Council for International Development

Rio+20: Time for a new model of development?

Posted by on 23 January 2012 | 0 Comments

January 2012 -- Rio+20 brings refreshed hope that governments throughout the world will turn towards sustainable development. A Charter for Universal Responsibilities is proposed by an International Forum for Ethics and Responsibility to bring coherence to strategies for sustainability.

The main themes for Rio+20 are greening the economy, the elimination of poverty, and a stronger institutional system to implement sustainability. If the agenda is limited to green economy and poverty alleviation these alone will be insufficient to address the current global development model which is failing both humanity and nature.  There is a widely expressed call for a new model for development.  
An important observation is that globalization is increasing the interdependence of nations. However the themes for Rio together, do not address the interdependence of nations and the need for an ethics to express common human destiny.

To read the Charter for Universal Responsibilities, along with a ‘Rationale for Responsibility’ and a ‘Call on Governments’ go to www.response.org.nz. To support such a Charter you can sign on the attached Call on Governments’ and send questions, comments or support  to Betsan, and send the Charter to organizations with which you are associated through development work.  

More Information on a Charter for Universal Responsibilities

The hope for sustainability was launched at the first UN Summit in 1992. Despite many compacts and declarations and conventions the reality is we are going backwards. Climate change is escalating, carbon emissions are increasing, biodiversity loss not being curtailed despite mounting moves for conservation and marine reserves.  Poverty has not been curtailed and we have a crisis of inequality.

Responsibility could be a way of introducing ethical guidelines that express relational values and stewardship of earth’s resources. New forms of development might involve challenges to private property and the power of ownership.

A new international ethical protocol is needed, a “third pillar” for international life, as a complement to the Charter of the United Nations on Peace and Development and corollary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  A Charter of Universal Responsibilities is to chart a course for development which seeks social equity and wellbeing, promotes use of natural resources which is sustainable and exercises the precautionary principle in the interests of future generations and to safeguard planetary ecosystems.  Such a Charter is expected to provide an international juridical basis for counteracting breaches of responsibility at various levels and sectors of human activity.

Responsibility can be found in every culture, as it is at the core of the social fabric, the basis of reciprocity in the human relations and the corollary of human rights. With modern understanding of the global impacts of human activities there is greater awareness of transboundary effects and of the need for regulation at the global level. The interdependence between nations that has emerged with globalization requires a framework of responsibility to give direction, coherence and accountability for the global impacts of development.  There is no internationally accepted global statement on human responsibilities to guide international, national and community norms and accountabilities.

Wren is representing CID on the NZ Platform for Rio+20, and Oxfam and RESPONSE are on the group. The Platform is encouraging involvement from as many organisations as possible. The Platform is keen to identify some key proposals and to actively put these forward for NZ government action at Rio. One of these could be a Charter for Universal Responsibilities.

Please send any comments, guidance or feedback to Betsan at betsan(at)response.org.nz