. We have to end the system of consumption, waste and
luxury. Millions of people are dying of hunger in the poorest parts of the
globe, while the richest spend millions of dollars are spent to combat obesity.
Developed countries must change their unsustainable patterns of consumption,
production, and waste through public policies, regulations, the conscious and
active participation of society, This includes promoting ethics that value
human beings for what they are, not what they have.
17. It is necessary to guarantee the human right to
water, education, health, communication, transportation, energy and sanitation.
The provision of these services must be essentially public and based on
efficient social management, not private business. The principal goal should be
common wellbeing and not private profit, in order to ensure that these services
reach the poorest and most marginalized sectors in an equitable manner.
18. States should ensure the right of their populations
to proper nutrition by strengthening food sovereignty policies that promote: a)
food production by farmers, indigenous peoples and small agricultural
producers; b) access to land, water, seeds, credit and other resources for
family and community producers; c) the development of social and public
enterprises for food production, distribution, and sale that prevent hoarding
and contribute to the stability of food prices in domestic markets, thus
halting speculative practices and the destruction of local production; d) the
right of citizens to define and to know and have the proper information about
what they consume, the way their food is produced, and its origins; e) the
right to healthy, varied and nutritious food; f) the right to consume what is
necessary and prioritize local production; g) practices that contribute to
reestablishing harmony with nature, avoiding greater desertification,
deforestation, and destruction of biological diversity; h) the promotion of the
use of indigenous seeds and traditional knowledge. Food production and
commercialization must be socially regulated and cannot be left to free market
forces.
19. Without water, there is no life. Humans and all
living things have the right to water, but water also has rights. All States
and peoples worldwide should work together in solidarity to ensure that loss of
vegetation, deforestation, the pollution of the atmosphere and contamination
are prevented from continuing to alter the hydrological cycle. These cause
desertification, lack of food, temperature increase, sea level rise,
migrations, acid rain, and physical-chemical changes that could provoke the
loss of genetic and species diversity, damaging the health of ecosystems.
20. Forests are essential to the balance and integrity
of planet Earth and a key element in the proper functioning of its ecosystems
and the broader system of which we are a part. Thus we cannot consider them as
simple providers of goods and services for human beings. The protection,
preservation and recuperation of forests is necessary in order to reestablish
the balance of the Earth system. Plantations that are planted for profit and
promoted as carbon sinks and providers of environmental services are not
forests. Forests are not plantations that can be reduced to their capacity to
capture carbon and provide environmental services. Native forests and woodlands
are essential for the water cycle, the atmosphere, biodiversity, the prevention
of flooding, and the preservation of ecosystems. Forests are also home to
indigenous peoples and communities. The preservation of forests should be
pursued through integral and participatory management plans that should be
financed with public funding from developed countries or specific taxes on the
sectors with the greatest consumption.
21. It is essential to guarantee a real and effective
reduction of greenhouse gases, particularly on the part of the developed
countries historically responsible for climate change, in order to stabilize
the increase in temperature to 1°C during this century. We must therefore
strengthen the Kyoto Protocol with a second period of commitments by developed
countries, instead of replacing it with a more flexible voluntary agreement. It
is necessary to eliminate carbon market mechanisms and offsets so that real
domestic reductions are made within the countries with said obligations. South
Africa should not be another Cancun, delaying once again the central issue of
substantive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
22. All forms of violence against women are incompatible
with sustainable development. Violence done to women in militarily occupied
territories, domestic or sexual violence, and discrimination in the workplace
and in public spheres are problems we must solve. We must link the issue of the
economic role of women to the protection of nature.
23. In order for sustainable development to exist, it is
essential to guarantee the full application of the United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
24. Under the framework of common but differentiated
responsibilities established in the 1992 Rio Declaration, the so-called
developed countries must assume and pay their historical ecological debt for
having contributed the most to the deterioration of the Earth system. The
payment of this ecological debt by developed countries to developing countries
and the sectors most affected among their own populations should replace to the
greatest possible degree the ecological damage provoked. Developed countries
should transfer financial resources from public sources and also the effective
transfer of socially and ecologically appropriate technologies required by
sovereign developing countries.
25. The enormous resources dedicated to defense,
security and war budgets by developed countries should be reduced. These
resources should instead be used to address the effects of climate change and
the imbalance with nature. It is inexcusable that 1.5 trillion dollars in
public funding are used on these budgets, while, to address the impacts of
climate change in developing countries, they want to dedicate just 100 billion
dollars from public and private funds as well as market sources.
26. A financial transaction tax should be created to
help build a Sustainable Development Fund to attend to the sustainable development
challenges faced by developing countries. This financing mechanism should
generate new, stable and additional resources for developing countries. A tax
of 0.05% applied on a global level has the potential to capture $661 billion
per year according to ECLAC.[1] The mechanism of the international financial
transaction tax can be built in a voluntary and gradual manner with the
participation of those developed and developing countries that wish to
participate.
27. The Rio+20 Conference should not create market
mechanisms with regard to nature, biodiversity and the so called environmental
services: a) The logic of the market and monetary valuation applied to
environmental services and biodiversity will generate greater inequality in the
distribution of those resources, which are essential for humanity and Mother
Earth; b) The establishment of these market mechanisms will deepen the
imbalance with nature because they are driven by the search for maximum profits
and not harmony with nature; c) It will affect the sovereignty of our States
and peoples by generating new forms of property rights over the functions of
nature that will be in the hands of investors. These mechanisms are uncertain,
volatile and the source of financial speculation given that the bulk of the
money they mobilize will remain in the hands of intermediary actors.
28. Sustainable development requires a new international
financial architecture to replace the World Bank and the IMF with entities that
are democratic and transparent, that respect national priorities and national
independence in the application of development strategies. These new
institutions should have a majority representation by developing countries and
should act according to the principles of solidarity and cooperation, rather
than commercialization and privatization.
29. It is essential to create an effective Technology
Transfer Mechanism that stems from the demand and needs of the countries of the
South for technologies that are socially, culturally, and environmentally appropriate.
Said mechanism should not be a “show room” for the sale of technologies by rich
countries. In order to promote the exchange of scientific and technical
knowledge, it is essential to remove intellectual property barriers so that
there might exist a true transfer of environmentally friendly technologies from
developed countries to developing countries.
30. Intellectual property rights over genes,
microorganisms and other forms of life are a threat to food sovereignty,
biodiversity, access to medicine and other elements that are essential for the
survival of low-income populations. All forms of intellectual property over
life should be abolished.
31. Gross Domestic Product is not an adequate means of
measuring the development and wellbeing of a society. Thus it is necessary to
create indicators for measuring the environmental destruction caused by certain
economic activities in order to advance toward sustainable development in
harmony with nature, integrating social and environmental aspects that are not
aimed at the commercialization of nature and its functions.
32. Respect for the sovereignty of States is essential
in the management and protection of nature under the framework of cooperation
among States.
33. No identical solutions exist for all peoples. Human
beings are diverse. Our peoples have their own unique cultures and identities.
To destroy a culture is to threaten the identity of an entire people.
Capitalism attempts to homogenize us all to convert us into consumers. There
has not been, nor will there ever be, a single model for life that can save the
world. We live and act in a pluralistic world, and a pluralistic world should
respect diversity, which is itself synonymous with life. Respect for peaceful
and harmonious complementarity among the diverse cultures and economies,
without exploitation or discrimination against any single one, is essential for
saving the planet, humanity, and life.
34. Peace is essential for sustainable development.
There is no worse aggression against humanity and Mother Earth than war and
violence. War destroys life, and it has a particularly strong impact on the
poorest and most vulnerable. Nobody and nothing is safe from war. Those that
fight suffer, as do those that are forced to go without bread in order to feed
the war. Wars squander life and natural resources.
35. An International Tribunal of Environmental and
Climate Justice must be established to judge and sanction crimes against nature
that transcend national borders, violating the rights of nature and affecting
humanity.
36. To achieve sustainable development, it is necessary
to promote public associations, public-public associations among actors in
different States, public-social associations among different social sectors,
and public-private associations.
37. The problems affecting humanity and nature require
the exercise of global democracy through the development of mechanisms of
consultation and decision-making such as referendums, plebiscites, or popular
consultations so that the citizens of the world as a whole may speak.
38. Sustainable development is incompatible with all
forms of imperialism and neocolonialism. In order to stop imperialism and
neocolonialism, it is essential to end the imposition of conditionalities,
military interventions, coups and blackmail.
39. The collective global response that is needed to
confront the crisis we face requires structural changes. We must change the
system – not the climate or the Earth system. In the hands of capitalism,
everything is converted into merchandise: water, earth genomes, ancestral
cultures, justice, ethics and life. It is essential to develop a pluralistic
system based on the culture of life and harmony among human beings and with
nature; a system that promotes sustainable development in the framework of
solidarity, complementarity, equity, social and economic justice, social
participation, respect for diversity, and peace.
IV. THE GREEN ECONOMY AND ITS DANGEROUS AND FALSE
SOLUTIONS
40. At a global scale, the supposed objective of the
Green Economy of disassociating economic growth from environmental
deterioration is not viable. Those that promote the Green Economy promote a
three-dimensional capitalism that includes physical capital, human capital, and
natural capital (rivers, wetlands, forests, coral reefs, biological diversity
and other elements). For the Green Economy, the food crisis, the climate crisis
and the energy crisis share a common characteristic: the failed allocation of
capital. As a result, they try to treat nature as capital – “natural capital.”
41. The Green Economy considers it essential to put a
price on the free services that plants, animals and ecosystems offer to
humanity in the struggle for the conservation of biodiversity, water
purification, pollination of plants, the protection of coral reefs and
regulation of the climate. For the Green Economy, it is necessary to identify
the specific functions of ecosystems and biodiversity and assign them a
monetary value, evaluate their current status, set a limit after which they
will cease to provide services, and concretize in economic terms the cost of
their conservation in order to develop a market for each particular
environmental service. For the Green Economy, the instruments of the market are
powerful tools for managing the “economic invisibility of nature.”
42. One of the examples most cited by the Green Economy
is the initiative known as REDD (Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and
Forest Degradation), which consists of isolating and measuring the capacity of
the forest to capture and store carbon dioxide in order to issue certificates
for greenhouse gas emissions reductions that can be commercialized and acquired
by companies in developed countries that cannot meet their mitigation
commitments. In this way, the developing countries will end up financing the
developed countries.
43. It is wrong to attempt to fragment nature into “environmental
services” with a monetary value for market exchange. We should not put a price
on the capacity of forests to act as carbon sinks, nor promote their
commercialization as does REDD. The market for carbon credits based on forests
will lead to: a) noncompliance with effective emission reduction commitments by
developed countries; b) the bulk of resources being appropriated by
intermediaries and financial entities and rarely benefitting countries,
indigenous peoples and forests themselves; c) the generation of speculative
bubbles based on the sale and purchase of said certificates; and d) the
establishment of new property rights over the capacity of forests to capture
carbon dioxide, which will clash with the sovereign rights of States and the
indigenous peoples that live in forests. The promotion of market mechanisms
based on the economic needs of developing countries is a new form of
neocolonialism.
44. The postulates promoted under the Green Economy are
wrong. The current environmental and climate crisis is not a simple market
failure. The solution is not to put a price on nature. Nature is not a form of
capital. It is wrong to say that we only value that which has a price, an
owner, and brings profits. The market mechanisms that permit exchange among
human beings and nations have proven incapable of contributing to an equitable
distribution of wealth. The Green Economy should not distort the fundamental
principles of sustainable development.
45. Not all that glitters is gold. Not all that is
labeled “green” is environmentally friendly. We must use the precautionary
principle and deeply analyze the different “green” alternatives that are
presented before proceeding with their experimentation and implementation.
46. Nature cannot be subject to manipulation by new
technologies without consequences in the future. History shows us that many
dangerous technologies have been released in the market before their
environmental or health impacts are known, or before their social and economic
impacts on poor people and developing countries are understood. This is
currently the case with genetically modified organisms, agrochemicals,
biofuels, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology. These technologies should be
avoided.
47. Geoengineering and all forms of artificial
manipulation of the climate should be prohibited, for they bring the enormous
risk of further destabilizing the climate, biodiversity and nature.
48. It is necessary to create public and multilateral
mechanisms within the United Nations to evaluate in an independent manner and
without conflict of interest the potential environmental, health, social, and
economic impacts of new technologies before they are spread. This mechanism
must involve transparency and social participation by potentially affected
groups.
49. “Green” capitalism will bring about natural resource
grabbing, displacing humanity and nature from the essential elements needed for
their survival. The drive for profit, instead of reestablishing harmony within
the system, will provoke even greater imbalances, concentrations of wealth, and
speculative processes.
V. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTINABLE DEVELOPMENT
50. The institutional architecture of the United Nations
for sustainable development should establish a structure to promote balanced
and equal treatment of the three pillars: the economic, social, and
environmental. This institutional architecture should articulate and coordinate
the different authorities involved in order to avoid overlapping efforts and
achieve effective coordination.
51. The Economic Pillar should determine the sustainable
development agendas of economic and commercial organizations such as the WTO,
the World Bank and IMF. Without an effective integration among these entities,
the institutional framework will be unable to define the economic policies
necessary to achieve sustainable development while respecting national
priorities and national independence and with transparent and socially
acceptable management.
52. The Social Pillar should coordinate entities such as
ILO, WHO, UNESCO, UN-Women, the Indigenous Permanent Forum and others in order
to improve their actions and impacts in the struggle for the eradication of
poverty.
53. The Environmental Pillar should stem from a better
coordination and implementation of the different Conventions (UNFCCC, UNCCD,
CBD) and the incorporation of all environmental issues including water.
54. The coordination of these three pillars should be
under the auspices of a Council for Sustainable Development that is created on
the basis of what is now the Commission on Sustainable Development. It should
be at the level of a Council that would function as a subsidiary body of the General
Assembly, guaranteeing a fundamental role for States, coordinating with the
Economic and Social Council, and with regular functioning to follow up on and
implement the goals and mechanisms agreed and resolutions adopted.
55. Developing countries should have a majority
representation in said Council, and its functioning should be democratic and
transparent.
56. The Council for Sustainable Development should include
mechanisms for the participation of civil society and non-governmental
organizations especially organizations representing workers, indigenous
peoples, farmers, small agricultural producers and fishermen, women, youth and
consumers. The private sector cannot have the same amount of influence as the
social sectors, given that, by definition, its goal is to create profit rather
than social wellbeing. The linking of the Sustainable Development Council with
the different social actors should occur through a Consultative Group.
