A synthetic report on the "South-North Consultation on the Global Debt Campaign Beyond 2000", organized by Jubilee South (JS) in Dakar. 

The meeting happened during three days (14-16 December). I'll focalize only the aspects related with the ecological debt campaign. For a more detailed report on the meeting you should write to Jubilee South ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) 

The meeting was very interesting and politically representative, with the presence of 46 groups from Africa, 11 from Asia/Pacific, 6 from Latin America/Caribbean, 25 from Europe and 12 from North America. It was an excellent opportunity to spread the ecological debt idea. 

The first day we had a general discussion on the aims of JS. We also have a series of regional caucuses to discuss the global debt campaign. At the end we had a plenary to share the regional perspectives. In the Latin American caucus we had a lot of opportunity to discuss the ecological debt concept. But in fact we were just a few groups from Haiti, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina and Brasil. In this caucus we discussed three points of cooperation between JS Latin America and the  Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance : 1) The possibility of organize a common round table in the Porto Alegre's World Social Forum, 2) the possibility of including the concept in the national tribunals on the debt to be organized in some Latin American (it already happened in Argentina and Brasil) and 3) The possibility of co-sharing a Latin American Conference on the Ecological Debt after the African Conference in Benin. This Conference could be in the end of 2001 or beginning of 2002. As for locations it was mentioned Quito or Caracas, considering the resistance of Venezuela against neo-liberalism. For this Conference it was suggested that we should have a national assessments of the ecological debt  by each Latin American country. 

 The third day was the best to spread the idea. We had thematic group discussions, one of them about the Ecological Debt. It was a very productive discussion with some groups from Africa, Asia and LA. I made a report to the plenary explaining the concept, the creation of the Ecological Debt Creditos' Alliance in Prague and the main suggestions made by the group.  At the end of the day, the JS plenary approved some decisions, one of it being "to promote the development, diffusion and appropriation of the Ecological Debt concept, in relation to other expressions of the Social and Historical Debts for which the Southern peoples are reclaiming restitution and reparations, in a framework of support and promotion of the Southern Peoples Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance, formally launched in Prague in September 2000".  Thus we now have a formal support from JS's groups for  a close partnership with the Alliance. 

During the discussions of the third day, the main goal suggested to the Ecological Debt campaign was that we should spread the concept in the world public opinion and political agenda in such a level that every time the financial debt is mentioned it must be immediately repudiated under the argument that the ecological debt is larger. 

To achieve such a goal, 6 concrete steps were proposed: 

1) To produce studies and assessments on the reality of the ecological debt for countries and regions. It was mentioned the importance of showing that the historical process of the last 500 years has a clear relation with the shape of today's global injustice and also that the ecological debt is a process still going one today. These points were considered important in order to overcome the possible argument in present day Northern public opinion, mentioned by one of the European participants, that the present generation is not guilty of the ecological debt made by the older ones. 

2) These studies and assessments must be published both in a scientific and a general language, with publications focalizing the different social sectors, including didactic materials etc. 

A point that became clear was that the JS's groups are expecting the Alliance to produce and publish these materials. They are expecting us to fulfill this mission. We should be prepared to produce this material. This is one of the main contributions our Alliance should be prepared to give to the movement as a whole. 

3) To spread the concept among social networks, unions, democratic parties etc. The Alliance should be present, as far as possible, in the particular meetings organized by these sectors in different countries and regions. 

4) To produce Conferences on the Ecological Debt, not only for internal strategizing, but specially to reach the media and the general public opinion. I mentioned the Benin Conference, explaining that it is still just a project. Anyway, the proposal  received good support from the African groups there. Another Conferences were suggested for Latin America and Asia. 

5) To organize specific seminars and round tables on the Ecological Debt during  global meetings and conferences. It was mentioned, as a starting point, the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre and the Rio + 10 in South Africa. 

In Porto Alegre, JS will have three afternoons. One of it will be dedicated to a debate on debt&trade and on ecological debt. They suggested that the Alliance could co-organize this afternoon. 

6) To produce case studies on ecological debt for very concrete situations, like the Ogoni case in Nigeria. These case studies could feed concrete campaigns of social movements for Ecological Debt's reparation. 

 Fraternally, 

Jose Augusto