Colombia: sustainable planning that includes indigenous partners -- by Carwil Bjork-James

The Brooklyn-based author describes himself as an "anthropologist, revolutionary, adjunct [professor], tutor, translator". This article is from his 23 Mar 2013 blog Carwil without borders.

In March 2013, a group of scientists and development experts and the Colombian indigenous confederation each urged a fundamental rethinking of the priorities for planning “development”* in the twenty-first century. The technical experts published their perspective in a commentary in the prestigious journal Nature, “Sustainable development goals for people and planet,” while the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia published a report called Another Vision, Indigenous Peoples and the Millennium Development Goals. (coverage from Intercontinental Cry). Both texts are intervening in the global discussion on the next version of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Outside of the United States (where this kind of international planning is treated as purely a foreign policy matter that won’t affect our future), the MDGs are taken as a general yardstick for directing aid and setting policy objectives, with goals like achieving universal access to primary school and eliminating extreme poverty that may change hundreds of millions of lives. Since I write from the USA, however, let’s pretend that this is just an intellectual discussion for how to think about the world. Even from that perspective, the scientists and the indigenous people raise some really important questions.

Since at least the 1990 Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the conversation about the relation between human economic development and the planet on which it happens has centered around the phrase “sustainable development.” To begin with, the idea of development is a way of shoehorning two very different goals into one word: for the poorest and those concerned with them, “development” is having the basics: food, water, education, housing, health care; while for the richest use the same word for building the enterprises, real estate deals, and financial arrangements that make them richer.

After a generation of conversations about whether the economic and demographic growth of humanity could be sustained by our finite planet, “sustainable development” was a catchphrase designed to underlie a conversation that talked about environmental and economic issues. Like the word development itself, there was always a bit of magic to the wording. Environmentalists could feel like they were demanding that development be limited to that small subset of economic systems that were actually compatible with the limited resources of the planet (these were the “sustainable” forms of development). Champions of economic growth could seek out policies that would make growth continue forever (development that would be sustained). Big contradictions were swept under the rug.

The triple bottom line (CC-BY-SA by Triplebotline)

In the 1990s, the companion idea to sustainable development was the parallel existence of the economic, the social, and the environmental. UN conferences don’t really plan the direction of the planet, since nearly all of our effects on the environmental are organized as economic activities: decisions about them are made as economic and resource policies, the actions of corporations and the loans of private and public financial institutions. With this in mind, environmentalists tried to pressure and cajole economic institutions into taking the Earth into account. Literally. The metaphor that was created was the so-called “triple bottom line.” This was basically a request for businesses to put their environmental impact alongside their profit and loss statements. And the idea was that the effect on business owners, society, and the planet, were all similar measures of how right or wrong a particular course of action was. When I had the occasion, in my brief environmental advocacy career, to attend socially responsible investment conferences, the triple bottom line was just a big a buzzphrase as sustainable development was at the United Nations. The fact that any business was just a subset of society, and so didn’t necessarily need a separate account, didn’t really bother anyone. (After all, this was basically a tool for appealing to powerful interests to consider the Earth and humanity, too, alongside their own self interest. It was always intellectually and morally dishonest.) Inside the UN process, this idea was replicated as a “three pillars” (people, planet, profit) model of development.
This week’s intervention from scientists recognizes the growing blowback from damage to the environment upon the possibilities of social advancement and economic growth. The Nature article starts from evidence that “humans are transforming the planet in ways that could undermine development gains.” In response, it urges a rethinking of the triple bottom line:

First … we need to reframe the UN paradigm of three pillars of sustainable development — economic, social and environmental — and instead view it as a nested concept. The global economy services soci ety, which lies within Earth’s life-support system.
sustainable development … should therefore be redefined to “development that meets the needs of the present while safeguarding Earth’s life-support system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depends”

In short, Earth is finally recognized as the outside, without which there can be no social or economic development.

Sustainable Development Goals chart, from Griggs et al. article in Nature.

Colombia’s indigenous confederation takes up the conversation in a different place, grounded on defense of their communities, who have long recognized the Earth as the foundation for their ways of living. Indigenous peoples have most often experienced development as an economic process built on colonizing their territories and extracting their resources for use elsewhere. In the global South, the sale of these raw materials has been the income source for “social development” elsewhere, while many indigenous communities get a shrinking or degraded landbase. The Cauca Regional Indigenous Council (CRIC) had previously laid a critique (es) of the Millennium Development goals, which exclude any specific consideration of indigenous people and focus on the individual distribution of a small proportion of global wealth, rather than on rethinking the economic model.
Now, three Colombian indigenous organizations are offering their own additions to the Millennium Development Goals, five new goals to be achieved in a decentralized way:

1) the protection of indigenous territory;
2) indigenous self-government;
3) the self-development of indigenous communities on the basis of equilibrium and harmony;
4) free, prior and informed consent as a condition for developments on indigenous land;
5) the ‘institutional redesign’ of the state in its relations with indigenous peoples.

Their intervention proposes making these goals as quantifiable and verifiable as the MDGs:

The third goal, of achieving self-development on the basis of equilibrium and harmony, for example, covers subcategories such as indigenous women’s rights, education, indigenous and intercultural health services, and harmony between mankind and nature. The education sub-theme includes the specific indicator of the number of teachers in a given territory who are teaching through indigenous languages. The harmony with nature sub-theme includes the indicator of the number of hectares of indigenous land replanted with native species.

Technocratic objectives are what set apart the MDGs from previous rounds of international targets. However, finding quantitative MDG goals that apply to every situation gave room for only certain very common problems—lack of sanitation, poverty defined by a dollar threshold, maternal mortality—to be addressed. This indigenous initiative is attempting to put locally defined rights, and the relationship with the environment back onto that agenda. The 200-page document is just one example of how indigenous peoples have inserted themselves into global conversations on humanity’s long-term future. By engaging with the global planning around the MDGs, they are raising that voice again.

It remains to be seen whether the power balance among profit, planet, and people can be made to reflect the intellectual reality that people depend on the planet, or to reflect the possibility that the economy could serve the vast majority of people rather than the other way around. A real shift requires changing the conversation, but also pressure to change that balance of power.

* Development is a rightly contentious term, but since the major challenges to it are all incorporated in these two critiques, I’ll just use scare quotes this once. If you’re wondering what is meant by this contentious term in the first place, consider these descriptions of economic development and the right to development.

The illusion of a "Green Economy" -- Leonardo Boff

Reprinted from the Rio+20 People's Portal (which is worth checking regularly) Boff's critique of the UN Green Economy proposal to sell the world's commons to raise money for climate action and MDGs (because rich countries have for decades denied direct aid), comes from Brazil's leading liberation theologian. Similar protests from poor countries and ecojustice NGOs will be heard at next week's World Social Forum Thematic Social Forum preparing for Rio+20, in Porto Alegre, Brazil and the New York City Global Civil Society Workshop on the Rio+20 “Zero Draft” and Rights for Sustainability. Meanwhile, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at Davos, and UNCSD in its pre-Rio meetings, have aligned themselves with the Business Action for Sustainable Development corporate lobby for public-private partnerships, carbon finance and corporate offsets.

Boff, The Tao of Liberati

Everything we do to protect our living planet, Earth, against forces that upset her equilibrium and therefore cause global warming, is valid and must be supported. But the very expression "global warming" masks phenomena such as the extended droughts that decimate the grain harvests, the great floods and hurricanes, water shortages, soil erosion, hunger, impoverishment of 15 of the 24 services numbered in the Evaluation of Ecosystems of the Earth (UNO) and which are responsible for the sustainability of the planet (water, energy, soil, seeds, fibers, etc..) The central question is not even that of saving the Earth. The Earth takes care of herself and, if necessary, she will do so by expelling us from her womb. But how are we to save ourselves and our civilization? That is the real question, to which the majority responds by shrugging their shoulders.

Lower carbon emissions, organic products, solar and wind power, reducing our intervention in nature’s rhythms, seeking to replace the resources used, recycling, everything that falls under the rubric of green economy is sought after and disseminated. And this mode of production should prevail. 

Even so, we must not be deluded and lose our critical awareness. Green economy is discussed to avoid the issue of sustainability, because it is contrary to the present mode of production and consumption. But deep down, the green economy utilizes measures within the paradigm of dominating nature. The green and the not-green do not exist. There are elements that are toxic to the health of the Earth and society in various phases of the production of all products. Through the Analysis of the Cycle of Life we can demonstrate and monitor the complex interrelations between the different phases: extraction, transportation, production, use and discharge of each product, and its environmental impact. It is clear that the so-called green is not as green as it sounds. The green only represents a phase of processing. Production is never eco-friendly.

Take as an example ethanol, considered to be clean energy, and an alternative to fossil fuels and dirty energy from oil. Ethanol is clean only at the mouth of the fuel pump. All the processes of its production are highly polluting: the chemical products applied to the soil, the burnings, the transportation in big trucks that release gasses, the affluent liquids and the chaff. The pesticides kill bacteria and expel the earthworms that are fundamental to the regeneration of the soil; they only return after five years.

To ensure production of the goods necessary for life, in a way which neither stresses nor degrades nature, something more than the search for the green is required. The crisis is conceptual, not economic. Our relationship with the Earth has to change. We are part of Gaia, and through our careful actions we can help her become more conscious, and create a greater opportunity for assuring her vitality.

The Earth Charter

I see no path to saving ourselves other than that defined by the Earth Charter [final section]: "Our common destiny calls us to search for a new beginning; this requires a change in the mind and in the heart; it demands a new awareness of global interdependency and of universal responsibility".

Change of mind: adopt a new concept of the Earth as Gaia. She does not belong to us, but to the [web] of eco-systems that serve the totality of life, regulating her biophysical base and the climates. She created the entire community of life, not just us. We are her conscious and responsible segment. The hardest work is done by our invisible partners, a true natural proletariat, the microorganisms, the bacteria and the fungi, of which there are thousands of millions in each tablespoon of Earth. They have effectively sustained life for 3.8 thousand million years already. Our relationship with the Earth should be like our relationship with our mothers: one of respect and gratitude. We should gratefully restore that which she gives us, and maintain her vital capacity.

-- Leonardo Boff

See also the post-Durban Proposal of Bolivia to Rio+20 on the PWCCC website, Federico Fuentes' Bolivia Rising, and the Andean Buen Vivir and Minga movements; Asian reactions in Preliminary comments by Third World Network on the Zero Draft of Rio+20 and subsequent updates on TWN.org.sg

Interfaith summit for Climate Justice

Interfaith leaders from all over the world met in Winnipeg 20-23 June, calling on their members, the public, and G8 governments to support MDGs and climate justice for the most vulnerable people of the world, and for Earth itself.

A Time for Inspired Leadership and Action

The second decade of the 21st century is upon us and 2010 will be an important year for our collective humanity. It is a year when decisions and actions on climate change and peace and security issues will be critical. In June, Canada hosts an expanded global summit in Huntsville, Ontario, where world leaders will have a unique opportunity to provide the political leadership required to address the challenges before us. As well, we will have reached the two‐thirds point for the deadline to fulfill the Millennium Development Goals – eight goals that, if achieved, would bring hope to millions and be a major step toward a more sustainable global future.(1)

Through the 2010 Interfaith Partnership(2) people in faith communities across Canada and around the world are calling for inspired leadership and action at this critical moment in history. In our diverse faith traditions we have rich histories of addressing poverty, caring for the earth and being peace‐builders. While we confess our own shortcomings and inadequacies, we commit to continuing these life‐giving actions. We urge our government representatives to set aside short‐term agendas and work together for a future that allows all citizens of this planet to thrive.

Power and economic dominance are the basis for inclusion in a G8 and G20 global leaders’ summit.(3) In our faith traditions, power and money are instruments to be used for the good of all. At the summits in 2010, we expect leaders to put first the needs and values of the majority of the world’s population, of future generations and of Earth itself. From our shared values we call on leaders to take courageous and concrete actions:

• to address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable while simultaneously making structural changes to close the growing gap between rich and poor;
• to prioritize long‐term environmental sustainability and halt climate change, while addressing its impacts on the poor;
• to invest in peace and remove factors that feed cycles of violent conflict and costly militarism.
  

1. The eight Millennium Development Goals were agreed to by 192 UN member states, to be achieved by 2015. The goals respond to the world's main development challenges.
2. The 2010 Interfaith Partnership is a multi‐faith, Canadian and global movement for action on pressing issues of our day. It involves faith communities around the world, dialogue with decision‐makers and a gathering of faith leaders prior to the June 2010 Huntsville Summit. It is the sixth such gathering held in conjunction with G8 summits.
3. Not represented in these summits are 172 members of the United Nations where proposals to address structural causes of poverty and ecological devastation are currently under discussion.

Responses to this statement have come from First Nations, various Christian denominations, Jews, Bah'ai, Buddhists and a number of civil society organizations including Kairos. They are worth reading. A resource kit may be downloaded; it includes multifaith texts, suggestions for interfaith dinner and dialogue. Materials in other languages.

G8 / G20 weak climate commitments get weaker -- by Geordie Gwalgen Dent

This is part 3 of a week-long series by Geordie Gwalgen Dent on the Toronto Media Co-op website. See parts one (world health), two (economic "reform"), and four (native issues), and its protest coverage.


With environment being a key focus for for global foreign policy and with Copenhagen plans in limbo, the Canadian government's decision to take climate change off the G8 agenda in May drew fire from environmental groups, the UN and other G8/20 countries.

The decision, highlighted by Stephen Harper's May declaration that all other issues besides the economy were 'sideshows', was also underscored by Canada's decision not to hold a a G8 environmental ministers meeting before the summit, the first time the meeting hasn't been held since 1994.

Last week, the Canadian government decided to put climate change back on the agenda of both summits. Such an idea has been pushed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon since last year. Ki-moon has not been invited to attend the summit.

While the Canadian government has backpedaled on climate being on the agenda, it is unclear whether being on the agenda will lead to any tangible results.

Proof is in the Pudding

Several climate plans have been released at previous G8 summits including plans on carbon emissions and biodiversity with targets coming up in 2010. Previous comments in 2010 have suggested the G8 will also discuss phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, while preparing for a UN climate summit in Mexico this year to solidify the results of the disastrous Copenhagen summit.

Scott Harris, an organizer with the Council of Canadians, isn't buying it. "Some of the issues they are tackling are positive [but] if you look at the history of promises coming out of the G7/8, they are very bad at keeping them." Harris points out that the 2005 pledge by the G8 to double aid to Africa by 2010 is currently $20 billion short of the goal. Meanwhile, last years commitment to a $20 billion food security program by 2010 has only generated $800 million. "I’m not sure of the number but roughly 50 commitments are due for 2010. [The G8] makes roughly 200 commitments a year going back to 1997. The G8/20 make a lot of big promises, but the proof is in the pudding and they do not come through on promises in any way," he said.

"In Pittsburgh they said that they were going to seriously phase out fossil fuel subsidies but we’ve only seen increases," says Kimia Ghomeshi, a G20 / Climate Organizer with the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. She points out that though commitments were made at Kyoto in the late 90’s, emissions have continued to rise.

Sakura Saunders, editor of protestbarrick.net, isn't even sure how some commitments would be implemented. "I think ending fuel subsidies is great, but it's going to have negative consequences. People are dependent are these things and I'm concerned it would be implemented badly. For example, Venezuela has the worlds largest fuel subsidies," she said. "Would [the G8/20] be trying to end the subsidies on a global scale? Or just G20 countries?"

Commitments aside, unlike the detailed plans released for economic or health plans, Harper has only said that "some issues surrounding climate change" will be discussed "on the margins".

Other Forums For Talks

Ghomeshi says she is "not surprised" by G8's failures on climate change. "I don’t think [the G8/20] are accountable or competent. They do not have administrative structure. The Harper government has no interest in climate change. We’re not a leader in climate change [policy] and we’re the worst performing G8 country [in carbon emissions]. What they want to do is continue business as usual."

Besides subsidies and emissions, Ghomeshi and Saunders say other issues like local, renewable, community energy infrastructure, climate reparations, and international environmental law should be on the table in talks on the environment. "The G20 owes $141 billion a year for climate debt to the Global South as well as indigenous communities," says Ghomeshi.

Where do they see these issues being addressed?

For Harris, the choice is obvious: "The G20 has been presented as more legitimate than the G8 because it represents 2/3rds of the population and 85% of global economic output. But we don’t think they are; they exclude 172 countries and 1/3rd of the world's population. We believe these issues should be dealt with at the UN."

Ghomeshi believes the Cochabamba Summit held in Bolivia this year is a far better model. "I had the opportunity to go to Cochabamba in April and that was really inspiring and monumental for me. After going to two UN conferences what I saw was impacted communities taking the lead on issues that impact them the most. A people’s declaration was submitted to the UN," she said.

Toronto Days of Action Continue

In Toronto, two events yesterday targeting the G8/20 focused primarily on climate issues.

The 'Toxic Tour' [see video above] saw 300-400 people visiting key players in Canada's mining industries in Toronto's downtown. Canada is home to 75% of the worlds mining companies including the notorious tar sands. Mining companies Barrick Gold and Gold Corp were targeted as well as Royal Bank of Canada (a major tar sands investor), Enbridge (an oil and gas distributer) and many others.

Later in the evening on 23 June, there was a People's Assembly on climate justice. Brett Rhyno, an Organizer with the Toronto Climate Campaign for "Kyotoplus", says that the meeting, inspired by the Cochabamba Summit, discussed the need for
* a moratorium on the tar sands
* changing energy usage
* changing consumption
* indigenous sovereignty.

For Ghomeshi, the Toronto assembly is a local way to address climate issues democratically. "People get to talk about their communities and provide good work and address those inequalities," she said.

*****

See also analysis of the rich nations' Copenhagen Accord tactics, reports on the Cochabamba climate justice movement, and the desperate call by the UN for support of Millenium Development Goals.

Invest in women - GCAP

The interviews below by Sabina Zaccaro appeared in IPS news 8 July 09.

"If we invest in women, many problems will be solved. We know that from microfinance and from many other examples," says Sylvia Borren of the GCAP gender task force. "With food prices doubling they had to choose which child to feed..." Stories collected by women's organizations* show that if you invest in women and the family, economies become sustainable.

2.8 million more children could die by 2015 because of the the triple aid, economic and food crises. The problem is funding. The World Bank estimates $60 billion are needed to fight infectious diseases and strengthen health systems in the developing world. G8 leaders agreed in 2008 but allocated no funds.

"Investing in women's health as part of aid policies has to be considered a priority, as it will give to the poorer countries a better chance to solve the crisis in a prospect of development," 56 women parliamentarians from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas begged the G8 2009 summit. Sexual and reproductive diseases cause huge economic losses in developing economies, reducing women's productivity by 20-25 percent. The problem, said Cristiana Scoppa of Women in Development (Italy), is even worse in Africa where companies are asking "the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and trade unions to find solutions".

"Where adaptation to climate change is already a reality, women are not acting as passive victims," said Beatrice Costa of ActionAid. "Women farmers [in the Ganges basin] are now starting to replace rice with bananas, because these are more resistant to floods or drought." They know they must "diversify and adapt" but they need specific programmes and dedicated funds. (photo courtesy of IAAHP)

"Of course it's about money, and the money is there," said Sylvia Borren. "Not even a third of the 30 billion dollars requested at the UN high level meeting on the food crisis one year ago has been forthcoming, when $20 trillion dollars have gone to the corporate bailout and the banks. G8 leaders have made the wrong choices. "They have chosen to desperately bail out an economic system that we all agree is broken, they are not listening to the Stiglitz Commission (of experts of the UN General Assembly on reform of the international monetary and financial system), which has provided us with 400 pages of good solutions...they are not listening to the trade unions, the ILO, the civil society."

In March 2009 the Stiglitz commission called for a new reserve currency and a UN global economic council to replace the outmoded Bretton Woods system -- the dollar-based IMF and World Bank, which are controlled by the rich nations and serve their aims, to the detriment of the poor, creating a permanent cycle of debt and underdevelopment, often called the new colonialism.

*See women's stories from South Africa by Agenda, from Indonesia by John Pilger in The New Rulers of the World (2002, part 1 & part 2); from Uganda, A survivor's guide: Annabella's story (2006) a teenager surviving HIV/AIDS; video Against All Odds: Women Partnering for Change in a Time of Crisis (2007); Radio Feminista podcasts of US women activists at USSF 2007 y en español; indigenous mothers of Huelga Mundial in Bolivia.

The need for ecojustice: Wall Street, the City, Zurich take food out of the mouths of babes

MDG 2005 in Grid-Arendal. The 2009 report turns many more squares red. Click to see details.
Gains since the 1990s have been wiped out in one year, says the recent UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2009. Careful reading (summary below) suggests the need for a world social movement combining faith and aid groups, human rights, and environmental NGOs. Join the Quaker discussion on QEWnet.ning.com.

The following analysis cites the UN statistics, but goes beyond its polite phraseology.

• Hunger which had dropped by 16% since 1990, reversed course during the 2008 food crisis -- largely due to commodities speculation and the ethanol craze. East Asia was particularly hard hit. This means 20 years' of gains under the Washington consensus "globalization" were lost in one year to the vampires of Wall Street, the City and Zurich.

• Longterm trends to hunger [not in the MDG report]: Scientific data show other tipping points have been passed: peak fish in the 1990s, peak fertility for food crops a few years ago, peak water in the next decade, peak oil which raises cost of fuel and fertilizer

• In 2009 global unemployment will reach 6.1-7 % for men and 6.5-7.4% for women, reversing slow gains in gender equality. (See summary of 2007 ILO report)

• The fight against poverty has stalled. In 2009, an estimated 55 million to 90 million more people will be living in extreme poverty.

• Child nutrition will fail to meet the 2015 MDG target. Even before the food crisis, more than 1/4 of children in poor countries were underweight for their age.

• Rich countries have cut aid for family planning since the mid-1990s, on a per woman basis, despite the undeniable contribution of such programmes to maternal and child health. (See also ECOSOC and WHO criticism.)

• Poor countries are unable to finance their own programmes. The debt service to export ratio has suddenly increased, as exports have fallen. But the World Bank will insist on its pound of flesh. Despite promises, its SAP policies (renamed PRSP) have changed little but the name.

• Rich countries have broken their aid promises in NEPAD 2001 and Gleneagles 2005. Even if the promises were kept, actual aid (because it is calculated as a percentage of national income) would fall as a result of the financial meltdown. Remember the bailout bonuses and golden parachutes! Taking food out of babies' mouths.

Before the 2008 food and finance crisis

• the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day had decreased from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion.

• Primary education had reached 88%

• Child deaths under age 5 decreased; even in sub-Saharan Africa, malaria nets and measles immunization had made dramatic progress.

• The rate of infection by HIV (and of AIDS deaths) had peaked and declined. However, the provision of retroviral drugs to poor countries is once again in doubt due to Big Pharma lobbying and fewer donations.

In his introduction to the MDG report, UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki-moon puts the best face on it: if we act,there is hope. "We cannot allow an unfavourable economic climate to prevent us from realizing the commitments made in 2000. The global community cannot turn its back on the poor and the vulnerable. Now is the time to accelerate progress towards the MDGs. The goals are within reach, even in the very poor countries, with strong political commitment and sufficient and sustained funding."

Those who have been following the climate negotiations will recognize a familiar pattern. When corporations make money, the rich nations are generous -- at least in promises. Otherwise, nothing.

Could a new church-led Jubilee movement, this time in combination with climate NGOs, put enough pressure on our governments to change this? There has been talk of repaying ecological debt.

On June 24 Ban Ki-moon begged the G8 meeting (which turned deaf ears to him and to the Pope)

1. to remedy its $20 million annual shortfall in promised aid to Africa,
2. to make "ambitious and firm commitments" to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent to 40 percent, the levels the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says are required on the part of industrialized countries to ward off the worst effects of global warming" and
3. to "commit to a specific timetable and modalities to deliver the billions of dollars needed during the next few years to assist the poorest and most vulnerable to adapt to climate change."

Peace concerns also coincide with eco-justice. The theme of the UN's 9-11 September 2009 DPI/NGO Conference in Mexico City is "For Peace and Development: Disarm Now!”. Launching this campaign, Ban Ki-moon said, "We must disarm to save lives. We must disarm so that we can redirect precious resources to health, education and development."

Further references (an incomplete list)
For more details and campaigns:
Jubilee Research UK
Third World Network Singapore
Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP): coalition of over 100 NGOs incl One.org (USA), Make Poverty History (UK, Canada), Global Poverty Project (Australia). Their demands: trade justice, drop the debt, more and better aid
Kairoscanada info in English and French

Youth actions
The Trade to Climate Caravan in Europe Nov-Dec 2009: details in QEWnet Forum - Drewery
Quaker Right Sharing of World Resources USA
The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) New York
UNICEF Voices of Youth
Oxfam International Youth Partnerships
CARE youth corps

Graphs, statistics, research
UNEP /GRID Arendal graphs, newsletter Environment and Poverty Times
IFPRI Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture (Sep 2009)
John Breen's Poverty.com and FreeRice
Anup Shah's Global Issues raises questions about poverty, inequality, environment, militarism
Poverty mapping for researchers - includes environmental factors
Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) research
World Bank PovertyNet tends to be technical and self-congratulatory; its research section is better.

Health impacts of climate change - ECOSOC

The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), meeting 6-9 July 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland, has officially declared that climate change will create severe health risks. Therefore even greater commitment of funds will be required for Millenium Development Goals.

“Climate change is a gradual and now inevitable event", but the effects of more frequent and more extreme weather events will be abrupt and acutely felt” said World Health Organization Director-General Margaret Chan in a keynote speech (our emphasis). “The need for humanitarian assistance, for victims of floods, droughts, storms, and famine will grow at a time when all countries are stressed, to one degree or another, by climate change... crop yields in some parts of Africa are expected to drop by 50% in the coming decade. "Among Africa’s poor, 90% depend on agriculture for their livelihoods...There is no surplus. There is no coping capacity. There is no cushion to absorb the shocks.” She reminded governments, “A focus on health as a worthy pursuit for its own sake is the surest route to that moral dimension that is so sadly lacking in international systems of governance.” ....................mothers in Benin: photo courtesy of UNICEF

Japan's delegate called the Ministerial Declaration's omission of all references to human security "extremely regrettable". Others called for greatly increased funding for family planning and maternal health. Family planning in international population assistance had "come down from 55 per cent in 1995 to less than 5 per cent today", thus slowing progress toward the MDGs, said Harry Jooseery of PPD. "Women form the majority of the poorest and the most vulnerable segments of societies."

See the official UN press release and draft Declaration; Wikipedia on human security (economic, health, food, environment, communal and human rights) and Millenium Development Goals; UNICEF report on progress toward MDGs; Global Poverty Project founded 2008.

La décroissance conviviale - MQDC

George Heriot, danse ronde des canadiens (gravure de 1807): BAC
Texte tiré du manifeste du Mouvement québécois pour un Décroissance conviviale. Voir ses principes de base, et d'autres références en bas. En bajo del texto, referencias en español.

*****

Quatre crises intimement liées

Crise écologique, d’abord. Inutile de rappeler que depuis l’industrialisation, les êtres humains ont fait disparaître des milliers d’espèces, pollué l’air, l’eau et le sol, décimé des forêts, produit assez de gaz à effet de serre pour modifier le climat, faire fondre les glaciers et élever le niveau des mers, le tout avec des conséquences incontrôlables. La population mondiale consomme comme si nous avions une planète et demie. Si les six milliards d’habitants de la planète pouvaient se permettre le mode de vie que les pays industrialisés font miroiter à travers le monde, c’est de six planètes dont nous aurions besoin.

Crise sociale, encore. Malgré toutes les promesses de l’idéologie de croissance, la sous-alimentation et l’insécurité alimentaire compromettent la santé de millions de personnes, dans le tiers-monde et dans les pays industrialisés, incluant le Québec. Au même moment, les maladies liées à l’american way of life et à sa pollution font leurs ravages : asthme, cancer, allergies, obésité, maladies cardio-vasculaires, problèmes de santé mentale, etc. Des milliers de personnes vivent des épisodes d’épuisement professionnel pour avoir trop travaillé tandis que des milliers d'autres personnes sont exclues du marché du travail et soumises à l’opprobre.

Crise du sens, toujours. Le stress et le sentiment de vide provoquent dépressions et suicides. Entraînés dans le tourbillon du productivisme et du consumérisme, nous n’avons pas le temps de réaliser que notre liberté se limite à celle de choisir parmi des produits et à s'identifier à des marques de commerce. Le sens véritable de la vie, qui est quête en soi, est évacué du programme. Continuellement occupés, agités, divertis, nous n'avons plus la possibilité de réfléchir alors même que nous consommons biens, services, ainsi que nos relations. Les liens humains prennent place dans un système où le réflexe cultivé est de chercher notre plus grand profit, au détriment de toute solidarité. Branchés sur des médias de masse qui procurent une illusion de présence, nous constatons avec impuissance notre difficulté d’être, tout simplement, avec nos semblables.

Crise politique, enfin. Les citoyens désabusés ne font pas confiance aux politiciens. Rien de surprenant, quand les multinationales imposent leurs règles avec la complicité des gouvernements en place. De grandes institutions non élues, telles l’Organisation mondiale du commerce, la Banque mondiale et le Fonds monétaire international, prennent des décisions qui affectent la vie de peuples entiers n’ayant pas leur mot à dire. Les contestations sont réprimées par la force policière, quand ce n’est législative et judiciaire. Mais qu’est-ce donc qui légitime le fait que les intérêts financiers des entreprises pèsent plus lourd que les droits des peuples?

Nous, «objecteurs de croissance», déplorons les ravages provoqués par l'idéologie de la croissance et toutes les conditions qui la déterminent.

Culs-de-sac
… L’expression développement durable, issue du rapport de la commission Brundtland en 1987, présuppose la possibilité du respect de l’environnement dans un contexte de croissance économique et propose de répondre aux besoins du présent sans compromettre la capacité des générations futures à répondre aux leurs. En faisant de la croissance une nécessité, le développement durable abandonne toute tentative sérieuse d’éliminer les activités économiques nuisibles. ... La satisfaction de nos « besoins » de mobilité, de confort et de télécommunications prépare aux générations futures un legs de pollution, de catastrophes climatiques et de déchets, entre autres.

... Le mouvement de la consommation responsable réussit lui aussi à convaincre une partie de la population de consommer des produits équitables, locaux, sans pesticides, biologiques, éco-énergétiques... Mais la possibilité de faire des « achats éthiques » évite de poser la question de la nécessaire réduction de la consommation (seul moyen direct de réduire la pollution, les émissions de gaz à effets de serre, la production de déchets). De la même manière, un effet rebond a été constaté avec les technologies éco-énergétiques...

L’idéologie du progrès … conçoit que l’Homme, maître de la nature, avance inéluctablement dans l’amélioration du monde. (Mais) la frénésie de l’innovation raccourcit le cycle de vie des objets, dont l’obsolescence est planifiée... Rapidement, les objets se retrouvent dans les dépotoirs, après avoir participé à l’exploitation des personnes qui les fabriquent, au gaspillage des ressources, à la consommation d’énergie et à la production de pollution. Ces phénomènes se trouvent légitimés par l’impératif de la croissance, même si l’exploitation des ressources naturelles engendre des conflits meurtriers et que la gestion des déchets coûte des sommes astronomiques. Cette idéologie, en posant comme légitime, sensée et nécessaire l’accumulation de richesses, justifie tous les moyens de faire de l’argent et de croître : marchandisation de l’eau, exploitation des enfants, guerres pour le pétrole - et marketing artificieux.

(Quant à l'auto, l'avion, l'ordinateur et d'autres «outils» censés nous libérer) ... nous devenons complètement dépendants de la technologie, incapables de fonctionner sans elle, incapables pour la plupart de comprendre comment elle fonctionne et de la réparer quand ses appareils se brisent. Les innovations technologiques exigent de grands investissements financiers, pour la recherche, le développement et la production. Leur confier la sauvegarde de l’environnement signifie au bout du compte l’abandon entre les mains des détenteurs de capitaux et des grandes compagnies de la possibilité des populations de prendre en main les défis de la vie commune ... La technologie métamorphose notre vision du monde et nos principes mêmes.

... la décroissance n’est pas le désir d’un impossible retour au passé. Elle se veut un choix lucide des inventions. La décroissance, c’est cesser de croire que ce qui est nouveau est meilleur... Nous accueillerons les inventions, les techniques qui aideront l’humanité à vivre plus simplement.

Sortir de la croissance
L’idéologie dominante pose la croissance économique comme souhaitable, nécessaire et inévitable. Une loi de la nature, dit-on. Évidemment, tout organisme vivant croît, mais cette croissance se stabilise rapidement. La croissance à l’infini est une construction mentale humaine, pas une fatalité économique.

La pensée dominante invoque de même la nature humaine pour justifier l’«inévitable» recherche du profit à court terme. Notre espèce survit pourtant depuis des millénaires grâce à l’entraide et à la coopération... l’intelligence, la créativité et la bonne volonté ....

...la croissance économique repose sur une consommation importante d’énergie fossile, dont la diminution des capacités de production est annoncée pour les prochaines décennies, et qu’il ne sera pas possible de remplacer si aisément, des perturbations importantes du système actuel sont à prévoir. De là l’urgence de repenser les choses au-delà de l’idéologie de la croissance.
Si on prétend que l’industrialisation a permis de produire des objets à moindre coût, c’est qu’on ne comptabilise pas la pollution de l’air, de l’eau et du sol, la maladie physique et mentale des employés de l’industrie, l’exil rural et la gestion des déchets … vu l’impossibilité écologique pure et simple de voir se perpétuer la croissance à l’infini, les «objecteurs de croissance» proposent une tentative de sortie du paradigme de la croissance. Il s’agit de préparer, et ce dans un souci de justice sociale, les sociétés aux défis des limites physiques de la biosphère.

Réinventer le vivre ensemble
Le mouvement de la décroissance ne prône pas la récession.… Puisant dans notre expérience de la simplicité volontaire, nous sommes convaincus qu’une société de décroissance...entraînera l’amélioration de la qualité de vie... (les) environnements sains, la participation du plus grand nombre aux décisions, l’entraide et les échanges humains gratuits, la créativité et les occasions d’épanouissement … l’économie consiste(ra) en échanges de biens et de services à petite échelle. Le travail est une occasion de participer à la vie communautaire ... Les entités de production sont de petites tailles et utilisent des machines simples à réparer et économiques d’usage. Par exemple : des métiers à tisser mécaniques actionnés par l’énergie humaine ou animale permettent une production beaucoup plus grande qu’un tissage manuel, sans demander les milliards de capitaux de construction et d’opération d’une manufacture industrielle et sans engendrer de perturbations écologiques. Le temps ne s’achète pas, ce n’est pas de l’argent, c’est un espace où s’épanouir.

Dans une société de décroissance, les talents et les habiletés sont consacrés à fabriquer des objets esthétiques et durables ... dans les communautés locales où chacun fait ses courses à pied, en vélo, en tricycle ou en tramway, en empruntant d’étroites allées bordées de jardins. Pourquoi ne pas importer le modèle des petits villages européens, évitant ainsi de parcourir des milliers de kilomètres outre-atlantiques en touristes pour les visiter? Échangeons simplement nos recettes plutôt que de faire voyager des cargaisons de biscuits outre-mer. La sécurité alimentaire incite à une production de proximité des aliments de base. Le jardinage, même en ville, en est une composante essentielle ...

Les rues et les boulevards urbains sont convertis en pistes cyclables et en trottoirs bordés de parcs. Puisqu’on engloutit moins de ressources dans la réfection des routes et dans la construction des ponts, celles-ci sont disponibles pour l’entretien du transport ferroviaire et l’installation de couloirs à l’abri du vent et de la neige pour le vélo d’hiver, par exemple. Dans une société favorisant ainsi l’activité physique … la médecine occupe une place beaucoup moins importante … (D)ans plusieurs pays du tiers-monde, actuellement affamés par les systèmes de production et de consommation des sociétés dites développées, une (telle) augmentation de leur accès aux biens et services, établissant une plus grande justice planétaire, chose écologiquement impossible si nous maintenons notre niveau de vie.

Cette partie apeurée de nous qui cherche la sécurité dans l’accumulation grincera des dents devant la rareté retrouvée et l’effort à fournir. Mais au-delà de la peur du manque et de l’inconfort, ces nouvelles structures changeront nos rapports aux autres et à la nature. En comblant notre besoin d’appartenance à une communauté et à un lieu, elles favoriseront des existences signifiantes.

La société actuelle est fort complexe et nous apparaît comme immuable … Évidemment, de nombreuses entreprises dont les activités n’ont d’utilité que dans le cadre d’un système de croissance économique (publicité, objets jetables, produits du pétrole, etc.) n’auront tôt ou tard pas le choix de ralentir puis d’arrêter leur production, bouleversant la situation de l’emploi. De là l’importance de s’éduquer et de se réoutiller vers une plus grande autonomie non marchande.

Les fermetures d’usines, événements dévastateurs dans une petite communauté, peuvent être l’occasion d’envisager autrement l’économie d’une région. En règle générale, on est prêt à investir des millions pour conserver les emplois, sans considérer la pertinence de ce qui est produit ni les conséquences de sa production. Pour la plupart des gens, la consommation et le crédit font partie des «acquis» qu’il ne faut pas remettre en cause, d’autant plus que le système économique actuel n’offre pas vraiment d’autre choix. Nous avons espoir qu’une éducation réaliste aux conséquences de notre niveau de vie, jointe à des expériences d’alternatives de subsistance qui permettent une réelle autonomie des communautés, mènera à des choix qui bénéficieront aux populations touchées en leur redonnant du pouvoir sur leur devenir, tout en préservant l’équilibre écologique.

Pour mettre en œuvre une société qui respecte vraiment les êtres et la nature, il est essentiel de réviser nos valeurs et notamment de rejeter l’accumulation et la compétition. Pour maintenir les écosystèmes et la biodiversité, il ne peut y avoir de millionnaires. Concernant la survie de l’espèce humaine, il est essentiel de cultiver le détachement face à l’appât du gain.

Sommes-nous rêveurs? Peut-être devrions-nous poser autrement la question : sommes-nous plus rêveurs que ceux qui pensent améliorer le bien-être général en soutenant une forte croissance économique?

*****

Voir Wikipédia sur les penseurs de la décroissance (ou bioéconomie), de la simplicité volontaire, aussi le bonheur national brut, l'après-développement, l'anti-consommation, ville en transition, altermondialisme. Et la Charte des Verts mondiaux (2001).

En español, ver Wikipedia sobre desarollo sostenible, ODM, decrecimiento, economía del don, anticonsumismo, Carta de los Verdes mundiales, economía ecológica. Red y concepto de Transition Towns.

Emplois verts et New Deal mondial - Achim Steiner du PNUE

photo: Green Jobs Conference.org
Depuis octobre 2008 Achim Steiner du PNUE (Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement) prône un New Deal vert. Il en révèle progressivement les détails, durant les réunions des G20 et G8, étapes essentielles vers le traité de Copenhague prévue pour décembre 2009, qui déterminera le régime post-Kyoto depuis 2012.

Les coûts sont bien moins que les pertes prévues si l'on continue la pollution de l'air, des eaux et de la terre: 1% du produit intérieur brut (PIB) mondial* soit environ 750 milliards de dollars echelonnés sur une décennie, dans cinq secteurs différents: la création de bâtiments efficaces en énergie, l'énergie renouvelable, le transport durable, l'eau douce et l'infrastructure écologique, et l'agriculture durable.

Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, disait au G20 que le sauvetage de l'économie mondiale ne doit pas laisser de côté l'agenda du développement et la nécessité de protéger les plus vulnérables. Cette position est soutenue à la fois par des économistes notables tels Nicholas Stern, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs, et sur le plan moral par plusieurs groupes religieux autour du monde (ex: Uppsala, ARC); le pape Benedict XVI vient de prendre position pour faire pression sur le sommet G8 en juillet 2009. Pour la première fois, Ban Ki-Moon y dénonce vertement la manque de volonté des pays industrialises.

Le rapport du PNUE (PDF en anglais) décrit les multiples bénéfices économiques, environnementaux et sociaux d'un investissement substantiel pris sur le plan de relance de l'économie de 3.000 milliards de dollars. Voici ses cinq volets:

1. Améliorer l'efficacité énergétique des nouveaux comme des anciens bâtiments. La construction est en effet responsable de 30 à 40% des émissions de gaz à effet de serre. 100 milliards investis sur quatre ans dans ce domaine aux Etats-Unis devraient générer deux millions d'emplois, selon le rapport. Dans le monde, cela pourrait créer ou rendre plus verts 110 millions d'emplois.

2. Investir dans l'énergie renouvelable. Il faudra quelque 45 milliards de dollars d'ici à 2025 pour répondre aux besoins énergétiques tout en luttant contre le changement climatique. Si l'on investissait 630 milliards de dollars d'ici à 2030 on créerait 20 millions d'emplois supplémentaires dont deux millions dans l'énergie éolienne, 6,3 millions dans le solaire et 12 millions dans les biocarburants.

3. Le transport durable est une nécessité alors que la flotte mondiale de voitures doit tripler d'ici à 2050, à 90% dans des pays qui ne font pas partie de l'OCDE (Organisation pour la coopération et le développement économique). Le Groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (IPCC) recommande d'améliorer le rendement énergétique de 50%. L'accélération des investissements dans les technologies hybrides pourrait créer 4 millions d'emplois dans le monde et 19 millions dans la vente et la réparation. Mais il faut aussi investir dans le train à grande vitesse. Ainsi un investissement de 10 ans aux Etats-Unis pourrait créer 250.000 emplois.

4. L'infrastructure écologique et hydrologique: investir 15 milliards de dollars pour réaliser un des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le développement (OMD, MDG en anglais), celui de diminuer de moitié le nombre de personnes qui n'ont pas d'accès durable à l'eau potable et à l'assainissement, pourrait générer des bénéfices mondiaux de 38 milliards de dollars dont 15 milliards rien qu'en Afrique sub-saharienne.

5. L'agriculture durable permettra non seulement de réduire la pauvreté mais aussi améliorer la sécurité alimentaire, réduire la pression sur les écosystèmes et le climat. L'agriculture bio est en plein essor et les ventes de produits organiques s'élèvaient à 46 milliards de dollars en 2007.

En mai Steiner s'est dit époustouflé par la politique de stimule des pays riches. Depuis une décennie le PNUE est en attente de $5 milliards pour développer les énergies vertes afin de réduire les impacts environnementaux, maintenant on voit $20 milliards accordés pour sauver un seul fabricant d'autos: Global-Changes.com 7 mai 09. [Le stimule américain à lui seul pourrait se chiffrer dans le $700 milliards.]

-- NB: les cinq points du PNUE ci-dessus sont tirés du communiqué du 19 mars 09 du Centre d'actualités de l'ONU. Pour mises à jour voir de récents rapports en français du PNUE et son site Pour une économie verte. Une critique pertinente du plan Steiner, Les mécanismes internationaux du marché du carbone... vient d'être publiée par le prestigieux Institut international du développement durable. Sa version anglaise est International Carbon Market Mechanisms in a Post-2012 Climate Change Agreement (IISD, May 2009). See also UNEP Green Economy Initiative website and recent reports.

--

*1% du PNB: voir le propos de la Chine et du G77, regroupement des pays en développement, comparé aux engagements minimes ou fictifs des pays riches pour Copenhague. EurActiv du 15 avr 2007 dresse un dossier des enjeux économiques, tout en notant l'opposition féroce des sacerdoces du capitalisme sauvage; dont des critique sévères dans Libération 30 juin 09 par Geneviève Azam, économiste à l’université de Toulouse-II et membre du conseil scientifique d’Attac; et par une foulée d'activistes québécois dans une lettre collective au Devoir 10 juin 09.

The Girl Effect

This is one of a number of videos from the Girl Effect campaign by Nike and NoVo Foundations. When girls fully realize their potential, even in poor countries, they lift up themselves, their children, relatives, communities, and nation. The fact sheet Why Should We Pay Attention to Girls? makes the following points (giving sources for each):

The Ripple Effect

• in the developing world, a girl with 7+ years of education marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• each additional year of primary school adds 10-20% to her wages.
• each additional year of secondary school adds 15-25%.
• better infant and child health goes with higher levels of mothers' schooling.
• when women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families.
• today, more than 600 million girls live in the developing world.
• More than 1/4 of the total population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls and young women aged 10-24.
• The number of girls 10 to 24—already the largest in history—is expected to peak in the next decade.

Educational Gaps

• Approximately 1/4 of girls in developing countries are not in school.
• Girls are 70 percent of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth.

Child Marriage and Early Childbirth

• In developing countries, over 14% of girls are married before age 15; and 38% before age 18.
• In developing countries 1/4 to 1/2 become mothers before age 18
• In developing countries 14 million girls aged 15-19 give birth each year.
• In Nicaragua, 45% of girls with no schooling are married before age 18, compared to 16% of the educated. In Mozambique, the figures are 60% to 10%; in Senegal, 41% to 6%.
• A survey in India found that girls who married before age 18 were twice as likely to report being beaten, slapped, or threatened by their husbands as were girls who married later.

Health

• Medical complications from pregnancy are the leading world cause of death among girls aged 15-19. Girls of 10-14 are five times more likely to die from childbirth, and girls 15-19 are up to twice as likely, as those aged 19-24.
• 75% of 15-24-year-olds living with HIV in Africa are female, up from 62 percent in 2001.

Girls in Kenya could, over their lifetime, lift the nation's economy by $27.4 billion through additional education, $25 billion if they delay childbirth, and $1.6 billion if they stay free of HIV/AIDS. Yet without policy intervention, staying HIV/AIDS-free is extremely difficult, and as a result, in Nairobi's urban slums a girl is six times as likely to be HIV-positive than a boy.

The Girl Effect campaign is supported by the UN Foundation, BRAC, CARE, Center for Global Development, ICRW, Plan, the Population Council, and the White Ribbon Alliance. See also our previous posts on Millenium Development Goals (MDG). For a Canadian campaign, see Plan International Canada's Because I Am A Girl video and Sep 2009 report.

What will stop population growth? - Hans Rosling

Swedish professor Hans Rosling has just been named by Time as one of the top online profs. According to his interactive video What stops population growth it is rising life expectancy and GNP -- with Africa the current exception. His statistic presentation shows that to stop the exponential growth of population, we must ensure that poor children do not die.
.
below: a snapshot from his Gapminder video

Rosling began as a doctor in rural Africa discovering konzo, a rare paralytic disease, and its cause: malnutrition and poorly-prepared cassava. He co-founded Médecins sans Frontièrs (Doctors without Borders) in Sweden, wrote a textbook on global health, and has initiated key research as professor of international health at the Karolinska Institut in Stockholm. See the fullscreen display in his Gapminder World, with instructions on how to make your own interactive videos of UN development data. See also Quaker doctor Dick Grossman's blog population-matters.org

Canada rejects human right to water

The human rights video The Price of Silence is by Amnesty International.

Maude Barlow is senior adviser on water to the president of the United Nations. Her letter to the editor appeared in the Globe and Mail 20 Mar 09.

So the Harper government's effort to win a seat on the UN Security Council could be hampered by its decision to transfer aid from Africa to Latin America (CIDA Cuts To Africa Could Hamper UN Ambitions - G&M 16 March 09). There is an additional concern: I believe the Harper government should be denied a seat on the UN Security Council until it formally recognizes water as an international human right, a right it has rejected at the UN Human Rights Council.

Unsafe water and sanitation are the source of 85 per cent of all disease, and one in every six people on Earth has no access to clean drinking water. A UN covenant would clarify that it is a state's responsibility to provide sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water to all of its citizens.

If the government fails to act on the global water crisis, it simply does not deserve the leadership role it covets at the United Nations.

-- Maude Barlow

See also Maude Barlow's Blue Planet; Council of Canadians Right to Water campaign; 1h20.org; Water Integrity Network / Transparency International Global Corruption report (2008); previous posts here on water , food, MDGs; Water for the Ages blog with links, by Abigail Brown, a water expert in Oregon; IDRC e-book Water as a Human Right for the Middle East and North Africa (2008), and the Global Elders campaign Every Human Has Rights