Sustaining an Uncertain Journey Towards Sustainable & Equitable
Development
------------- Soumya Dutta, Beyond Copenhagen / Bharat Jan
Vigyan Jatha, India----------------
One
of the biggest gatherings of world leaders on issues related to progress of the
human race without endangering its future survival in reasonable comfort, in
other words, on sustainable development – is about to start in the Brazilian
city of Rio-de-janeiro. This UN
Conference on Sustainable Development is supposed to be a follow up of the
first Earth Summit held in 1992 in the same city, and is thus also called the
Rio+20 conference. A decade before now,
the world also gathered at Johannesburg in 2002, to take stock of how far we
have travelled on that road, but the assessment was rather disappointing. The Earth Summit was also soon after the
global capitalist euphoria of the successful dismantling of the S oviet Union,
or as claimed – realization of ‘the end of history’. The Johannesburg summit came at a time when
even the ‘practitioners of the alternative’ succumbed to the ‘shock & awe’
of the western capitalist juggernaut. From now on, no more social-cultural
experiments or alternatives need be attempted by humanity ! From now on, the western model of
privatized, corporatized ‘liberal democracy’ will deliver all the results, for
everyone ! Another decade was about to
pass, but the 1992 Earth Summit’s well worked out Agenda 21, even the
half-hearted Millennium Development Goals – all seemed to be getting lost in
the din of unbridled market capitalism and the panacea offered by
liberalization-privatization-globalization.
The
world has changed somewhat again, and in not so hidden corners of the world –
distress and anger at the killing-exploitations and mind boggling disparities
have grown to become a perceived threat to the established world order. After the 2007-08 economic meltdown, millions
of people even in the developed world are now questioning many of these magic
mantras. The unquestioning acceptance of the private corporations, and their
intentions and abilities to deliver ‘development’, is no longer
wide-spread. No one could possibly have
foreseen the spread of the Occupy movement in the heartland of capitalism,
though the real picture & driving force of the so-called ‘Arab spring’ is
not yet clear. The shining attraction of
the Euro-zone has faded considerably.
And the accelerated exploitation and marginalization of large sections
of humanity – the indigenous, the disadvantaged women & children, the poor
of the world, has given birth to innumerable resistance movements across the
world, to some extent obliterating the North-South divide for the short-charged
people. Unlike at any point of time in
the past, the survival of deprived people is seen by the global society, as
intricately connected to the survival of the earth’s eco-systems. This has also brought into focus the age-old
understanding in indigenous societies – that of Rights & Needs of Mother
Earth, into global recognition.
With
this emerging new understanding, and the possibility of a new world order –
even if not in the immediate future – world leaders, political, social and
commercial – are about to meet again in Rio, to talk, debate, fight (with
voices & pens & guiles) and come to agreements about the future course
of the human experiment on this earth.
The road to Rio was neither smooth, nor does it give lots of hope. Very few signs are there of the acceptance of
the blunders our dominant societies committed and the plunders all of them
tried to their full capacities. Everyone agrees that the Earth is in danger of
becoming so badly scarred, that the life support systems might start
malfunctioning soon – for which signs are already visible. Climate change,
desertification, large-scale deforestation, ocean acidification – all are in
focus because of their massive threats, but none have been adequately addressed
by the global community of actors. We
know that we are pushing the planetary
boundaries to the limit, but we have not stopped doing so. The other boundaries of acceptable stress –
increasing joblessness, wide-spread-poverty, malnutrition & hunger,
collapse of social safety nets -- all are in the red zone for a majority of the
world’s people, even by conservative assessments. A significant part of the human race is
standing at the very edge of an abyss, and looking in anger at those who are
driving down towards them, blocking the only escape route. And the existing
governance systems in major parts of the world, refuse to accept that – you
cannot cure the ills by prescribing more of what caused the illness in the
first place.
With
this rather overcast sky as the backdrop, world’s leaders are about to meet
again in one of the biggest such gathering about the human survival and the
earth’s continuing suitability for that.
The primary document that was supposed to guide this new journey, the
zero Draft, subtitled “the Future We want”, has gone from somewhat objectionable
but comprehensible, to complicated beyond reasonable limits, so as to become
less & less useful to guide discussions. It has become difficult to fathom
– whose future they are talking about, and who all fit into this picture? The
two focus areas for the conference – Green Economy, and Institutional Framework
for Sustainable Development, have seen acrimonious debates and barely any
agreement. The debates have – of late –
degenerated to the levels of which institution is to be given more money, where
will some head-quarters be located and the like. The main players of the dirty and black
Economy have remained in the driver’s seat to chart out a green economy, and
they have understandably opted to paint their dirt green.
What should one do – if one’s conscience is
still alive – under this painful scenario?
Should one reject the entire exercise as useless, even illegitimate and
retrograde ? Does participation give
undeserved legitimacy to the “conferences of polluters”, as the Copenhagen
climate change conference (as well as the next two in Cancun and Durban) was
termed and turned out to be ? Does it compromise the strength and purity of the
voices of resistance ? Or is there merit in trying to engage many actors, in
the hope and design of blocking the more damaging pathways, in getting larger
voices organized around alternatives emerging from the ground ? How much does it help to build up human
connections in the face of de-humanized economy-focused nations ? How much of
these churning we have been able to generate in our own countries, states and
cities or villages, that can be an important enough input to the world stage
? Can some of the positive aspects be
strengthened by lending the support of those who are at the centre of
deliberations but not allowed in the glass palaces ? As representatives of the voices and
understandings of the exploited & the underprivileged, grounded-in-reality
civil society faces this difficult choice.
These are neither tick-the-right-box questions, nor there seem to be any
definitive yes-no answers, and the only course of action for us is to stay true
to our convictions and on charted pathways – irrespective of what the immediate
results turn out to be. That’s what we
are and will be trying -- raising issues, expanding collectives, establishing
bridges across physical oceans and economic gulfs and cultural foundations, to
become a humanity united by much more than the genetic identity of Homo Sapien
Sapiens, into a society which addresses these survival questions as earnestly
& honestly as they can.
A brief
introduction of major issues at Rio+20
There are 7 Critical Issues under serious consideration at
the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, and these are (paragraphs within
quotes – from the UNCSD document) -
“Economic
recession has taken a toll on both the quantity and quality of jobs. For the
190 million unemployed, and for over 500 million job seekers over the next 10
years, labour markets are vital not only for the production and generation of
wealth, but equally for its distribution. Economic action and social policies
to create gainful employment are critical for social cohesion and stability.
It's also crucial that work is geared to the needs of the natural environment.
"Green jobs" are positions in agriculture, industry, services and
administration that contribute to preserving or restoring the quality of the
environment. “
This is not the
result of an ‘economic recession’ alone, it started much earlier and the roots
are much deeper. In spite of these
expressed concerns, over the last 3 decades, the focus of most economies have
shifted to increased reliance on ‘automated’ production, eliminating more
jobs. With these ‘modernized
industries’, the investment required for creating a single job has gone up very
sharply, whereas the available investment has not kept pace, despite huge rise
in both production and the profits from the same investments. This has lead to
job-less growths in many economies. In
many southern countries, one of the biggest sources of giving people an earning
is livelihoods, not jobs. With massively increased and organized corporate
plunder and destruction of all kinds of natural resources, the very sustenance
of these livelihoods are under grave threats today. Land, forests, rivers, coasts – all that gave
billions of people their livelihood opportunities, are increasingly being
parceled out and given to private corporations by most governments. Jobs have not increased to take in these
doubly displaced people, creating explosive social situations. And in several southern countries, the
largest provider of both livelihoods and jobs – small holder agriculture or
peasant farming is being pushed out by policy initiatives. Unfortunately, these
understanding has not been acknowledged in its fundamentals, and the governance
push continues for more of the same change !
Energy
“Energy is
central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today.
Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing
incomes, access to energy for all is essential. Sustainable energy is needed
for strengthening economies, protecting ecosystems and achieving equity. United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is leading a Sustainable Energy for All
initiative to ensure universal access to modern energy services, improve
efficiency and increase use of renewable sources. “
Sustainable
energy is really one of the keys, but the thrust of the energy industry do not
seem to be taking cognizance. With
climate change and air & water pollution in many countries at an alarming
level, even today the world gets over 80% of its primary energy supply from
dirty fossil fuels. The dirtiest of them all – coal, is still considered the
mainstay of almost all the developing economies, and the continuing massive
increase in coal & coal-based electricity capacity in many of these
emerging countries is a mockery of sustainable energy talks. In the name of the
poor and energy deprived, these dirty energy capacity has been increased
hugely, while the reality is that a large percentage of the poor are still out
of the reach of the grid, which has served a sharply increased power demand of
the emerging elite and the middle classes in these societies. Except a few
notable exceptions, most developing economies have given a go-by to the
universal access idea, and focused mostly on increased energy availability. And
the not-so-hidden environmental & social costs of these dirty energy use is
being dumped mostly on the same energy deprived. Even the rich & developed countries, with
again very few exceptions to a certain degree, have not moved rapidly enough
away from the dirty energy and towards cleaner and more sustainable energy
sources. And the crucial question –
whether the earth can sustain the scale of energy extraction and use that these
rich economies have established, is not be found anywhere in the energy
debates.
“Cities are
hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social development
and much more. At their best, cities have enabled people to advance socially
and economically. However, many challenges exist to maintaining cities in a way
that continues to create jobs and prosperity while not straining land and
resources. Common city challenges include congestion, lack of funds to provide
basic services, a shortage of adequate housing and declining infrastructure.
The challenges cities face can be overcome in ways that allow them to continue
to thrive and grow, while improving resource use and reducing pollution and
poverty. “
Cities are also
the biggest sinks of most natural resources extracted, including energy, water,
food and metals & minerals. In spite of the knowledge that the present
urban models pushes up per person consumption drastically, very limited efforts
have been made to change either the pattern of consumptive urbanization, or to
slow down this trend. Globally, over
half the population already lives in cities, with over half that number living
in sub-standard conditions of urban slums.
Though some efforts are on to reduce the urban footprints in some areas
– like some attempts at promoting mass transportation, very few countries have looked
at the problem from a holistic viewpoint. The successful examples to make an
urban area less of a sucker, as demonstrated by Cuba – seems to find few other
takers. Following the trend in the
developed countries, attempts are being made in developing ones, to move
massive numbers of people from their rural base to the urban slums,
irrespective of their capacities to provide even basic services. The deeper
question of whether this is ecologically and socially desirable or sustainable,
is not being raised at all. Urbanization
has been accepted as a given, mostly because it helps in forming a monolithic
class of consumers of industrial products.
The sustainability of this increased urban consumption is a big question
mark.
“It is time to
rethink how we grow, share and consume our food. If done
right, agriculture, forestry and fisheries can provide nutritious food for all
and generate decent incomes, while supporting people-centered rural development
and protecting the environment.
But right now, our soils, freshwater, oceans, forests and biodiversity are
being rapidly degraded. Climate change is putting even more pressure on the
resources we depend on.
A profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are
to nourish today's 925 million hungry and the additional 2 billion people
expected by 2050. The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for
development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.”
There are vital
inter-linkages between all these ‘sectors’ that the ‘solution providers’ often
refuses to see and acknowledge. Increasing and fast-paced urbanization is
causing an accelerated loss of fertile agricultural lands in most developing
countries, as is the push for green-field industries on agricultural lands. The
massive agro-fuel programs of many developed countries, along with some of the
emerging ones, have diverted the vitally needed food-grains and other food into
making fuels for luxury cars, dramatically increasing the food insecurity for
the world’s poor, and yet these are certified as part of the “green economy”
! The huge consumption in developed
countries and increasing shift in many emerging ones -- towards industrial meat
production, has again diverted the poor’s food grains for fattening these, at
the cost of far lower availability of total food, and at affordable prices.
Water is a vital input for food production, and yet, more and more of this
limited resource is being diverted to consumer goods production in industrial
factories, starving food production.
Increased commercialization of the food-supply chain and the global
movement of produced food – with their attendant
grading—packaging--transportation, has dramatically increased the energy &
water consumption. The other result is the sky-rocketing costs, making food
unaffordable to the poor, sometimes even to the producers themselves, with an
increasingly affluent middle class consuming & wasting a larger share of
the available food. There might be
enough food available on a per capita basis, but that do not automatically
translate to food for every hungry stomach, and sustainable food system must
address both these challenges on an urgent basis.
There are
renewed attacks on the world’s small farmers, one of the consistent food growers
given the neglect and difficulties they have faced over the last 5-6 decades.
The primary contributors of the global green house emission, industry,
transport and commercial forestry – have not taken significant steps to reduce
their emissions, while the pressure is now building on the small food growers
in the southern countries – to do mitigation through soil carbon mitigation.
Many governments are rightly skeptical, but that has not prevented global
organizations like the FAO & the UNFCCC to push for this dangerous
approach, which will further threaten the survival of peasant farming.
Water
“Clean,
accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in.
There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this dream. But due to
bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of
them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply,
sanitation and hygiene. Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate
sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational
opportunities for poor families across the world. Drought afflicts some of the
world's poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition. By 2050, at least
one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or
recurring shortages of fresh water.”
Both water
availability and consumption varies tremendously between countries, and even
within countries - between classes and regions. The supposed consensus on
priorities, that drinking water & other basic human needs gets first
priority, followed by food production, is increasingly threatened in many
countries by the large scale water privatization for industrial use. The
recognition of the role of ecological flows of rivers and other ecological
water needs is only technical, not followed in policies and actions. Urbanization and industrialization are both
demanding and getting larger shares of scarce water resources, along with huge
waste generation, that also pollute the rivers and ground water sources. Spreading dumps of industrial pollutants –
coal-ash ponds of power plants being one big contributor – has contaminated
vital aquifers in large areas. Many of
the big urban centers in the emerging countries have dumped billions of liters
of untreated sewage into the very rivers they depend on for life support –
converting them into foul drains. Increasing numbers of dams on rivers are
killing aquatic eco-systems, as well as preventing aquifers along the course of
these rivers from getting recharged, whereas the withdrawal from them
increases. These have also stopped
billions of tons of fertile silt that were earlier carried to fertilize
millions of hectares, threatening the food security and increasing the demand
for GHG emitting synthetic fertilizers.
In spite of the UN general Assembly passing a resolution in July 2010,
on water and sanitation being basic rights of each human being, the global,
national and regional governance systems seem to be un-willing to change
course. The only silver lining appears to be the increasing assertiveness of
exploited communities, in reclaiming their own resources and sustainable
environments.
Oceans
“The world's
oceans - their temperature, chemistry, currents and life - drive global systems
that make the Earth habitable for humankind. Our rainwater, drinking water,
weather, climate, coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air
we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea. Throughout
history, oceans and seas have been vital conduits for trade and transportation.
Careful management of this essential global resource is a key feature of a
sustainable future. “
And yet, the
great rush for exploitation, further and deeper into the oceans continue. Taking advantage of the Arctic ice loss due
to global warming, the Arctic Ocean is being explored for possibly huge oil
resources, irrespective of the fact that this will hasten the reduction of
Arctic ice cover, decreasing the earth’s albedo and accelerating climate
change. The oceans are the biggest sink
– for not only the CO2 emitted by fossil fuel burning, but also of the heat
that is forced into the earth, with over 90% of this heat ending up in
them. Both this are causing a drop in
the ocean’s ability to absorb and retain CO2, leading to a dangerous positive
feed-back for a climate catastrophe. And the millions of marine life species
are finding this warmer, more acidic environment harder to adjust, resulting in
great stress on marine eco-systems.
Notwithstanding these, there are risky geo-engineering plans to inject
possibly billions of tons of CO2 – from the yet-untested-in-large-scale CCS
(carbon capture & storage) – under these threatened oceans ! The fish and other marine resources have been
depleted by both over exploitation and thermal & chemical pollutions, and
yet, there is an increased trend of locating huge coal & nuclear energy
based power plants on the coasts, increasing both thermal & chemical
pollutant loads on the coasts, and devastating coastal ecosystems and the
multiple millions of livelihoods that depend on coastal resources. The oceans are also being looked as the
possible sources of extension of our mining madness – for manganese nodules,
for methane hydrates etc. All these greed driven actions are trying to ignore
or hide the science of the oceans, indicating they are close to the ecological
tolerance boundary for life-support systems.
“Disasters
caused by earthquakes, floods, droughts, hurricanes, tsunamis and more can have
devastating impacts on people, environments and economies. But resilience --
the ability of people and places to withstand these impacts and recover quickly
-- remains possible. Smart choices help us recover from disasters, while poor
choices make us more vulnerable. These choices relate to how we grow our food,
where and how we build our homes, how our financial system works, what we teach
in schools and more. With a quickening pace of natural disasters taking a
greater toll on lives and property, and a higher degree of concentration of
human settlements, a smart future means planning ahead and staying alert.”
Both the global
rate of disasters and the number of people affected by these have increased
sharply over the last few decades, and most of the contributing factors are
anthropogenic, or rather, from certain kind of economic choices. Earthquakes & tsunamis are natural, but
human interference in the earth’s climate & other eco-systems have either
increased the floods, droughts, big storms, or increased their strength and
damages. There are studies to show that the most vulnerable countries are also
those that have contributed little or nothing to this increase, where those
causing this trend – though affected – are far less vulnerable. This called for a just and CBDR based
response – but increasingly, the richer countries have withdrawn from even the
minimal earlier commitments. Adaptation is a key need for the increasingly
vulnerable poorer societies, but there is hardly any support available, with
talks and vague assurances replacing actions and concrete commitments. On the other hand, the corporatization of
adaptation – through big-budget technological solutions is finding increasing
favour of even the poorer country governments.