by Martin Khor
The following is
excerpted from a speech Marin Khor, director of the Third World Network,
presented at the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Review of the
Implementation of Agenda 21,on June 27, 1997.
Five years ago at
Rio, international civil society attended and looked to the Earth Summit
with hopes of establishing a new global partnership that would bring us
back from the brink of ecological catastrophe - while simultaneously helping
developing countries and poor communities in sustainable ways.
But today the world's
citizens are alarmed that the planet is rushing even nearer to that brink
of ecological disaster as the old production systems and lifestyles persist
with forests and lands mined, and the atmosphere polluted as if the Earth
Summit never happened.
We also are deeply
disappointed that the spirit of Rio seems to have vanished. Aid has fallen.
Industrial national continue to suck financial resources from developing
countries. At the end of the 1980s, for example, countries of Sub-Saharan
Africa were losing 15 percent of their gross domestic product through a
drop in their terms of trade, and even more through debt servicing. In all,
$300-500 billion flows out from South to North each year, creating a huge
financial vacuum that the small (and rapidly diminishing) volume of aid
is unable to offset.
Instead of the promised
technology transfer, the World Trade Organization's (WTO) new intellectual
property rights agreement is creating new barriers to the South's access
to environmentally sound technology. It also is accelerating the practice
of bio-piracy, in which many communities' genetic resources and knowledge
about biodiversity are hijacked and transformed into patents and patented
products that enormously profit big corporations.
Today we salute
the hundreds and thousands of local community leaders and the millions of
ordinary people around the world who have kept alive the hope that something
is being done to save the Earth, despite these mainstream trends of destruction.
We salute the indigenous
peoples desperately guarding - sometimes with their very lives - the remainder
of the world's rainforests and other ecosystems.
We salute the local
communities and environmental activists of the North and the South fighting
to save the remnants of their old growth forests from the logger's ax and
bravely battling toxic dumps and hazardous industries located in their neighborhoods.
We salute the thousands
of farmers around the world, who, after suffering the ill effects of chemical-based
agriculture, have switched to organic farming and are renewing the land
without the agricultural establishment's support.
We salute the consumers
and consumer movements that are fighting against unhealthy products and
unsustainable consumption patterns, campaigning for breastfeeding instead
of bottles, raising the alarm over hazardous pesticides and pharmaceutical
drugs dumped on the Third World and taking the tobacco industry to court
and to force it - in the US, at least - to admit its liability, pay billions
of dollars in compensation and agree to government regulation. [Since this
speech, the state Attorney Generals appear to be negotiating away that last
victory.]
We salute the individuals,
campaigners and scientists who are exposing the dark side of genetic engineering
in the midst of the industry's media hype and waging a campaign against
the patenting of life and the cloning of nature's creations.
We salute the women
so often in the forefront of community fights for survival, hugging the
trees to prevent them from being cut down, standing with the men (and often
in front of the men) to block the bulldozer, fighting against toxic industries
and dumps to prevent the poisoning of their children.
These brave, ordinary
people, often the poorest and most humble of their societies, are the real
heroes, the true practitioners of the sustainable development that the rest
of us only talk about. They stand at the forefront of the war to save not
only their world, but also our world.
They work on our
behalf, always with hardship and bravery.
We owe it to those
people to do our part to challenge the old and unsustainable ways and patterns
of production, technology and consumption.
We are realizing
more and more that the millions of battles wages at the local level all
are linked to the growing power of globalization. The kind of globalization
prevailing today benefits only a few, while marginalizing the many. It represents
the growing power of big business that is increasing its monopoly over the
economy and extending its reach to policy-making bodies.
In particular, the
WTO is institutionalizing globalization through the 1994 Marrakesh Agreements
- emphasizing market shares, profits and greed above all else, values intrinsically
antithetical to true global partnership.
Non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) also are concerned that - due to the rise of this private
sector approach - the UN's role in social, economic and environmental issues
is being steadily eroded and transferred to the Bretton Woods institution
and the WTO, which represent a wholly different model of international cooperation.
We, therefore, call
on political leaders to take control of the globalization process and channel
it towards the goals of sustainability. As many NGOs see it, this should
be the UN's first priority over the next five years.
It is vital to reassert
the principles at the heart of Rio: that the poor have the right to development;
the rich have the duty to change their lifestyles and to help the poor;
and differentiated responsibilities to save the Earth should be put into
practice.
In the next five
years, the following actions also are urgently needed:
- Make the private
sector, and especially the transnational corporations, more accountable
and subject to regulation. The recent development in the US tobacco industry
is a good example of why and how regulations are needed to curb marketing,
and eventually production of harmful products.
- Make the world
trading and financial systems, including the WTO, more transparent and
accountable to the public and to the goals of sustainable development.
- Greatly strengthen
the resources, role and capacity of the UN in ways that enable it to be
true to its mission of serving the social, developmental and environmental
needs of the people, especially the weak and poor.
- Create more opportunities
and access for NGOs to participate in the UN's activities. At the national
level, give more space to NGOs and social groups to function and to participate
in policy consultation and development.
- Integrate social,
equity and environmental concerns in national economic policy and development
planning, in the design of international policies (such as structural adjustment
programs) and in trade rules and agreements, so as to prevent social polarization,
increase social equity, eradicate poverty and protect the environment.
- Rigorously assess
new technologies such as genetic engineering for ecological and social
impacts, before allowing them to operate and spread.
- Quickly sign effective
treaties preventing the export of hazardous chemicals and other substances.
- Incorporate land
and watershed protections in development planning to prevent further forest
loss and secure water supplies for the future.
- Take much more
seriously the task of phasing out unsustainable agriculture and vigorously
promote sustainable agriculture.
NGOs realize that
these goals are possible only if citizens actively participate and campaign
for them.
In the next five
years, even as we pressure our policy-makers and politicians to meet their
commitments to sustainability, the NGOs, citizen groups and social movements
must also intensify the pressure on ourselves to fight for people's rights,
for the local and global environment, and for the future of the Earth.
Earth Summit Plummets Toward Disaster