This was the message from the mayor of Bonn during his opening address at the welcome ceremony at the 64th DPI/NGO Conference. As we move towards Rio+20 where the DPI/NGO theme of sustainability societies will be top of the agenda, this was both an intimidating and inspiring opening thought. This set the framework for thinking during the first day of plenary sessions, workshops and roundtables.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon addressed the conference via video link, reinforcing the importance of Rio+20 as a crucial meeting of our generation. He called upon NGOs and CSOs to engage in the Rio+20 process, and to be active in lobbying governments to adopt new sustainable strategies to realise a new development paradigm centred on green economy:
“Your voices, your actions and your grassroots community actions will help us to reach our goals – We need your best ideas!”
The following speakers certainly delivered plenty of material for shaping ideas!
Vandana Shiva from Navdanya International was one of the key note speakers. She is an environmental activist, philosopher and eco-feminist from India, full of energy and inspirational ideas. Connecting the dots is one of the main themes for this year’s DPI/NGO conference and Vandana touched on three ‘sets’ of dots that need to be connected (or re-connected) if we are to realise the vision for a sustainable future.
Firstly, the dots between the earth and humanity need to be re-connected. Essential to the philosophy of the green economy is the realisation that humans are not outside or separate from the earth, but reliant upon it. This includes a radical re-evaluation of how we think about ‘Economy’ and ‘Ecology’.
Secondly, ‘environment’ and ‘development’ dots need to be re-connected. For too long, development has been treated as separate to environmental concerns. This is starting to change but in advance of Rio+20, the two need to be considered intrinsic to one another. Development must be sustainable. This means that the capacities and limitations of the environment need to be built into development initiatives – for example, Millennium Development Goals 1 and 6 are both ecological and social.
Thirdly, ‘people’ and ‘democracy’ need to be re-connected. In many places, the fact that democracy exists FOR people has been sidelined. Vandana argued that people power is a precious resource. If we want to move towards a new economic paradigm that priorities sustainability, this resource must be harnessed! All over the world we see the power of citizens. She talked about the German people who said no to nuclear power after the triple disaster in Japan, the people of Italy who voted no in a referendum which proposed the privatisation of water, and the people of India who have been on the streets demanding a corruption free society.
Vandana contextualised her argument with a few facts and figures. For example, the world wastes over 60% of the world’s grain by feeding it to livestock; $16 trillion of banking bailouts have been distributed over the past few years – imagine what this could have done for the world’s poor if spent appropriately; 60% of ecosystems are being stretched beyond their capacity to renew themselves. If we want a sustainable future then we need to address these serious ecologic, economic, and social concerns.
Taking this into account, she argued that the earth has rights in the same way that we are protected by human rights. To achieve sustainability, she argued that polluters need regulation. Voluntary guidelines are not enough. This point was later picked up by Felix Dodds, the chair of the 64th DPI/NGO Conference, who gave the NGO welcome. He argued that humans are created free and equal. However, current international governance undermines this. He called for a resolution on corporate accountability and responsibility, agreeing that voluntary guidelines do not go far enough.
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UNEP, opened his address by reminding us that as we look at the world today, it is important that we recognise that not everything is worse. Some extraordinary things have been achieved. Crucially, much of this is done by NGOs on the ground. This work may not hit the headlines, but the biggest revolutions in development practice have happened at the grassroots levels. It is the NGOs working in response to local circumstances that are challenging convention. This sentiment was also expressed by Flavia Pansieri, the Chair of the Consultative Form for the Heads of UN Agencies in Germany: “The planet’s single most precious resource is its people – we must be a source for good”.
As we move towards Rio+20, Achim Steiner emphasised the need for stubbornness and courage in our advocacy and campaigning actions. He argued that the ecological crisis is far more serious than the financial crisis. If we have 2 billion more people by 2050, as some predict, then growth is needed – for jobs, for houses, for food, for energy and for water. The question is, what kind of growth do we need? As we continue through the next few days of the conference, this is one question we will certainly be exploring.