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CounterPunch
August
13 / 19, 2002
To Johannesburg in Search of
Hope
by Rashmi Mayur
We are in the last stages of preparation for the
World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg,
South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September this year. Four PrepComs
(or preparatory meetings) have examined the critical issues facing
the earth and humanity and plans are being prepared to make the
earth sustainable. It however became clear at the last Prepcom
in Bali, Indonesia, that the 'stakeholders', especially from
the corporate world would hijack the Summit's Agenda but for
the NGOs and people everywhere protesting against what is now
being termed as the 'corporatisation of the Earth Summit'. Despite
the enormous logistics involved in organizing the Summit in which
nearly 70,000 people are expected to participate, the outcome
depends on how people, governments and the UN will implement
the Johannesburg Declaration or the plan of action if its fate
is not to be that of the Rio Summit. Our participation in the
WSSD is for creating hope.
The new millennium was heralded with
love and joy as if the world was in euphoria. But soon as the
first year waned, shock and gloom set in worldwide. Following
the collapse of the World Trade Centre Towers and the attack
on the Pentagon in the United States on 11 September 2001, a
historic turn of events happened in the world. The United States,
a gargantuan military power with enormous wealth, took over the
affairs of the world as an imperial power and all the other 189
member-states of the United Nations submitted to it as vassals.
We are going to Johannesburg in the light of a transformed world
in which many decisions will be influenced by the new rules of
law.
At the ECOSOC meeting during the first
week of July, governments emphasized poverty as the central crisis
of the human society--1.3 billion people living at the edge of
survival--all in the South. It was recognized that the situation
is worsening. Then, what about the AIDS epidemic (affecting 40
million people), T. B., Malaria and the curse of illiteracy--one
out of six not knowing how to read and write?
Among the environmental issues, increasing
greenhouse gasses and resulting climate-change are wreaking havoc
in the form of floods and droughts in Africa and Asia, besides
about 30 new diseases developed during the last 15 years. Almost
40% of the people in the developing world are victims of insufficient
and contaminated water.
Our bag of crises is overflowing--we
have 80 million additional people to accommodate annually and
840 million people going to bed hungry everyday. We are not even
speaking about the menacing problems of arms, armaments, conflicts
and wars consuming more than $800 billion every year in a world
deprived of even basic resources.
In India, one out of four people do not
have access to safe and clean water and 90% of water sources
are polluted. By 2010 a majority of the people will be living
on less than 10 gallons per day per person. According to TOE
(The Other Economy ), 20% of the elite of India consume 73% of
the resources of the country. This is devastating, criminal and
not acceptable.
It is in this context that we are going
to South Africa with the aim, of challenging the gloomy prophesy
that the earth as a living system may collapse within the next
few decades unless we take global actions at every level to bring
in sustainable development. Our ultimate goal is to bring conservation
as a fundamental principle of human living. Water development
should be a global priority--protection of ground waters, surface
waters, rivers and more.
India does not need more cars; it needs
better bullock carts and public transport in rural areas. Mumbai
does not need flyovers; it needs improved train and mass public
transport systems. For reduction and elimination of poverty,
people at the local level should organize to develop agriculture,
cottage industries and rural development plan, as we are doing
in Dahanu area. We are building eco-villages, in which people
grow organic agriculture, protect water resources, plant trees
and challenge MNCs. That is the future of India since 700 million
people live in rural areas.
The World Bank estimates that an additional
$35 to $60 billion is required to reduce poverty to half by 2015.
Where will these resources come from? Poverty is the root of
many human crises. We must demand that the criminal waste of
resources in the warfare system be directed for feeding, providing
health-care and education to the people. NGOs and grass-root
workers must demand governments to develop a global machinery
to resolve international conflicts under the United Nations and
bring in global disarmament.
The goals of the UN Millennium Declaration
are modest. They should be integrated with the sustainable plans
of the WSSD according to the needs, hopes and aspirations of
6.1 billion people. We cannot allow corporations, which control
vast amount of wealth, as well as governments to manipulate global
finances unethically for their personal enrichment and gains.
People of the world do not need a plethora of statistics or profound
theories in order to make a difference--assure their survival
and improve their quality of life. Our struggle shall continue
until we reconstruct a world of equity, global rule of law and
sustainability.
Rashmi Mayur, Ph. D. is President, Global Futures Network
and Director of the International Institute for Sustainable Future.
Rashmi may be reached at: rmayur@iisfb.org
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