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Since ancient time the ambitious politicians
of great powers were concerning how to govern the
world, in which way to achieve the world domination.
The collapses of many once powerful empires, however,
eloquently demonstrate the utopianism of the concept
of historically continuous world domination of either
ideology or either state.
Sooner or later the claimants for the world
governance will crash. The only ideology which will
exist as long as the life will exist on the Earth
– the ideology of ecological imperative or ecological
limitations of economic growth.
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Such postulate became especially coherent at
the end of the twentieth century, when the global
situation has been drastically changed. Politicians
and nations have been challenged by essentially new
problem – the necessity to manage the integral and
interconnected Earth Ecosystem towards environment
protection and sustainable development.
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The world action program – the Agenda-21 has
been adopted
at the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development in Rio de Janeiro, 1992. It could
be argued today, from the stand of decade passed after
the Rio-92, that the topmost achievement of this unprecedented
world summit has been the origination of recruit process
among all social groups of the world population for
wide participation in resolving global problems on
protection of the integral Earth Ecosystem and sustainable
development.
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There are many statements in the world literature
arguing that the resolutions, adopted by 179 states
at the Rio-92 Conference, are able to change our life
in the twenty first century. These resolutions are
really radical and mainly free from conjuncture. They
reflect the cruel realities of contemporary stage
in the world history, which are linked to the challenge:
may or not the present generation survive at the Earth.
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However, there aren’t visible positive changes
even today, in 2002, a few months before the WSSD.
Implementation of the program for economically and
socially sustained and ecologically secure development,
declared by the Rio-92 Summit (Agenda-21), is going
unsatisfactorily.
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It means that
some strong additional impetus should be applied.
In our opinion such impetus might appear if the world
community would be able to perceive the idea of establishing
the World Ecological Constitution (WEC) and the necessity
of its urgent development and adoption. In other case
the expectations based on the Rio-92 resolutions will
not be actualized. So the WSSD could correct the situation
only in that case if the participating states would
recognize the expediency of the idea of establishing
the WEC and adopt the necessary resolutions on this
issue (Declaration, the draft of which is presented
in chapter 3.5.3), as well as the appropriate Resolution
on establishing the international ad hoc commission for drafting the WEC.
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It is deemed that the Rio-92 Summit has become,
in some respects, the first international experiment
on democratization of the intergovernmental processes
of decision making. In principle, one could agree
with such rating, but with an admonition, that the
results of this experiment could not satisfy us. All
of us, people of the Earth, today, as never before,
are interconnected by common fate and cardinal problem
of surviving.
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The solution of this problem should be searched
both at the national and international levels. The
humanity is gradually realizing that international
organizations and national governments should become
more and more accountable to the world community,
react to its thoughts and aspirations.
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The world movement towards sustainable development
would be really successful as long as wide range of
different social groups and national governments take
part in decision making and implementation of the
Agenda-21 at national and international levels. Thus,
in our opinion, it is very important to develop and
adopt the global legal act of legally binding (jus
cogens) status, as well as to harmonize national
legislation and multilateral and bilateral international
agreements on environment protection with requirements
of the WEC. In other case it is impossible to move
towards sustainable development.
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The following postulate has become avowed:
natural environment, ecological requirements and social
and economic development could not be considered separately.
States should ensure their policy building and decision
making with an eye to ecological effects of social
and economic development, its impact on environment
and vice versa.
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Up to now the implementation of the Agenda-21
is going unsatisfactorily, no matter that it has been
adopted on the basis of joint agreement of 179 states
and that this program of global cooperation is directed
toward harmonic achievement of, at least, four vital
goals, namely: high quality of natural environment,
high standard of health, eradication of poverty and
development of effective economies for all people
in the world. We should deeply think over the inadequate
implementation of the Rio-92 resolutions, which have
been adopted on the basis of consensus by almost all
countries of the world.
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One could logically assume that the main cause
of such situation is, obviously, non-legally binding
(not obligatory) nature of the Rio-92 documents. It
could be surely argued that the Rio-process will be
slowing down in future if its basic documents would
not get a stronger legal status, in other words, if
they would not be translated to legal language. It
means the necessity to elaborate the global legal
act – the World Ecological Constitution, on the basis
of the UNCED Rio-92 resolutions and other internationally
recognized documents on environment and development.
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In the second part of the twentieth century
the humanity has begun to realize that healthy society
and strong economy are impossible along with the total
degradation of natural environment and natural resources
depletion as well as along with the poverty, inherent
to the most countries of the world. It is clear that
economic development could not be stopped, however
it should move in essentially distinct way, without
destruction of natural environment. At the beginning
of the twenty first century it is becoming necessary,
as never before, to reinforce this perception by the
document of legally binding status.
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We believe that only after establishment of
the WEC and its control bodies it would be possible
to expect that mankind’s aspiration towards sustainable
development on the basis of integration of economic
concerns and ecological imperatives would be gradually
realizing in concrete deals. The long-expected radical
changes will be going at all hierarchical stages of
economic activity governance.
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Different concrete versions of approaches to
above mentioned problem are emerging from the cogent
postulate about the necessity to manage the Global
Earth Ecosystem with an aim of life preservation and
sustainable development.
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One might propose, say, the creation of the
World Government; such concept has been already discussed
in the foreign literature, but it is utopian. The
idea to establish the World Government is impossible
and inadvisable. It would violate the right of each
country for national sovereignty.
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I connection with
a contemporary globalization it seems to be
reasonable to develop and adopt the World Economic
Constitution. However it is impossible to implement
such idea, regardless of especial activity of globalization
processes. The document of such kind would bear the
elements of discrimination towards market economy
and free competition.
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It is likely to apply other versions of this
problem resolving, namely to manage the Global Earth
Ecosystem with an aim of its preservation. In our
opinion the most real and fruitful of them could be
the elaboration and adoption of the World Ecological
Constitution or, as we call it in this publication,
the Ecological Constitution of the Earth. All countries
of the world could agree with such version after long
lasting expository activity, since the WEC doesn’t
threat the sovereignty of any country, doesn’t affect
the national economic interests, freedom of conscience
and church and doesn’t deny any ideology, with an
exception of anti-ecological one. The WEC would antagonize
the destruction of natural living space, which has
been recognized as commonweal of all nations.
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Thus, the elaboration of the WEC
should be treated as an objective necessity, that
has been testified by the analyses of the Rio-92 resolutions
failure. This document should serve as the main legal
act for environment protection and sustainable development.
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The sooner humankind will realize the necessity
to elaborate the World Ecological Constitution, the
main law for surviving and sustainable development,
the better chance it would have to avert the ecological
threats, to protect the integral Earth Ecosystem and
to maintain the life on the planet.
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We were thinking about the World Ecological
Constitution as a rescue for humanity both before
and after the Rio-92 Conference. We were developing
the idea of its elaboration both before and after
the Rio+5 Summit in 1997. We are troubling and working
on it today, in 2002, before the Rio+10 Summit.
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During all these years we were ceaselessly
believing that once people will understand the essence
of the idea, and, as a result, they will elaborate
and embrace the World Ecological Constitution.
- We are afraid of one thing only,
lest this understanding will arrive too late
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