| The Global Ecovillage Network
experience at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development
August-September 2002
compiled by
Albert Bates
with contributions from
Jonathan Dawson and Rob Wheeler
all images © 2002 Global Village Institute
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Jonathan Dawson
Global Ecovillage Network Report from Jo’burg
Day 1
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy tells us, among other invaluable facts, that the gravest punishment in the Universe, reserved only for the most serious offenders, is a visit to the Total Perspective Vortex. This is a device which flashes before the mind of the victim the totality of all possibilities and permutations in the great vastness of the Universe, in the face of which experience, the ego, appalled by its own insignificance, explodes………
..….welcome to Johannesburg! Welcome, truly – welcome, for this is Africa, after all. If only generosity and hospitality were internationally-tradable commodities – ah, then Africa would surely have its day in the sun. With the Summit proper not opening until tomorrow, many of the official, governmental delegations are just now arriving and the great, warm African welcome has been reserved for us early-birds – the groups representing ‘civic society’, the non-governmental organisations, the campaigners, the activists. And what an army we represent! – crammed with our posters and our flyers into every corner of all of the numerous meeting venues. This is a great networking fair, a teach-in jamboree, a festival of engaged and benign sanity! Most of the business and government delegations, as I said, do not arrive until tomorrow.
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Let me give you just a little flavour of the types of agencies that are here: the Indian-based International Institute for Sustainable Futures: Village Earth, promoter of village-based development in the Two-Thirds World; Sustainable Village, promoting appropriate technology in South Africa; the Earth Rights Institute, dedicated to securing a culture of peace and justice by building international networks; the Global Ecological Restoration and Development Foundation, planning to reforest Inner Mongolia; and the Institute for Integrated Rural Development, training Indian women in organic farming methods. And these are just the organisations partnering us – the Global Ecovillage Network and Restore the Earth – in our ‘Partnership Initiative’ (where organisations come together to agree on proposed initiatives to be presented to the governments assembled here for approval and funding). This little list of visionary organisations is a mere drop in the Summit’s ocean.
There seem to be two broad types of ‘civic society’ organisation at work here, each with its own distinctive approach. On the one hand, there are the heavyweights – folk like the International Forum on Globalisation, the World Wildlife Fund, Oxfam and others of this sort of scale. They generally have clear and coherent critiques of the role of corporations in creating social and ecological dislocation and are applying intelligent pressure on governments to ensure that mandatory rather than voluntary codes of conduct be enforced on corporations.
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Much interest in the Ecovillage movement. At a teach-in seminar organised by the New Economics Foundation yesterday, a rather dry (and somewhat disempowered) discussion on the potential for creating complementary currencies was transformed after I produced from my back pocket a pile of EKOs (the community currency we use in Findhorn). With much theory and relatively little practice of localisation in action on the ground, we are attracting substantial interest.
As for the Total Perspective Vortex, personally speaking I have to confess somewhat sadly that the ego remains in stubbornly rude good health. Still, lots more time to go – I suspect not even half of us have yet arrived!
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The others, it seems, are treating the occasion as a great gathering, a wonderful opportunity for communicating their visions and gaining strength from the building of alliances with others. Many of those I have met so far have either paid their own way, fund-raised for their fares, or (like me) are working as volunteers. Many are sleeping in dormitories or on sofas. A junket, this is NOT!
However, while there is something of a party atmosphere, there is also a real and sobering sense of alarm. The main headline on this morning’s South Africa Sunday Times reads: ‘Final Bid to Save Summit from Failing’ and cites a UN official predicting ‘complete disaster unless last-minute talks succeed’. Abundant warnings that this is, in a real sense, our last big chance seem, for once, not to be overstated.
Lots of circles, holding hands, singing – real singing, this is Africa after all – singing with power and passion and joy. And of course, drumming. And of course, dancing – the is Africa, after all. My taxi driver talked about the transition from apartheid, on how smooth and forgiving it has been, on the importance of Nelson Mandela in making it happen. ‘He is another Jesus’, he beamed, brimming over with love for the man. The sheer heart of the place and of the people!
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Report from Jo’burg, Day 2
Huge gig last night in a poor, black township near Pretoria, around 50 kilometers north of here. Many warnings from well-to-do locals to steer well clear of such a ‘dangerous’ place. Thankfully, three of the GEN crowd had the good sense to ignore the advice (if I had listened to such gumph over the many years I have spent in Africa, I would hardly have left my bedroom!) and they came back with exultant stories of how fabulous it had been. Then, while being driven into the glass and marble temples of the conference centre this morning, Sarah said: ‘God, its like Switzerland in Angola!’ – a new take for me on the first world/fourth world cheek-by-jowl syndrome.
Anyway, today has been distinctly more Angola than Switzerland, even among the gleaming towers. Large crowds of people needing various passes and documentation for registration in the different conference venues and few discernble systems in place. Africa just does not do queues, preferring instead the egalitarian intimacy of the friendly m_l_e. This works a treat when, say, ten people are trying to buy stamps or pay in cheques at the bank – a great way to meet new friends and exchange genial conversation. However, where 65,000 delegates, many of them without English as a first language, are seeking Summit registration, queues can be seen to have their place.
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I went last night to attend a super-looking event at the NASREC centre (where most of the NGOs – including GEN – are exhibiting) that included theatre, music and presentations from, among others, Vandana Shiva and Wolfgang Sachs. To get in, however, I had to register. Of the many kiosks there, all manned by poorly-trained volunteers, only two were able to issue the necessary permits (the others were involved in processing intermediate steps along the way). As I stood in among the great, sweating, bewildered, multi-lingual throng, the image that came to me was of Wembley stadium on cup-final afternoon, with only two working turnstiles manned by attendants who had never done the job before. After an hour, I left for home.
In the face of the chaos (the conference organisers somehow do not seem to have been expecting so many delegates!), rules are changing by the minute. I went this afternoon to post a press release at the media centre, where the journalists congregate. ‘No access for Major Groups (the term used for NGOs recognised by the UN, like GEN), said the official. ‘But we had access yesterday’ I said. ‘Rules have changed’, says he, ‘from now on, you cannot come in’. So, I went back to the main Summit conference hall – same story! ‘Sorry, no access for Major Groups’. ‘But I was in here not half an hour ago!!!’ ‘Rules have changed’, says he. This was beginning to get boring.
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Too many people want to get into the Summit, it seems – is it possible the organisers did not read the papers and see the magic number 65,000 repeated ad nauseum?! So, consequently, the number of passes available for Major Groups is to be limited and made available on a first-come, first-served basis. Within minutes, posters declaring conspiracy and calling for mutiny were posted. Conspiracy? Who knows, just maybe. On the basis of a love affair with Africa spanning two decades, my money is firmly on cock-up.
If it is conspiracy you are looking for – and there is no shortage of people here doing just that (witness the speed with which the conspiracy posters went up) – a better place to look is among the government and business stalls and exhibits at the Ubuntu site. Here, the fuzzy thinking (best case), cynical hypocrisy (worst case) underling the term ‘sustainable development’ is most clearly evident. This unfortunate term was born in Rio at the first Earth Summit ten years ago and has become seriously compromised through its use by corporations as a means of carrying on business as usual, with a gentler, more caring public face. Many startling slogans at the Ubuntu stalls give the game away – ‘Enhancing Export Potential: Respecting the Environment’ – the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation; ‘Using the Environment to Create Growth’ – AMC Industries Ltd. Oxymorons both.
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The focus of Rio was firmly on the environment. This time, ‘development’ has moved further up the agenda – at the behest both of the South African government and of corporations: the former justifiably concerned that realistic and achievable targets on poverty alleviation be set and met; the latter anxious that environmental considerations do not get in the way of increased economic activity – in the name of ‘addressing poverty’, of course. This would be a sad and unholy alliance indeed.
Of all the many attempts I have heard and read here to reconcile ‘environment’ and ‘development’, to explain the true nature of their interdependence, much the best is contained in ‘The Jo’burg Memo’, issued by 16 independent activists (including Paul Hawkins, Hazel Henderson, Anita Roddick and Wolfgang Sachs) brought together by the Heinrich Boll Foundation. One short extract: ‘ As the [global] consumer class corners resources through the global reach of corporations, it contributes to the marginalisation of that third of the world population which derives its livelihood from free access to land, water and forests…..These resource conflicts will not be resolved unless the economically well-off make the transition towards resource-light patterns of production and consumption’. Amen to that – and further confirmation that we ecovillagers are truly pioneers in the evolution of a more just and sustainable world. (A good summary of the Jo’burg Memo, by the way, is included in the current issue of Resurgence.)
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Meanwhile, in the poor, black townships as in the courtyards of the great marble Summit palaces; among the shanties as amidst the great crowds of bemused, ill-informed delegates; for the representatives of governments, business and activists alike, Africa dances and beams with pleasure. A woman overheard me today saying how beautiful the costumes of Summit officials are – and she came over to thank me profusely for complimenting her country. The people are touchingly hungry for compliments, a legacy, I guess, of the long, sad years spent as an international pariah. There is much to complement, not least the apparent ease and comfort (and at times even mutual celebration) among the races that I would never have imaged possible - and that I certainly never experienced in Zimbabwe.
God bless Africa! – (and may He please consider blessing her with the new virtues of queues, systems and forward planning!)
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GEN's TYPE 2 INITIATIVE
FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT
ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
IN JOHANNESBURG 26 August – 4 September 2002
LOCAL CAPACITY-BUILDING AND TRAINING FOR SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION:
A PUBLIC – PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP
An initiative for training and capacity-building
in the field of sustainable development
establishing a link between the global and local spheres
for and with local authorities
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CONTEXT
10 years after the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations agreed to organize the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, from the 26th of August to the 4th of September 2002.
Within the context of the Millennium Declaration, the United Nations Secretary General asserted the importance of the partnership between the United Nations and the civil society, local authorities and the private sector. Subsequently, the Secretary General of the United Nations evoked the thematic goals of the WSSD, which are Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity.
The overall ambition of the WSSD is to launch, on the one hand, a plan of implementation for Agenda 21 (type 1 product), which will have been the subject of prior inter-governmental negotiations and, on the other hand, a series of partnerships to promote the development of concrete projects (type 2 product). The latter must be related to the plan of implementation and involve United Nations Agencies, governments, non-governmental organizations, the civil society and private firms.
The plan of implementation includes several explicit references to local authorities:
- upgrading slums and the major role of local authorities
- access to vital public services: water, sanitation
- strengthening health systems, including for the fight against AIDS at the local level, resorting to the public-private partnership
- support measures for sustainable urbanization in Africa
- capacity-building programmes within the context of the HABITAT Agenda
- capacity-building for local authorities and their partners at all government levels
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The type 2 initiative entitled “Local Capacity-Building and Training for Sustainable Urbanization: a Public-Private Partnership” was launched by the CIFAL (International Training Centre for Local Actors), a UNITAR Programme based at Divonne-les-Bains in France. It is the outcome, with the approval of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), of collaborative work with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the World Federation of United Cities (UTO) on behalf of the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC), international NGOs (Global Ecovillage Network, Fondation du Devenir) and a multinational (Vivendi Environment). These partners agreed to organize “Regional Fora on Sustainable Urbanization”.
Regional fora were organized between December 2001 and October 2002 for Africa (Durban, December 2001), Latin America and the Caribbean (Curitiba, April 2002), Asia and the Pacific (Shanghai, June 2002), Europe (Lyon, July 2002) and the south bank of the Mediterranean basin (Algiers, October 2002). Each regional forum focused on a specific topic such as water and sanitation, waste management, energy and transport, public health, housing and local governance. The key participants at these fora were the local authorities and their partners (United Nations, cooperation institutions, city associations, NGOs…), with whom they cooperate. The four fora gathered more than 800 participants, among them mayors, presidents of regions, territorial administrations staff, representatives of Ministries, United Nations directors, academics, heads of associations, business representatives.
By establishing a link between the needs expressed and the analysis of answers already provided by existing support programmes, each forum provided precise recommendations in the form of a declaration and an action plan, synthesized in a type 2 partnership, which will be presented at the WSSD. The latter is called “Local Capacity-Building and Training for Sustainable Urbanization: a Public-Private Partnership” and consists in several components, depending on the type of training sought for, the partners involved and the secured funding opportunities.
Each component refers both to the five main themes of the WSSD and to various paragraphs of the Plan of Implementation for the World Summit (PrepCom 4 version, Bali, 12th of June 2002).
Through various of its training components, this initiative contributes to strengthen the new Sustainable City campaign initiated by the European Union.
This initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of local authorities to reach global sustainable development goals at a local level.
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In a recent lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the United Nations Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan stated:
“The World Summit on Sustainable Development is not, as some people think, simply another conference on the global environment. The whole idea of sustainable development, reflected in the Rio Earth Summit ten years ago, is that environment and development are inextricably linked.
Much was achieved at Rio. Agenda 21, adopted there, remains as visionary today as it was then - and local authorities and civil society in almost every part of the world have been working to implement it.
And yet there is a feeling of loss of momentum.
As our attention has been focused on conflict, on globalisation, or most recently on terrorism, we have often failed to see how these are connected to the issue of sustainability. That word has become a pious invocation, rather than the urgent call to concrete action that it should be (…).
Sustainable development may be the new conventional wisdom, but many people have still not grasped its meaning. One important task at Johannesburg is to show that it is far from being as abstract as it sounds. It is a life-or-death issue for millions upon millions of people, and potentially the whole human race.”
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Aside from its main tasks and operations in the intergovernmental arena, the United Nations actively seeks and encourages the participation of a full range of local actors such as Local Authorities, the civil society and the private sector to meet the issues and promises of sustainable development. This concern has been fully endorsed by Heads of States and governments in the Millennium Declaration.
The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), jointly with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) together with Associations of local authorities, NGOs and private companies, have convened regional preparatory conferences in Durban for Africa, Curitiba for Latin America, Shanghai for Asia and the Pacific and Lyon for Europe.
The conclusions and recommendations of these pre-Summit meetings form the basis of a comprehensive training and capacity building programme for local authorities to apply the global objectives of sustainable development at local level. Supported by a public-private partnership, the initiative is composed of several projects submitted to the attention of the Member States in the form of a concrete proposal for action in favour of sustainable urbanization.
Marcel A. Boisard
UN Assistant Secretary-General
Executive Director, UNITAR
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