|
The United Nations Conference at Rio de Janeiro of 1992,
there was some discussion on the Ecological Debt. The Alternative
Treaty number 13, signed at Rio among NGO, deals with the Ecological
Debt. The Institute of Political Ecology in Santiago de Chile insisted
on the theme, particularly on account of CFC emissions which damage the
ozone layer. The lawyer José María Borrero, from Cali, Colombia,
published a book in 1994 on the Ecological Debt, with the results of a
questionnaire sent to different people all around the world.
The Foundation for Research on the Protection of the Environment,
FIPMA, organized an international consultation on the Ecological Debt
and
published the book in 1994. In 1991 FIPMA had prepared a document which
is included in the book, and which was used for the international
consultation to activists, academics and community leaders. As part of
the consultation FIPMA organized a workshop on the Ecological Debt in
the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and it took part in the
meetings in which the Alternative Treaties were formulated.
Also in Latin America, Accion Ecologica organized courses and published
materials on the Ecological Debt since 1997, in the context of the
campaign against the External Debt. Discussion also exists in other
countries. Thus. Christian Aid published in London in 1999 a pamphlet
on the "carbon debt" which the North owes to the South on account of
disproportionate emissions of carbon dioxide. At their Annual Assembly
held in Quito in November 1999, Friends of the Earth International
decided to start a campaign on the Ecological Debt.
Initial proposal
What do we want to achieve with the campaign for the recognition and claim for the ecological debt?
- Establish the RESPONSIBILITY and the OBLIGATION of the
industrialised countries of the North to repair and to stop the damages
caused to the biosphere and to the countries of the Third World by the
Ecological Debt, as it is putting the entire planet at risk.
- To MAKE EVIDENT the ILLEGITIMACY of the foreign debt as a means of looting that increases the ecological debt
- To PROTECT our cultural and natural heritage and to strengthen their diversity, for both present and future generations.
- To
STOP the external flow of primary materials, food and financial flows,
as part of the ecologically unequal exchange, for a nationally focused
and autonomous economy that prioritizes the national population's needs
in harmony with the environment.
- To MAKE EVIDENT the
inequalities of the present economic model, and to promote resistance
to the imposition of a monoculture based on money and the market which
works against cultural diversity, the well-being of communities and
environmental sustainability.
- To PROTECT AND PROMOTE
ecologically sustainable communities. To recognize the importance of
campesino and indigenous communities in the preservation of the
agricultural and wild diversity.
The campaign for the ecological debt does not seek:
- to PUT A PRICE ON NATURE,
- nor to place «environmental services» on the market,
- nor to put a price on the right to pollute ,
- nor does it seek to promote « debt for nature swaps» because the foreign debt is illegitimate and has already been paid.
How will the campaign for the recognition and claim for the ecological debt be promoted?
1. By seeking international RECOGNITION for the Ecological, Historical
and Current Debt that the countries of the North owe to the countries
of the Third World.
2. By seeking international RECOGNITION of the ILLEGITIMACY OF THE FOREIGN DEBT as made evident by the ecological debt.
3. BY DEMANDING THAT THE COUNTRIES OF THE NORTH:
- REPATRIATE Cultural (plundered historical memory) and Natural Heritage (genetic and biological material).
- RESTORE
the areas affected in the countries of the South, by the extraction of
natural resources and export monocultures, so that local and national
communities recover their self sustaining capacity.
- REDUCE Carbon emissions and totally eliminate the products that generate the erosion of the ozone layer .
- ELIMINATE all the weapons, products and toxic substances that threaten the life of the planet.
4. BY CALLING ON THE PEOPLES AND GOVERNMENTS OF THE THIRD WORLD, AND TO
THE PEOPLES AND ORGANIZATIONS OF THE NORTH WHO ACT IN SOLIDATIY WITH
THEM, TO:
- BE ACTIVE IN DEFENSE OF LIFE.
- To DISOBEY all
policies of the multilateral organisations, (the World Bank, the
International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation), and of
Governments, that threaten the ecological balance and human survival:
- SAY
NO TO THE PROGRAMS AND CREDITS THAT PROMOTE THE EXTRACTION OF NATURAL
RESOURCES, MONOCULTURES AND MEGAPROYECTOS, TO A COST OF SOCIAL AND
ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION
- SAY NO TO THE PAYMENT OF THE FOREIGN DEBT
- SAY NO TO STRUCTURAL ADJUESTMENT PROGRAMS.
- SAY NO TO MONOPOLIES.
- SAY NO TO THE TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS.
- SAY NO TO PATENTS TO THE LIFE.
- SAY NO TO TRANSGENIC CROPS.
- SAY NO TO THE PRIVATIZATION OF THE EARTH, THE WATER, ENERGY AND COMMUNICATIONS.
- SAY NO TO THE FLOW OF ENERGY, NATURALRESOURCES AND MONEY FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH.
- SAY NO TO THE POLICIES OF FREE TRADE.
We claim the SUPREME RIGHT to resistance in order to exercise all these NOs
“taking up all the negatives in order to build the great positive”
Mario Benedetti
CAMPAIGN FOR THE RECOGNITION AND CLAIM FOR THE ECOLOGICAL DEBT
Aurora Donoso
ACCION ECOLOGICA
Alejandro de Valdez N24-33 y La Gasca
Casilla 17-15-246C
593-2-2547516 / 2527583
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
www.deudaecologica.org
Quito-Ecuador
|
