According to its website, ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) now called ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is an association of over 1220 local government Members who are committed to sustainable development.
“ICLEI is an international association of local governments as well as national and regional local government organizations who have made a commitment to sustainable development.
“ICLEI was founded in 1990 as the ‘International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’. The Council was established when more than 200 local governments from 43 countries convened at our inaugural conference, the World Congress of Local Governments for a Sustainable Future, at the United Nations in New York.
Each member of ICLEI pays dues to belong.
ICLEI promotes…
- UN Agenda 21 – Sustainable Development
- The Wildlands Project; and
- The Earth Charter
What is UN Agenda 21 – Sustainable Development?
According to its authors, the objective of sustainable development is to integrate economic, social and environmental policies in order to achieve reduced consumption, social equity, and the preservation and restoration of biodiversity. Sustainablists insist that every societal decision be based on environmental impact, focusing on three components; global land use, global education, and global population control and reduction.
Revealing Quotes From the Planners
“Agenda 21 proposes an array of actions which are intended to be implemented by EVERY person on Earth…it calls for specific changes in the activities of ALL people… Effective execution of Agenda 21 will REQUIRE a profound reorientation of ALL humans, unlike anything the world has ever experienced… ” Agenda 21: The Earth Summit Strategy to Save Our Planet (Earthpress, 1993). Emphases – DR
Urgent to implement – but we don’t know what it is!
“The realities of life on our planet dictate that continued economic development as we know it cannot be sustained…Sustainable development, therefore is a program of action for local and global economic reform – a program that has yet to be fully defined.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.
“No one fully understands how or even, if, sustainable development can be achieved; however, there is growing consensus that it must be accomplished at the local level if it is ever to be achieved on a global basis.” The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide, published by ICLEI, 1996.
Agenda 21 and Private Property
“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth, therefore contributes to social injustice.” -From the report from the 1976 UN’s Habitat I Conference.
“Private land use decisions are often driven by strong economic incentives that result in several ecological and aesthetic consequences…The key to overcoming it is through public policy…” -Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development, page 112.
“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class – involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing are not sustainable.” -Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s Earth Summit, 1992.
Reinvention of Government
“We need a new collaborative decision process that leads to better decisions, more rapid change, and more sensible use of human, natural and financial resources in achieving our goals.” -Report from the President’s Council on Sustainable Development
“Individual rights will have to take a back seat to the collective.” -Harvey Ruvin, Vice Chairman, ICLEI. The Wildlands Project
“We must make this place an insecure and inhospitable place for Capitalists and their projects – we must reclaim the roads and plowed lands, halt dam construction, tear down existing dams, free shackled rivers and return to wilderness millions of tens of millions of acres or presently settled land.” -Dave Foreman, Earth First.
What is not sustainable?
“Ski runs, grazing of livestock, plowing of soil, building fences, industry, single family homes, paved and tarred roads, logging activities, dams and reservoirs, power line construction, and economic systems that fail to set proper value on the environment.” -UN’s Biodiversity Assessment Report.
The Wildlands Project
The Wildlands Project would set up to one-half of America into core wilderness reserves and interconnecting corridors, all surrounded by interconnecting buffer zones .
No human activity would be permitted in the core areas, and only highly regulated activity would be permitted in the buffer areas.
Four concerned conservative activists who now make up the board of Sovereignty International were able to find UN documentation that proved the Wildlands Project concept was to provide the basis for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. UN biospheres and World Heritage Parks, along with other designations, fall under the Wildlands Project’s goals.
The Earth Charter
ICLEI: Local Governments for Sustainability endorsed the Earth Charter in the year 2000.
The Earth Charter incorporates just “some” of the following:
- …a global partnership to care for the Earth
- Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions, and ways of living.
- a global civil society
- a sense of universal responsibility, identifying ourselves with the whole Earth community as well as our local communities. We are at once citizens of different nations and of one world in which the local and global are linked.
- shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.
- Establish and safeguard viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands and marine areas,
- …apply a precautionary approach.
- Ensure universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.
- ensure a a sustainable livelihood
- Promote the equitable distribution of wealth within nations and among nations.
- Enhance ..resources of developing nations, and relieve them of onerous international debt.
- Support local, regional and global civil society,
- …moral and spiritual education for sustainable living.
- …use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve environmental conflicts and other disputes.
- Demilitarize national security systems
- This requires a change of mind and heart. It requires a new sense of global interdependence and universal responsibility.
- In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations, fulfill their obligations under existing international agreements, and support the implementation of Earth Charter principles with an international legally binding instrument on environment and development.
(from http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html) (Highlighted version can be seen here: https://nwri.org/earth-charter/)
Read also about the Earth Charter U.S. at http://www.earthcharterus.org/ whose mission is to implement the Earth Charter’s vision and principles in their personal lifestyles, institutional policies/practices, educational policies/curricula, and community initiatives.
To learn whether your city or county is a member of ICLEI, click here.
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