Parallel and Side Events Contents Page

Global pillage? Maintaining local values in a globalizing world

Presented by IUCN, ICTSD (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development), and CEESP (Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy)

Wiseman Nkuhlu, New Partnership for Africa's Development, highlighted the need for African leaders to adopt leadership responsibilities, including: accountability, developing participative mechanisms, and fulfilling international commitments. He emphasized the importance of developing relationships with developed countries on trade, debt, investment, and participation in global processes.

Mark Heywood, AIDS Law Project, highlighted the link between health and sustainable development and the challenges posed by the spread of HIV and the lack of access to medicines. He identified the HIV epidemic as an example of disease of globalization, and noted that treatment of HIV in developed and developing countries cannot be the same. He also noted the failure of global market research, production and distribution mechanisms to work equitably. He underscored the need to define legally binding content for the human right to health.

Mark Moody-Stuart, Business Action for Sustainable Development, underscored that the development of local governance structures is an essential means to ensuring equity. He said the private sector should promote positive business behavior and highlighted the commercial advantages for businesses to support and respect local values.

Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, suggested identifying the best local democratic framework for integrating global markets and local values. She stressed the need to respect local communities' rights and recommended that ethics drive the globalization process.

Ian Goldin, the World Bank, drew attention to the management of globalization and defined equity as the power of local communities to determine their future. He highlighted the need for World Bank projects to be determined by local needs.

Alain Lipietz, European Parliament, stressed the importance of developing universal values on the basis of common local values for reshaping global trade to ensure sustainable local development. He underscored the role of cultural diversity for maintaining biodiversity.

Yolanda Kakabadse, IUCN, equated globalization with inequity, and said that competitiveness and lack of solidarity are the most apparent consequences of globalization. She called for an inclusive international code of ethics.

Imagining a better future

Presented by IUCN - the World Conservation Union

Ged Davis, Shell, explained that scenarios for the future can be used to make informed business choices in the present, and presented Shell's 30 years' experience in developing and using scenarios for strategic planning. Noting that many of Shell's investments are long-term, he stressed that scenarios assist in risk assessment and management, and are effective tools for assessing complicated issues such as climate change. He underscored the importance of involving stakeholders in scenario development.

Paul Raskin, the Stockholm Environment Institute/the Tellus Institute, noted that civilization is in the midst of transition, and said that scenarios can be used to clarify options and foster wise decision making. He outlined three categories of scenarios for the future: "conventional worlds" scenarios driven by market forces and policy reform; "barbarization," resulting in increased marginalization or civilization breakdown; and "great transitions" through eco-communalism or a new sustainability paradigm. Raskin emphasized the utility of value-driven scenarios based on quality of life, human solidarity and ecological sensibility, and stressed the need for political will to drive political reforms. Raskin said that political reform without the right political will may lead to a sustainable but undesirable world.

Joke Waller-Hunter, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, noted that the continued rise in CO2 emissions from OECD countries is likely to result in a rise in global temperatures in the 21st century. She said that adverse impacts include deteriorating health, floods, and changes in productivity and ecosystems, and stressed that developing countries will be most affected by these changes. Waller-Hunter said that a combination of mitigation and adaptation measures is needed, and called for improving scenarios on adaptation.

Will Day, Care International, noted that 90% of future population growth will take place in urban areas, and called for an increased focus on sustainable urbanization. He stated that although poor urban people are often socially excluded or marginalized, cities have the potential to offer efficient services and products. He underscored the need to: address poor urban people's needs; increase equity; implement relevant legislation; invest in the private sector; and increase civil society efforts to disseminate views from the public.