Global Human Commons .org

Letter I RIO+20:
Shifting to a Green Economy: Measures We Can Take
Nov. 27, 2011

Immediate Measures We Can Take

To Shift to a Green Economy

Suggestions for Rio +20 from Commons Action for the United Nations, a network of CSOs, including the Institute for Planetary Synthesis and the Association of World Citizens.

#title# #name#,

It is urgent that we shift immediately from an economy at war with nature to one based on a global-commons approach. As mentioned in UN documents E/2010/NGO/29 and E/2011/NGO/126 (both attached), the strength of such an economy would be measured in terms of the well-being of nature and all people and their communities.

For these lie at the very heart of every economy. They are its very building blocks.

This is the first of a series of letters outlining measures we can take to bring about this shift.

We call on Governments at Rio+20 to create a Panel of Experts from the UN Secretariat to develop a step-by-step plan for the implementation of a commons-based economy. This panel would consult with Governments, relevant IGOs and CSOs, Major Groups and other stakeholders to ensure the greatest possible support for their work.

We also request that you pass on the information in this email for use by your negotiator at the upcoming series of Intersessionals and Formal Informals in preparation for Rio+20.

Examples where such a commons approach is already being implemented include:

Ø many of the approximately 1500 Sarvodaya communities, thousands of ecovillages, transition towns, cooperatives (1 billion people are already officially members), and indigenous communities. All of these groups use forms of collaborative decision making, planning and implementation by community members. As well, the benefits from such processes are equitably shared by all members of the community. (For more information: http://www.sarvodaya.org/; ecovillage.org; transitionnetwork.org)
Ø the Participatory Budget Process that was initially developed in Porto Alegre;
Ø the participatory local Agenda 21 sustainable community planning processes, where interested stakeholders help in developing a plan for the community to become as sustainable as possible;

Although commons management of natural resources have decreased as Public and Private Sectors have enclosed commons lands, Ecuador’s new Constitution is an example to the sustainable development community worldwide which grants Rights to Nature to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles. Also the international commons movement was inspired by the speeches by Dr. Maria Fernandez, Esponsa, Garces, Minister of Patrinomy at the International Commons Conference in Berlin 1-2 November, 2010.

Seven Characteristics of a Global-Commons Approach to Sustainable Development

Commons Goods: those fruits of nature and society that everyone needs to survive and thrive. These include: the atmosphere, oceans, forests, biodiversity, all species of life, natural systems, and minerals; food, water, energy, spiritual and healthcare; and, information, art, culture, society, technology, free news media, trade and finance systems.
Commoners: Groups of people who share the resources (users, producers, managers, providers).
Commoning : inclusive, participatory and transparent forms of decision making and rules governing access to, and benefit from these commons resources.
Boundaries: specifying community membership and the extent of the resource.
Value: created through the preservation or production coming from these commons goods and resources.
Recognition that the Earth is a living system of interconnected components on which all life depends. (UN Resolution 65/164 on Harmony with Nature.)
Adoption of an all-win approach to life that takes into account the well being of all people as well as nature, as opposed to the win/lose and human-centred win/win orientations.

The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) provides a course on the commons and goes into more detail about the work in this area by Elinor Ostrom who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Science. http://www.cooperationcommons.com/node/361

A global, commons-based approach to a sustainable economy has the following important advantages:

It fosters responsibility for the switch to sustainable-living from the grassroots up. All stakeholders are directly involved in decisions regarding the natural and social resources they, themselves, need to survive and prosper.
It enables Governments to build on thousands of sustainable-living initiatives which can begin to form the basis for a sustainable green economy that is supported by their peoples.
It also would help to forge collaborative working relationships with the rapidly increasing “Occupy” and similar demonstrations that are occurring around the world.

Concrete Measures to Bring About a Shift to a Commons-Based Global Economy

Shifting from present economic indicators measuring production and consumption to ones measuring the well-being of people and nature. These indicators could include those mentioned in the UN Human Development Reports from 1990 onward; and, in other UN contexts, those mentioned in Germany’s Yearbook, Bhutan’s Happiness Index, etc.
Extending GA resolution A/HRC/18/L.1 declaring the human right to clean drinking water and sanitation to clean air and other fruits of nature and society that each person needs to be able to survive and thrive.
Applying the precautionary principle, including with respect to geo-engineering.
Internalization of the full life-cycle and true environmental costs of production and consumption in order to address the causes rather than simply the symptoms of environmental degradation. (See also the Cradle to Cradle certification system: www.c2ccertified.org)
Implementing a global footprint to assess economic performance in all sectors and at all levels, including corporations. (See also: www.footprintnetwork.org)
Elimination of fossil fuel and other subsidies which distort the market.
Recognizing the importance of international agreements such as the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Geneva Conventions, International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Kyoto Protocol and associated Work plans, Agenda 21, and Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Each of these promote democratic participation in planning sustainable development.
Recognizing that ecocide is a crime against peace and life, like genocide – except that ecocide relates to harm done to nature, including animal and plant species. Ecocide should be prosecuted under universal jurisdiction. (For more information: www.treeshaverightstoo.com)
Creating a World Environmental Court.
Recognizing in national constitutions that, as well as individual people and corporations, Mother Nature has rights. Infringements on these rights should be prosecutable under universal jurisdiction, as is already the case in Bolivia and Ecuador.
Implementing the all-win principle in all governmental decision-making. This recognizes that, since all people and all of nature are parts of one integrated whole, the well-being of all people and all of nature are essential to us all. (See also www.worldcitizensaction.com)
Instituting open source and General Public Licenses – commons-based alternatives to Intellectual Property Rights. The latter have begun to reduce humanity's capacity to adapt to emerging issues and global challenges. The extension of their applicability is also used now to hamper progress and further enclose the commons and should not be accepted or permitted. (See also: http://onthecommons.org/about-commons; www.opensource.org and www.gnu.org)
Establishing a commons-based approach to education at the bottom of the pyramid –i.e., children in all nations – to ensure that commons principles are instituted for future generations. This basic human right of education in the formative years is included in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Establishing – where appropriate – common property rights held by local communities over resources on which they depend. This would include forests, grazing lands, bodies of water, groundwater, and fisheries. This can ensure that the people who have a long-term stake in the preservation of these resources would have control over them, obtain benefits from them, and internalize any externalities caused by individual community members into the decision-making of the community as a whole.

Signed:

Dr. Lisinka Ulatowska for:

Association of World Citizens; Institute for Planetary Synthesis, the All-Win Network, Commons Action for the United Nations, the Earth Rights Institute, Kosmos Associates, Inc.; International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges; Climate Change Network, PeterEarth.org, Keepers of the Waters.

For more information please reply to
Dr. Lisinka Ulatowska, info@worldcitizensaction.com

Converging crises around the world are escalating poverty and social inequity. As a result, a rapidly growing number of people have been showing their concern in demonstrations everywhere. This can be changed!

This, our second email to you, focuses on measures that can be taken to restore and regenerate nature, alleviate poverty, and mobilize people worldwide to help bring about an economic and social shift from the bottom up. Such a commons-based economy would give all people fair access to commons goods – the fruits of nature and society all of us need to survive and prosper.

We are calling on Governments to create an international (High Level or UN) Panel of Experts to develop a step-by-step plan for the creation of a worldwide commons-based economy and global community. This panel would consult with Governments, and relevant IGOs, CSOs, Major Groups and other stakeholders.

We also request that you pass on the information in this email for use by your negotiator at the upcoming series of Intersessionals and Formal Informals in preparation for Rio+20.

We hope the perspectives and measures mentioned in this email will support #country# in playing a proactive role in the negotiations leading up to the Final Agreement issuing from Rio+20.

The measures discussed below expand on the measures to help shift to a commons-based economy that we included in our first email to you on November 27 (Subject: I. Rio+20 Measures for a sustainable economy); and UN Document E/2010/NGO/29: People and commons: global partnerships, missing links (attached).

Making this change now is essential since people and nature are the building blocks of every economy. If we don’t move quickly and thoroughly, we threaten the very fabric of our society.

According to Elinor Ostrom who received the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, a commons consists minimally of three basic elements:

These can form harmonious building blocks for a global commons-based economy to the degree participants in these communities also live according to the all-win principle. This states that since each of us and nature are parts of one integrated whole, the well-being of all people and all of nature are essential to us all.

Commons-based economies already exist in millions of locations worldwide in almost every sphere of social interaction. In our first email we mentioned communities that use alternative local currencies to enable local exchanges and trade to restore flagging local economies (e.g. www.gmlets.u-net.com) and those which counter environmental and social degradation by experimenting with commons-based lifestyles.

These include indigenous communities where there is a sacred bond with nature, 15000 Sarvodaya communities (See (www.sarvodaya.org); ecovillages (See ecovillage.org), transition towns (See transitionnetwork.org); and cooperatives (one billion people are already officially members).

Another notable example is a project of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Called GEO-Cities, one of its main objectives is to establish an integrated environment assessment process that acknowledges the links between environmental conditions and human activities. (See: www.grid.unep.ch/activities/assessment/geo/geo_cities.php).

These are just a few of the millions of examples of commons that exist worldwide that can be used as a starting point for a commons-based economy. It would be an economy for “the 99 percent” AND the “one percent,” one that would alleviate poverty and mobilize people from the bottom up to restore and regenerate nature.

Empowering the “Grass Roots” to Alleviate Poverty and Gain Social Equity

In our first email to you we suggested 12 measures that could be taken to shift to a sustainable, commons-based economy. The following measures build on this list to focus specifically on the mobilization of people for poverty alleviation and greater social equity.

Developing a Firm Foundation for Peoples Participation in a Commons-Based Economy

Many see the commons as subject to natural law. Measures to expand its legitimacy include:

Broadly speaking, the assessment of commons rent by trusts around the world would require three significant changes:

(Please also refer to UN Doc. E/2011/NGO/126: Education for World Stewardship for the Benefit of All, which is attached. This provides a more comprehensive list)

We strongly believe it is possible to build a global commons-based community that is capable of eradicating poverty and creating social equity. But this will depend on a high level of communications and collaboration between commons communities at all levels and a strong foundation based on implementing as comprehensively as possible the measures we have suggested in our two emails.

Association of World Citizens,
Institute for Planetary Synthesis,
Commons Action for the United Nations,
Global Commons Trust,
All Win Network,
Zambuling Institute for Human Transformation,
Earthrights Institute,
Global Ecovillage Network,
International Union for the Land Value Tax and Free Trade,
International Association for the Advancement of Innovative Approaches,
PeterEarth.org,
Keepers of the Water,
WE the World,
Citizens for a UN Peoples Parliamentary Assembly,
Empower the UN.

Rio+20 will attempt to reverse the breakdowns of three interconnected global systems: the economy, the environment and society.

These breakdowns are a result of the combined actions of all people. Therefore, they cannot be tackled effectively without the full participation of the people – in partnership with governments and corporations (the public and private sectors respectively.)

Faced with escalating crises, where the public and private sectors have sought to work together while people were increasingly marginalized, people have started to work together in diverse forms of commons. These commons seem to be coming to grips with the pending crises by dealing with their root causes.

We are confident that the insights developed in this document on the critical role that a commons-based global economy can play in solving today’s problems will support #country# as it takes a proactive and constructive role in the negotiations leading up to Rio+20 and at Rio+20 itself. We believe they can strongly influence an outcome that will abundantly benefit #country# as well as the whole world.

We are calling on Governments to create an international (High Level or UN) Panel of Experts to develop a step-by-step plan for the creation of a worldwide all-win commons-based economy and global community which might, for instance, take among others, the form of a Second Chamber within the United Nations. This panel would consult with Governments, and relevant IGOs, CSOs, Major Groups and other stakeholders.

We also request that you pass on the information in this email for use by your negotiator at the upcoming series of Intersessionals and Formal Informals in preparation for Rio+20.

Why a Commons-Based Global Economy Holds the Key to Empowering the Public and Private Sectors

Governments (which we can refer to as the Public Sector) are constrained by the limits of their jurisdictions while the interlocking crises they must deal with are both global in scope and express themselves quite differently in diverse localities. For these reasons, solutions must ultimately come from the citizens who are part of the many diverse communities and whose working relationships and interpersonal friendships connect them to people across national and other boundaries.

Governments must therefore work, not only with their own citizens and all other governments, but with people worldwide if they are to be effective.

The Private Sector is unable to solve global crises because it has a paramount need to make a profit for the stockholders who fund the many varied corporate entities. Unfortunately, this sector has so often profited at the expense of people and the wellbeing of the planet that a greatly increasing percentage of people are rapidly becoming economically marginalized. As a result, in both developed and developing countries alike, they are taking to the streets in protest against corporate greed and social inequity.

Where people cannot afford to buy goods and services, markets dwindle and business suffers. Corporations rely on both the prosperity and the goodwill of people to function.

Almost magically and in a profound demonstration of the human will to rise above failure, people are increasingly taking things into their own hands to overcome the limitations of the Public and Private Sectors. For many years now – and largely working independently of each other – they have been forming the beginnings of a Commons Sector which holds the promise of enabling good governance and socially responsible business.

1) It consists of communities or loosely connected networks of people (called commoners).

2) These commoners manage the fruits of nature and society that they need to survive and thrive (commons goods) such as fishing grounds, security, information and culture.

3) They manage these goods using open, transparent, participatory, inclusive forms of decision making so that the interests of all stakeholders are ensured. This is termed commoning.

The underlying idea that enables diverse commoners to function in harmony is a belief in, and dedication to living according to the all-win principle:

Since each of us and nature are parts of one integrated whole, the wellbeing of all people and all of nature are essential to us all.

Cooperating in this way, they are forming harmonious building blocks for a commons-based global economy.

As mentioned in our earlier emails, there are already thousands of communities where people are living sustainably in a form of commons. These include many indigenous communities worldwide; approximately 15000 Sarvodaya communities; hundreds of Eco-Villages; Transition Towns; GEO-Cities – a project of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the many cooperatives which already have more than one billion members. (Please see www.sarvodaya.org, www.ecovillage.org, www.transitionnetwork.org, www.grid.unep.ch/activities/assessment/geo/geo_cities.php, as well as the two attached documents – E/2010/NGO/29 and E/2011/NGO/126.)

Community members develop and use environmentally friendly technologies that embrace architecture, waste management, agricultural techniques, water conservation and other aspects of community life. They have a direct stake in caring for the fruits of nature and society in their care and are therefore acutely aware of the consequences of their actions.

Thanks to this sense of being responsible, they restore and regenerate the state of the environment in their immediate surroundings. Also, because all community members are the beneficiaries of the labour of the community as a whole, these commons are agents of both social cohesiveness and economic development from the grass roots upwards.

By increasing the health and productivity of their natural environment and the wealth of their own members, commons groups foster the two components on which all economies depend. They thereby increase both the goods and the health of the markets that are indispensable to business.

Their transparent, inclusive and participatory approaches to decision making enable personal fulfilment. Thus they create a much needed antidote to an economy fuelled by greed. At the same time they develop people’s capacity to play a constructive and supportive role for good governance, thereby providing governments with the very support without which they are unable to properly govern the areas under their jurisdiction.

The technologies, the participatory forms of decision making and the way commons groups manage their natural and social resources on a daily basis are the basic characteristics that set them apart from the faltering mainstream of our society (although many communities that fall into this category might not use the term, “commons,” to describe themselves).

Working in this way and using other unique inspirational practices, commons groups worldwide are forming a solid foundation for a future sustainable green economy – and not only in the locales in which they operate. Their methods and techniques can easily be transferred and adapted to most other parts of the world, both to cities and rural communities.

Our two previous emails detailed many other concrete examples of commons approaches that are helping to provide much-needed solutions to problems that are occurring worldwide. These cover the widest-possible spectrum and include areas such as agriculture, food production, land, waste and water management, peaceful conflict resolution, informational, educational and cultural needs, the use of local currencies to regenerate flagging local economies; and providing security, insurance and banking.

These commons have largely come into being as a way of coping with the need for goods and services that are required by all to survive and prosper but which are being placed beyond the reach of a rapidly increasing proportion of the world’s people.

In addition, because many of these commons are not limited by national, social, cultural, religious – and now, increasingly, economic – boundaries, they are empowering and enabling understanding, communication and collaboration between the commons communities that is proving to be indispensable to the well-being of nature and all people.

The Internet’s social media such as FaceBook and Twitter (both for profit organizations and therefore not commons) are providing powerful tools for the formation of online commons communities and the organization of spontaneous new commons. These have played a decisive role in alerting governments and corporations when these two sectors are not working often by means of massive largely peaceful demonstrations. These dramatic events have emphasized that governments cannot govern without the support of their citizens and businesses cannot survive without the prosperity and support of their customers.

The thousands who in recent spontaneous gatherings harnessed social media to demonstrate peacefully against power politics and corporate greed acted as commoners in their decision making. Where they succeeded in maintaining commons approaches, they demonstrated the power of the commons ideal to create incisive global change toward forms of societies that work both for the “one percent” and the “99 percent.”

At the same time, where these demonstrations have made it hard for both governments and businesses to function, it is abundantly clear that the rate of breakdown of the environment, the economy and society increases rapidly where commons communities are not working harmoniously with well-functioning governments and businesses.

It is important that governments and businesses think beyond taking measures primarily by themselves in response to our common global problems. Instead, they must recognize the indispensability and huge value of input by and cooperation with the world's citizens.

The Commons, the Public and the Private Sectors are interdependent and must therefore work together in such a way as to empower one another.

We have the means to reverse the breakdowns in the areas of the environment, the economy and society. Yet we can only be successful to the degree that the Commons, the Public and Private Sectors work together synergistically to inspire the negotiations leading up to Rio+20, the content of the Outcome Document of Rio+20 and the planning and financing of a subsequent shift to a commons-based global economy that has the benefit of input by and support of all stakeholders.

- The Association of World Citizens - The Institute for Planetary Synthesis
- Commons Action for the United Nations - Global Commons Trust
-The All-Win Network -Kosmos Associates
-Human Affect -Campaign2015+International
-Earth Rights Institute -Union for Land Value Taxation
-Climate Change Network Nigeria -CAFSO-WRAG for development Nigeria
-AlianzaClimate

We ask that Act With Absolute Urgency!
In the 20 years since the originally Earth Summit in Rio, governments have almost universally failed to meet their commitments and/or accomplish the goals laid forth in Agenda 21 and following documents.

Despite the agreements made in Rio in 1990, humanity remains on a completely unsustainable course. In the best models of future economic activity, as examined by MIT, anything like business as usual leads to atmospheric carbon levels that would almost certainly trigger catastrophic climate tipping points. (MIT published a paper assessing influence on climate change of different scenarios from IPCC, US Govt. Climate Change Science Program and Shell. See report 163, http://web.mit.edu/globalchange/www) The “best possible scenario” of smooth transition to existing technologies and almost seamless cooperation of governments outcome produces 650 ppm carbon dioxide equivalent, well beyond any reputable “safe levels” of 350 or 450 or even the old conventional wisdom of 550.

The time for a complete “Remake” of humanity’s operating manual is NOW. There will never be a better window of opportunity. In fact we may never get the chance again.

We have the technology, the resources and working examples of the processes, industries, and economic and social systems that will avert these crises, as well as lay the groundwork for a global system in which everyone will prosper, while restoring the vital capacity of the natural ecosystems that we all depend upon for our food, water, and every aspect of robust commerce.

The window of time to implement these solutions is very short. Conservative estimates suggest that we have less than one decade to transcend the irreversible tipping points that "business as usual" has us accelerating toward. The time to confront the finite nature of the living systems of the planet to support a wasteful development paradigm is upon us.

WE DEMAND THAT YOU ACT WITH THE URGENCY THAT COMES WITH KNOWING THAT THE WELL-BEING OF ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS OF ALL SPECIES HANGS IN THE BALANCE.

Adopt a NEW WORLDVIEW
Recognize that the Earth’s Life System as a “Commons” that can not and should not be owned by any one entity, but must belong to all.

What is called for are genuinely transformative measures. As delegates entrusted with the fate of humanity (yes that’s the mandate you have been given!) we suggest that you consider that the view of the world that we have inherited from the last 400 to 500 years of reductive science and engineering has led us astray. The world is not a “clock” or a machine. It is not merely a vast materialistic puzzle to be figured out. Nature is not a realm separate from the idealized human realm which exists to do our bidding. We do not live in the insanely inaccurate model of unlimited resources and an unlimited waste depository that current economics assumes. We live in a real, live, vibrantly thriving eco-logy of life. Economy is, in fact Ecology.

Looking from the whole we can see that the life-giving systems have been thrown out of balance by human activity. We now need to restore that balance. It will take a truly restorative approach to act on behalf of the whole.

The perspective that we are asking that you, and we all, take is that of the whole. What we are asking is that you use one principle to judge the policies and agreements that you discuss, debate, support and adopt:

“Do I, in my deepest heart, from my highest self, believe this policy will lead toward a just, thriving, sustainable way of life for all?

WE DEMAND THAT YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE WHOLE – ALL OF HUMANITY, ALL OF LIFE, ALL OF TIME – TO THE VERY BEST OF YOUR ABILITY.

Listen to the best of “Civil Society”
There is a groundswell of small-scale, autonomous activity to address the issues we face. The existence of over 2 million NGO's, each addressing some aspect of the crises we face and the stunning opportunity before us is but one testimonial that a sea-change is underway. A phenomenon with no central guidance, the imperative to take on our world as it is - and as it could be - has no parallel in history.

WE INVITE YOU TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO THE VOICES OF THE PEOPLE, NGO’S AND TO REPRESENTATIVES OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE’S DELEGATIONS THAN TO THE SMALL SUBSET OF HUMANITY THAT IS REPRESENTED BY CORPORATE BOARDS OR HEADS OF STATE.

ON BEHALF OF THE WHOLE, WE REQUEST THAT THESE MEASURES BE ADOPTED AND INCLUDED IN THE AGREEMENTS MADE AT RIO+20:

The above prescriptions are more than ambitious. They require us as a world community to act in concert and concern for one another as never before. The good news is that humanity is actually in the process of turning toward a thriving, just, sustainable way of life for all. There are two pathways, we can either go through collapse, or we can shift and thrive.

The opportunity you have is accelerate that process so that we take the high road of creative design, of collaboration and communion with Earth and our fellow creatures.

We are nowhere near plumbing the depths of the human soul, and our capacity to do what needs to be done, when it is clear that we must act. We have no idea how powerful we may be as human community. An unprecedented awareness that our fates are connected, and that the success of any one of us depends on the success of all, is arising. Information travels faster, and in more channels now that ever before, than ever though possible in our wildest dreams. And before lies the distinct possibility of truly creating a heaven on earth – a world that works for everybody.

Anyone participating in this Earth Summit has the opportunity to be part of making this possibility a reality.

As delegates participating in the decision-making bodies of this Summit, you have a chance to make history that will be celebrated for centuries to come. It is time to transform how we live with one another, and with all life on this one, irreplaceable home we call Earth.

Global Human Commons
What about us?

Global Union for the baseline needs for Life and Wealth

Global Human Commons What about us?

Global Union for the baseline needs for Life and Wealth

Global Human Commons
What about us?