Erna Witoelar, Indonesia. A thematic essay which speaks to Principle 9 on using the Earth Charter to eradicate poverty The Earth Charter and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Erna Witoelar is the United Nations Special Ambas- tionally comparable indicators. The targets are quite specific, sador for Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for unlike in the past when the same goals were set only in rhetori- the Asia Pacific Region. She is the former cal terms. Indonesian Minister of Human Settlements and Regional Development, and founder of the The MDGs are not just national governments’ commitments to Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia. the UN or the international communities; they are these govern- Before joining the government, she pursued a long ments’ commitments to their own people. The Goals are global career in civil society where she was President of the Indonesian in their scope, but targets and indicators can be tailor-made to Consumer Foundation, founder and first Executive Director of the shorter time scales, higher targets, and local circumstances. Indonesian Forum for the Environment, and President of Consumers The Goals are inter-related. The synergy among goals is a International. She is currently an Earth Charter Commissioner, Chair- unique characteristic of the MDGs. Conversely, lack of progress person of the Indonesia Biodiversity Foundation, and a board member in one goal is a barrier for achieving progress in another. Since of the Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium. a single intervention will achieve advances in multiple goals, working across sectors is much more effective than working in a single sector.

But the MDGs are not just about targets and statistics – they’re nly a few months after the Earth Charter was launched, also about values, stated clearly in the Millennium Declaration. O world leaders from 189 United Nations (UN) Member The Values stated in the Millennium Declaration are: States unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration in Sep- tember 2000. It called for a fully-inclusive, people-centered and Freedom: men and women have the right to a life of dig-

. rights-based approach to development. They thereby reaf- nity, free from hunger, violence, oppression, and injustice. e v i t firmed the commitment of their nations and the international a r e p community to the achievements of the Millennium Develop- Equality: no individual or nation must be denied the m i l

a ment Goals (MDGs), an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty opportunity to benefit from development. Men and t n e and improving lives. As UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said, women must have equal rights. m n o r “We will spare no efforts to free our fellow men, women, and i v n

e children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of Solidarity: costs and burdens of global challenges must d n

a extreme poverty, to which more than one billion of them are be distributed fairly in accordance with equity and social , l a i currently subjected.” justice. c o s , l a c i

h The Millennium Development Goals are eradicating extreme Tolerance: human beings must respect one another in all t e

n poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; pro- their diversity. Diversity is a precious asset of humanity. a s a moting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child y t r e mortality; reducing maternal mortality; combating HIV/AIDS, Respect for Nature: current unsustainable patterns of v o p malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainabil- production and consumption must change in accordance e t a

c ity; and forming a global partnership for development. with the precepts of sustainable development. i d a r E . 9 Seven of the eight goals have been translated into quantitative Shared Responsibility: global challenges must be e l p i

c and time-bound targets, thereby allowing measurement and addressed multilaterally. The UN must play the central n i r

P reporting of progress through objectively verifiable and interna- role.

86 Part III: Social and Economic Justice The Earth Charter in Action Reading all these values, one cannot deny that they resemble which are strongly stated in the Earth Charter, these are impor- very much the values shared by the Earth Charter in building a tant elements of the Millennium Declaration. Civil society cam- just, sustainable, and peaceful global society. paigns on MDGs mostly advocate a rights-based approach, with inclusive decision-making involving women, the poor, and the “Freedom” and “Equality” bear a resemblance to the Earth marginalized. The path to achieve the Goals has to be paved by Charter principles of Part III: Social and Economic Justice. They access to information; access to participation in planning, mon- are the base for achieving the goals of poverty and hunger erad- itoring and evaluating; and access to means of making govern- ication; of equal access to basic health, education, shelter, water ments accountable. and sanitation services, and of gender equality and empower- ment of women. While the MDGs focus on the achievement of The relationship between realization of MDGs with conflict res- economic and social human rights for all, the Charter further olution and peace building are also more and more recognized, elaborates on justice and ethics. not only in countries where conflicts exist, but also in many regional and international forums discussing regional and “Tolerance” and “Respect for Nature” have similarities with the global challenges for achievement of the Goals. Missing the Earth Charter principles of Part I, Respect and Care for the Com- MDG targets and conflict can be cyclical: hardships, especially munity of Life, and Part II, Ecological Integrity. Diversity of when accompanied by sharp inequalities, can breed violence; nature and humanity is very important in all attempts to ensure while poverty and unequal distribution of scarce natural environmental sustainability. This goal is further targeting to resources is a potential cause of conflict. Hence, conflict directly integrate principles of sustainable development into country and indirectly weakens achievement of other MDGs. It under- policies and programs; reverse the loss of environmental mines economies, destabilizes governments, provokes mass resources; and significantly increase access to safe drinking movements of people, and destroys infrastructure. Working to water, basic sanitation, and secure tenure for slum dwellers. achieve the MDGs should align efforts with the Earth Charter campaigners towards peaceful conflict resolution. “Solidarity” and “Shared Responsibility” are a common force throughout the Earth Charter as well. Both the Declaration and What is keeping the world from achieving the Goals is not the Earth Charter are advocating for the importance of these values lack of finances or technical capability – it is the political obsta- at global, national, and local levels. Both instruments seek to cles or the lack of political will. This is not news. What is news is inspire in all the people a new sense of global interdependence that there is now an explicit recognition of this fact in the UN and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family, system at the highest levels, and this is symbolized in the con- among countries as well as within each country. The Earth Char- ception of the Millennium Campaign. The explicit object of the ter widens it to all forms of life in the larger living world, while Campaign is to encourage and facilitate “we, the people,” at a the MDGs focus more on how to implement this global solidarity. national and international level, to hold their governments and It is stated in Goal 8 that the aims are more and better aid, more other key actors accountable for their promises in the Millen- open and just trade systems, debt cancellation, access to technol- nium Declaration and the Millennium Goals. ogy, and more job opportunities for youth. As a whole, both in

the long-term vision as well as the underlying principles and val- The Earth Charter can be used as a tool to advance the MDGs as . e v i ues, the Millennium Declaration, including its goals, is very much it promotes environmental sustainability and responsibility for t a r e in line with the vision and principles of the Earth Charter. a way of life that can inspire commitment, cooperation, and p m i l

change. Environmental sustainability, including sustaining the a t n

The momentum of renewed global solidarity, pledged formally biodiversity of all the world’s ecosystems and sustainable provi- e m n o by governments and all international and regional agencies sion of water for life, is ensured by the maintenance and protec- r i v n

through processes towards and during the MDG + 5 Summit in tion of the ecological integrity and rehabilitation of degraded e d n

September 2005, can and should also be used to renew people’s ecosystems. Further, sustainable access to safe drinking water a , l a commitments to the Earth Charter. By now, most UN member and basic sanitation for the urban poor can be integrated into all i c o s ,

countries realize that successful achievement of the MDGs urban slum-upgrading programs – which can also ensure l a c i

requires addressing their links with other issues identified in the secure tenure for slum dwellers. h t e

Millennium Declaration, such as human rights, good gover- n a s nance, peace, and security. These are all concerns strongly One-fifth of the world’s population live in extreme poverty while a y t r declared at the Earth Charter, but received retaliations from 800 million people are chronically hungry, which is the primary e v o many government delegates during the tireless efforts by the concern of the Millennium Development Goal 1 on Poverty. p e t a

Earth Charter Secretariat and Commissioners to seek endorse- Again, women disproportionately suffer the burden of poverty. c i d a ment of the Earth Charter by the UN. Sufficient clean drinking water and adequate water for other r E . household, agriculture, and economic activities can be instru- 9 e l p i

Even though MDGs do not expressly refer to civic participation mental in eradicating poverty and hunger. Urban and rural poor c n i r in decision-making or the role of civil and political freedoms, are buying more expensive water than the affluent people. P

The Earth Charter in Action Part III: Social and Economic Justice 87 Provision and pricing of water, therefore, need to give greater weight to increasing access instead of fiscal gain. Water is a basic human right, not a commercial commodity.

The mere fact that poverty, health, education, gender, and envi- ronment became the millennium goals is due to a lack of politi- cal and resource commitments to achieve them as a whole. In many countries, the policy framework is not yet aligned with the MDGs and the fundamental objective of reducing human poverty. Poverty reduction is still seen as an automatic by-prod- uct of economic growth and macroeconomic stability. The Earth Charter can balance this by providing a values framework to translate the concept of “pro-poor policies” into specific and practical policy measures.

Even though the Earth Charter has not been fully endorsed by the United Nations in its totality, it has directly or indirectly influenced UN processes and products in quite significant ways. Unlike the Millennium Declaration, which is a more govern- ment-led process, the Earth Charter came about through a very participatory process involving thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations. There is much to learn from this process to campaign for the MDGs.

The Millennium Declaration, including the MDGs, and the Earth Charter are really complementary to each other. There are cross-cutting issues and overlapping concerns, but each decla- ration also has its own niche in the segments of society. Even as the MDGs are more acceptable to governments at national, regional, and global levels; so the Earth Charter is more easily adopted by the civil society, media, parliamentarian, local gov- ernments, private sector, academicians, religious groups, and so on. These are target groups on which the Millennium Cam- paign is focusing. Hence, is it then still relevant to seek endorse- ment of the Earth Charter by the United Nations? . e v i t Today’s world has the resources, technology, and knowledge to a r e p eradicate poverty with a people-centered and rights-based m i l

a approach to development, and to integrate principles of sustain- t n e able development into national policies and programs. This m n o r campaign is about everybody’s participation, and if the Millen- i v n

e nium Development Goals advocates and Earth Charter support- d n

a ers can build synergy and campaign together, then we will be , l a i the first generation that can really see poverty eradicated. We c o s ,

l have no excuses.

a • c i h t e n a s a y t r e v o p e t a c i d a r E . 9 e l p i c n i r P

88 Part III: Social and Economic Justice The Earth Charter in Action