R3 A29: CHARTER OF THE GLOBAL GREENS

General Descritption: The Global Greens is the international network of Green
parties and political movements.

Insert Table of Contents

Charter Text:

Preamble

We, as citizens of the planet and members of the Global Greens,

United in our awareness that we depend on the Earth’s vitality, diversity and
beauty, and that it is our responsibility to pass them on, undiminished or even
improved, to the next generation

Recognising that the dominant patterns of human production and consumption,
based on the dogma of economic growth at any cost and the excessive and wasteful
use of natural resources without considering Earth’s carrying capacity, are
causing extreme deterioration in the environment and a massive extinction of
species

Acknowledging that injustice, racism, poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime and
violence, armed conflict and the search for maximum short term profit are
causing widespread human suffering

Accepting that developed countries through their pursuit of economic and
political goals have contributed to the degradation of the environment and of
human dignity

Understanding that many of the world’s peoples and nations have been
impoverished by the long centuries of colonisation and exploitation, creating an
ecological debt owed by the rich nations to those that have been impoverished

Committed to closing the gap between rich and poor and building a citizenship
based on equal rights for all individuals in all spheres of social, economic,
political and cultural life

Recognising that without equality between men and women, no real democracy can
be achieved

Concerned for the dignity of humanity and the value of cultural heritage

Recognising the rights of indigenous people and their contribution to the common
heritage, as well as the right of all minorities and oppressed peoples to their
culture, religion, economic and cultural life

Convinced that cooperation rather than competition is a pre-requisite for
ensuring the guarantee of such human rights as nutritious food, comfortable
shelter, health, education, fair labour, free speech, clean air, potable water
and an unspoilt natural environment

Recognising that the environment ignores borders between countries and

Building on the Declaration of the Global Gathering of Greens at Rio in 1992

Assert the need for fundamental changes in people’s attitudes, values, and ways
of producing and living

Declare that the new millennium provides a defining point to begin that
transformation

Resolve to promote a comprehensive concept of sustainability which

• protects and restores the integrity of the Earth’s ecosystems, with
  special concern for biodiversity and the natural processes that sustain
  life;

• acknowledges the interrelatedness of all ecological, social and economic
  processes

• balances individual interests with the common good; • harmonises freedom
  with responsibility;

• welcomes diversity within unity;

• reconciles short term objectives with long term goals;

• ensures that future generations have the same right as the present
  generation to natural and cultural benefits;

Affirm our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and
to future generations

Commit ourselves as Green parties and political movements from around the world
to implement these interrelated principles and to create a global partnership in
support of their fulfillment.

Principles

The policies of the Global Greens are founded upon the principles of

Ecological Wisdom

We acknowledge that human beings are part of the natural world and we respect
the specific values of all forms of life, including non-human species.

We acknowledge the wisdom of the indigenous peoples of the world, as custodians
of the land and its resources.

We acknowledge that human society depends on the ecological resources of the
planet, and must ensure the integrity of ecosystems and preserve biodiversity
and the resilience of life supporting systems.

This requires

• that we learn to live within the ecological and resource limits of the
  planet;

• that we protect animal and plant life, and life itself that is sustained
  by the natural elements: earth, water, air and sun;

• where knowledge is limited, that we take the path of caution, in order to
  secure the continued abundance of the resources of the planet for present
  and future generations.

Social Justice

We assert that the key to social justice is the equitable distribution of social
and natural resources, both locally and globally, to meet basic human needs
unconditionally, and to ensure that all citizens have full opportunities for
personal and social development.

We declare that there is no social justice without environmental justice, and no
environmental justice without social justice.

This requires

• a just organization of the world and a stable world economy which will
  close the widening gap between rich and poor, both within and between
  countries; balance the flow of resources from South to North; and lift the
  burden of debt on poor countries which prevents their development;

• the eradication of poverty, as an ethical, social, economic, and
  ecological imperative;

• the elimination of illiteracy;

• a new vision of citizenship built on equal rights for all individuals
  regardless of gender, race, age, religion, class, ethnic or national
  origin, sexual orientation, disability, wealth or health.

Participatory Democracy

We strive for a democracy in which all citizens have the right to express their
views, and are able to directly participate in the environmental, economic,
social and political decisions which affect their lives; so that power and
responsibility are concentrated in local and regional communities, and devolved
only where essential to higher tiers of governance.

This requires

• individual empowerment through access to all the relevant information
  required for any decision, and access to education to enable all to
  participate;

• breaking down inequalities of wealth and power that inhibit participation;

• building grassroots institutions that enable decisions to be made directly
  at the appropriate level by those affected, based on systems which
  encourage civic vitality, voluntary action and community responsibility;

• strong support for giving young people a voice through educating,
  encouraging and assisting youth involvement in every aspect of political
  life including their participation in all decision making bodies;

• that all elected representatives are committed to the principles of
  transparency, truthfulness, and accountability in governance;

• that all electoral systems are transparent and democratic, and that this
  is enforced by law;

• that in all electoral systems, each adult has an equal vote;

• that all electoral systems are based on proportional representation, and
  all elections are publicly funded with strict limits on, and full
  transparency of, corporate and private donations;

• that all citizens have the right to be a member of the political party of
  their choice within a multi-party system.

Nonviolence

We declare our commitment to nonviolence and strive for a culture of peace and
cooperation between states, inside societies and between individuals, as the
basis of global security.

We believe that security should not rest mainly on military strength but on
cooperation, sound economic and social development, environmental safety, and
respect for human rights.

This requires

• a comprehensive concept of global security, which gives priority to
  social, economic, ecological, psychological and cultural aspects of
  conflict, instead of a concept based primarily on military balances of
  power;

• a global security system capable of the prevention, management and
  resolution of conflicts;

• removing the causes of war by understanding and respecting other cultures,
  eradicating racism, promoting freedom and democracy, and ending global
  poverty;

• pursuing general and complete disarmament including international
  agreements to ensure a complete and definitive ban of nuclear, biological
  and chemical arms, antipersonnel mines and depleted uranium weapons;

• strengthening the United Nations (UN) as the global organisation of
  conflict management and peacekeeping; • pursuing a rigorous code of
  conduct on arms exports to countries where human rights are being
  violated.

Sustainability

We recognise the limited scope for the material expansion of human society
within the biosphere, and the need to maintain biodiversity through sustainable
use of renewable resources and responsible use of non-renewable resources.

We believe that to achieve sustainability, and in order to provide for the needs
of present and future generations within the finite resources of the earth,
continuing growth in global consumption, population and material inequity must
be halted and reversed.

We recognise that sustainability will not be possible as long as poverty
persists.

This requires

• ensuring that the rich limit their consumption to allow the poor their
  fair share of the earth's resources;

• redefining the concept of wealth, to focus on quality of life rather than
  capacity for over-consumption;

• creating a world economy which aims to satisfy the needs of all, not the
  greed of a few; and enables those presently living to meet their own
  needs, without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet
  theirs;

• eliminating the causes of population growth by ensuring economic security,
  and providing access to basic education and health, for all; giving both
  men and women greater control over their fertility;

• redefining the roles and responsibilities of trans-national corporations
  in order to support the principles of sustainable development;

• implementing mechanisms to tax, as well as regulating, speculative
  financial flows;

• ensuring that market prices of goods and services fully incorporate the
  environmental costs of their production and consumption;

• achieving greater resource and energy efficiency and development and use
  of environmentally sustainable technologies;

• encouraging local self-reliance to the greatest practical extent to create
  worthwhile, satisfying communities;

• recognising the key role of youth culture and encouraging an ethic of
  sustainability within that culture.

Respect for Diversity

We honour cultural, linguistic, ethnic, sexual, religious and spiritual
diversity within the context of individual responsibility toward all beings.

We defend the right of all persons, without discrimination, to an environment
supportive of their dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being

We promote the building of respectful, positive and responsible relationships
across lines of division in the spirit of a multi-cultural society.

This requires

• recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples to the basic means of
  their survival, both economic and cultural, including rights to land and
  to self determination; and acknowledgment of their contribution to the
  common heritage of national and global culture;

• recognition of the rights of ethnic minorities to develop their culture,
  religion and language without discrimination, and to full legal, social
  and cultural participation in the democratic process;

• recognition of and respect for sexual minorities;

• equality between women and men in all spheres of social, economic,
  political and cultural life;

• significant involvement of youth culture as a valuable contribution to our
  Green vision, and recognition that young people have distinct needs and
  modes of expression.

Polical Action

1 Democracy

1.1 The majority of the world's people live in countries with undemocratic
regimes where corruption is rampant and human rights abuses and press censorship
are commonplace. Developed democracies suffer less apparent forms of corruption
through media concentration, corporate political funding, systematic exclusion
of racial, ethnic, national and religious communities, and electoral systems
that discriminate against alternative ideas and new and small parties.

The Greens

• 1.2 Have as a priority the encouragement and support of grassroots
  movements and other organisations of civil society working for democratic,
  transparent and accountable government, at all levels.

• 1.3 Actively support giving young people a voice through educating,
  encouraging and assisting youth participation in every aspect of political
  action.

• 1.4 Will strive for the democratisation of gender relations by promoting
  appropriate mediations to enable women and men equally to take part in the
  economic, political, social sphere.

• 1.5 Support the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
  (OECD) Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in
  International Business and urge non-parties to sign and ratify without
  further delay

• 1.6 Uphold the right of citizens to have access to official information
  and to free and independent media.

• 1.7 Will work for universal access to electronic communications and
  information technology, as minimum, through radio, community-based
  internet and email. We will also work to make access to these technologies
  as cheap as possible.

• 1.8 Uphold a just secular legal system that ensures the right of defence
  and practices proportionality between crime and punishment.

• 1.9 Support the public funding of elections, and measures to ensure all
  donations are fully transparent and accountable and are free from undue
  influence, whether perceived or otherwise.

• 1.10 Will challenge corporate domination of government, especially where
  citizens are deprived of their right to political participation.

• 1.11 Support the separation of powers between the executive, legislative
  and judicial

• 1.12 systems, and the separation of state and religion.

• 1.13 Support the development and strengthening of local government.

• 1.14 Support the restructuring of state institutions to democratise and
  make them more transparent and efficient in serving the goal of citizens’
  power and sustainable development.

• 1.15 Support improved global governance of multilateral institutions based
  on appropriate democratic and universal principles.

2 Equity

2.1 The differences in living standards and opportunities in the world today are
intolerable. Third world debt is at an all time high of US$3.7 trillion while
Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries give just
0.31% of GNP in aid. The richest 20% of the world's population has 83% of global
income while the poorest 20%, including nearly 50% of the world's young people,
share barely 1% and 2.6 billion people live on less than US$2 a day. 60% of the
world’s poor are women. 130 million children never attend school while 800
million adults can neither read nor write, two-thirds of them women Population
growth has slowed but world population is projected to grow from 6.1 billion in
2000 to 8.9 billion in 2050, an increase of 47%. Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) infections remain severe problems.

The Greens

• 2.2 Will work to increase government aid to developing countries, and
  support aid funding being directed to the poorest of the poor, with the
  priorities being determined through working with local communities.

• 2.3 Will work to improve the rights, status, education and political
  participation of women.

• 2.4 Commit ourselves to the goal of making high quality primary education
  universal by 2015 financed through increased aid and debt relief.

• 2.5 Will work towards cancellation of developing country debt especially
  in the poorest countries, and support the use of incentives to ensure that
  savings from debt relief are channeled into poverty reduction and
  environment conservation, and that transparent and accountable processes
  are in place with participation from affected communities.

• 2.6 See concerted action to combat the great pandemics including HIV-Aids,
  TB and malaria as a priority, especially in Africa, where a twofold effort
  is needed to allow general access to low cost and efficient therapies, and
  to restore economic progress, especially through education.

• 2.7 Recognise the right to compensation of those people that lose access
  to their natural resources through displacement by environmental
  destruction or human intervention such as colonisation and migration.

• 2.8 Will review the relationship between exclusive ownership of property
  and exclusive use of its resources, with a view to curbing environmental
  abuse and extending access for basic livelihood to all, especially
  indigenous communities.

• 2.9 Will work to ensure that all men, women and children can achieve
  economic security, without recourse to personally damaging activities such
  as pornography, prostitution or the sale of organs.

• 2.10 Will commit to work for more equal allocation of welfare and for
  creation of equal opportunities inside all our societies, recognising that
  there is a growing number of poor and marginalised people in developed
  countries also.

• 2.11 Understand that the current form of financialised neo-liberal
  capitalism aids the rich and is crisis prone. It contributes to growing
  inequality and dispossession of poor people.

• 2.12 Will defend and promote the human, social and environmental rights of
  people of colour.

3 Climate Change and Energy

3.1 The climate crisis is both greatest challenge facing the global community
and the greatest opportunity for humanity to rethink how we live, in a way that
is socially just and within the Earth's ecological limits. The Greens are
committed to limiting global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees above
pre-industrial levels. Global emissions will need to peak well before 2020 to
have a chance to stay within this temperature limit.

The Greens

• 3.2 Adopt the target of limiting CO2 levels in the atmosphere to 450ppm in
  the shortest period possible.

• 3.3 Will work to support a rapid transition to zero carbon economies
  around the world.

• 3.4 Will work to establish an international emissions reporting framework
  for trans- national corporations, linked to global carbon taxes and global
  environmental loads.

• 3.5 Will work hard to ensure that developing countries have access to the
  most efficient, sustainable and appropriate technology, with a strong
  focus on renewable energy, and that they agree to Climate Change
  Conventions to ensure that actions are comprehensive and worldwide. The
  equity principle must be at the core of climate.

• 3.6 change negotiations and measures.

• 3.7 Oppose any expansion of nuclear power and will work to phase it out
  rapidly.

• 3.8 Will support a call for a moratorium on new fossil fuel exploration
  and development.

• 3.9 Will work to stop deforestation and degradation of natural forests by
  2020, noting that they are the most carbon rich ecosystems on the planet,
  vital to indigenous people, rich in plants and animals, and irreplaceable
  in any human time scale.

• 3.10 Promote tree planting of diverse species but not monocultures, as a
  short-term measure for carbon sequestration, with other benefits for the
  environment.

• 3.11 Promote the levying of taxes on non-renewable energy and support the
  use of funds raised to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy.

• 3.12 Support research into the use of sustainable energy sources and the
  technical development of ecological power production.

• 3.13 Promote transfer of energy efficient technologies and green power
  infrastructure between and within countries and economies on a no-costs or
  minimal costs basis. This is one of the economic costs of the emissions to
  date by western countries.

4 Biodiversity

4.1 Healthy ecosystems are essential to human life, yet we seem to have
forgotten the relationship between nature and society. Extinction rates are 100
to 1000 times higher than in pre-human times. Only 20% of the Earth's original
forests remain relatively undisturbed. 80% of fish stocks are already depleted
or in danger of being overfished. Invasions by non-native plants, animals and
diseases are growing rapidly. Habitat destruction and species extinction are
driven by industrial and agricultural development that also exacerbates climate
change, global inequity and the destruction of indigenous cultures and
livelihoods. Agricultural monoculture, promoted by agribusiness and accelerated
by genetic modification and patenting of nature, threatens the diversity of crop
and domestic animal species, radically increasing vulnerability to disease.

The Greens

• 4.2 Will vigorously oppose environmentally destructive agricultural and
  industrial development and give primary effort to protecting native plants
  and animals in their natural habitat, and wherever possible in large
  tracts.

• 4.3 Will work to remove subsidies for environmentally destructive
  activities, including logging, fossil fuel exploitation, dam construction,
  mining, genetic engineering and agricultural monoculture.

• 4.4 Will promote ecological purchasing policies, for products such as
  wood, based only on the most rigorous definition of sustainability backed
  by credible labelling.

• 4.5 Support the concept of 'debt for nature' swaps, subject to the
  agreement of affected indigenous and local communities. 4.6 Will promote
  the repair of degraded natural environments, and the cleanup of toxic
  sites of former and existing military and industrial zones around the
  world.

• 4.7 Note that reducing the transport of goods around the world, in line
  with a preference for local production where possible, will have the added
  benefit of reducing 'bioinvasions', as well as reducing fossil fuel
  consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

• 4.8 Commit to promote a global ecology curriculum for all levels of
  education.

• 4.9 Will work towards establishing an international court of justice
  specifically for environmental destruction and the loss of biodiversity
  where cases can be heard against corporations, national, states and
  individuals.

• 4.10 Will refuse to accept the patenting and merchandising of life.

5 Governing economic globalisation by sustainability principles

5.1 Fifty-three of the 100 biggest economies in the world today are
corporations. With the collusion of governments, they have created a legal
system that puts unfettered economic activity above the public good, protects
corporate welfare but attacks social welfare, and makes national economies
subservient to a global financial casino that turns over $US3 trillion per day
in speculative transactions. The Global Financial Crisis has increased
volatility and insecurity in all economies, with the most significant impact on
poorer individuals, groups and countries. The IMF and the World Bank have
contributed to this crisis rather than been part of the solution; the
prerequisites on which they are based are not fit to create a global,
sustainable and just economic system.

The Greens

• 5.2 Affirm that essentials of life, such as water, must remain publicly
  owned and controlled; and that culture, basic access to food, social and
  public health, education, and a free media are not 'commodities' to be
  subjected to international market agreements.

• 5.3 Support the creation of a World Environment Organisation by combining
  the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the United Nations
  Development Program (UNDP), and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) into
  a single institution with funding and power to impose sanctions to promote
  global sustainable development. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) should
  be subject to the decisions of this body.

• 5.4 Support serious reform of the World Bank and IMF so that their
  membership and decision-making are democratic, and their operations
  subservient to sustainability principles and to all international
  conventions on human and labour rights, and environmental protection.

• 5.5 Support serious reform of the WTO to make sustainability its central
  goal, supported by transparent and democratic processes and the
  participation of representatives from affected communities. In addition
  there must be separation of powers to remove the disputes settlement
  mechanism from the exclusive competence of the WTO. A sustainability
  impact assessment of earlier Negotiation Rounds is required before any new
  steps are taken.

• 5.6 Will work to prevent the implementation of new regional or hemispheric
  trade and investment agreements under the WTO rules but support countries'
  integration processes that assure people's welfare and environmental
  sustainability.

• 5.7 Will create a world environment where financial and economic
  institutions and organisations will nurture and protect environmentally
  sustainable projects that will sustain communities at all levels (local,
  regional, national and international).

• 5.8 Demand that international agreements on the environment, labour
  conditions and health should take precedence over any international rules
  on trade.

• 5.9 Will work to implement a Tobin-Henderson or Financial Transactions Tax
  and other instruments to curb speculative international currency
  transactions and help encourage investment in the real economy, and to
  create funds to promote equity in global development.

• 5.10 Will work to require corporations to abide by the environmental,
  labour and social laws of their own country and of the country in which
  they are operating, whichever are the more stringent.

• 5.11 Will work to ensure that all global organizations, especially those
  with significant capacity to define the rules of international trade,
  firmly adhere to principles of sustainable development and pursue a
  training program of cultural change to fully realise this goal.

• 5.12 Want corporate welfare made transparent and subject to the same level
  of accountability as social welfare, with subsidies to environmentally and
  socially destructive activities phased out altogether.

• 5.13 Endorse the development of civic entrepreneurship to promote a
  community-based economy as a way of combating social exclusion caused by
  economic globalisation.

6 Human rights

6.1 Denial of human rights and freedoms goes hand in hand with poverty and
political powerlessness. Millions suffer discrimination, intimidation, arbitrary
detention, violence and death. Three-quarters of the world's governments have
used torture in the last three years.

The Greens

• 6.2 Endorse the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International
  Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International
  Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Labour Organisation
  (ILO) conventions, and other international instruments for the protection
  of rights and freedoms. We believe that these rights are universal and
  indivisible and that national governments are responsible for upholding
  them.

• 6.3 Condemn all dictatorships and regimes which deny human rights,
  regardless of their political claims.

• 6.4 Will work with local communities to promote awareness of human rights,
  and to ensure that the UN Commission for Human Rights and other treaty
  bodies are adequately resourced.

• 6.5 Call for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be amended to
  include rights to a healthy natural environment and intergenerational
  rights to natural and cultural resources.

• 6.6 Uphold the right of women to make their own decisions, including the
  control of their fertility by the means they deem appropriate free from
  discrimination or coercion, support the Convention on the Elimination of
  Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), urge non-signatories to sign and
  ratify without further delay and urge existing signatories to remove all
  reservations.

• 6.7 Support the right of indigenous peoples to self-determination, land
  rights, and access to traditional hunting and fishing rights for their own
  subsistence, using humane and ecologically sustainable techniques; and
  support moves for indigenous people to set up and work through their own
  international bodies.

• 6.8 Support the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the
  minimum standard of protection accepted by indigenous peoples, and support
  moves for indigenous people to set up and work through their own
  international bodies.

• 6.9 Demand that torturers are held accountable, and will campaign for them
  to be brought to justice, in their own countries or elsewhere, before an
  international panel of judges serving under the auspices of the
  International Criminal Court.

• 6.10 Oppose any violation of the physical integrity of the individual by
  torture, punishment or any other practices including traditional and
  religious mutilation.

• 6.11 Demand that the death penalty be abolished worldwide.

• 6.12 Call for governments to ensure that all asylum-seekers, whether they
  are victims of state violence or independent armed groups, are correctly
  treated in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Rights to
  Asylum; have access to fair processes; are not arbitrarily detained; and
  are not returned to a country where they might suffer violations of their
  fundamental human rights, or face the risk of death, torture, or other
  inhuman treatmentinhumantreatment. Also call for governments to respect the rights of people displaced because of the negative effects of anthropogenic climate change, give them fair treatment and do not remove them to a third party country as part of the asylum process.

• 6.13 Call for the prohibition of collective expulsion.

• 6.14 Uphold the right of all workers to safe, fairly remunerated
  employment, with the freedom to unionise.

• 6.15 Support the right of children to grow up free from the need to work,
  and the establishment of a lower age limit for working
  children/adolescents.

• 6.16 Demand decriminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual relations,
  legal recognition of transgender people and people of marginalised
  genders, protection of the right to bodily autonomy including for intersex
  people, and equal rights for same-sex relationships. Upholds the principle
  that everyone has the right to love and found families. We support local
  communities in their call for marriage equality or any other form of
  families or cohabitation they see fit for their context. Through its
  member organisations, will advocate for governments to cease any
  punishment, violence and cruel treatment towards LGBT+ people and to
  implement the Yogyakarta principles on the Application of International
  Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. We
  ask that all governments in the world abolish laws that view LGBTIQ+
  sexual orientation and behavior as illegal. LGBTIQ+ communities should not
  be legally deprived of their rights to property, personal liberty, and
  life because of their sexual orientation and behavior. We oppose any
  government that bans, hinders, or oppresses LGBTIQ+ information, speech,
  work, and other initiatives, and commits discrimination. We demand that
  “LGBTIQ+ Mainstreaming” be instituted at every level of government. All
  government agencies must, when formulating, implementing and evaluating
  all types of policies and services, take into consideration the situation,
  needs, and impact on the LGBTIQ+ community. They should especially pay
  attention to whether resources are adequate and address intersectional
  discrimination. To maximize effectiveness, LGBTIQ+ Mainstreaming should be
  planned and coordinated by a designated agency at an appropriately high
  level.

• 6.17 Will work to improve the opportunities of disabled people to live and
  work equally in society, including true political participation.

• 6.18 Support the right of linguistic minorities to use their own language

7 Food and water

7.1 Hundreds of millions of people remain undernourished, not because there is
insufficient food but because of unequal access to land, water, credit and
markets. Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not the solution, because the
immediate problem is not production but distribution. Moreover, GMOs pose
unacceptable risks to the environment, independent smaller farmers, and
consumers, as well as to the biodiversity that is our best insurance against
agricultural disaster. Water shortages loom, both in above-ground systems and
subterranean aquifers. Deforestation of catchments takes a devastating toll in
landslides and floods, while desertification and degradation rapidly are
expanding. One bright spot is the rapid growth of organic agriculture

The Greens

• 7.2 Consider that access to clean water for basic needs is a fundamental
  right and oppose the privatisation of water resources and infrastructure.

• 7.3 Will work to eliminate water subsidies, other than social subsidies,
  and to make water use more efficient.

• 7.4 Will work to ensure that fresh water and underground water resources
  are conserved in quality and quantity and appropriately priced to ensure
  these resources are adequately protected from depletion.

• 7.5 Consider that the stability of catchments and the health of river
  systems is paramount, and will work with the people directly affected to
  stop the degradation of rivers, including new large dams and irrigation
  projects, and deforestation of catchments.

• 7.6 Will work with local communities in arid and semi-arid regions, where
  climate is dominated by uncertainty, to reduce land degradation.

• 7.7 Express their concern for countries that have been hard hit by
  desertification and deforestation, and ask the countries that have not yet
  done so to ratify the UN Convention of Desertification, and make the
  necessary resources available to enact this Convention.

• 7.8 Will support and promote organic agriculture.

• 7.9 Call for a world-wide ban on the commercial growing of genetically
  modified crops.

• 7.10 Will work to ensure that food is safe, with stringent regulations on
  production, storage and sale.

• 7.11 Will work to ensure that scientific research is conducted ethically
  and applied in accordance with the precautionary principle.

• 7.12 Call for a phase out of all persistent and bio-accumulative man- made
  chemicals and to work to eliminate all releases to the environment of
  hazardous chemicals.

• 7.13 Will work to ensure that animal growth hormones are banned, and
  stringent regulations governing the use of antibiotics on animals are
  enforced.

• 7.14 Will work to ensure the humane treatment of all animals during
  breeding, transport and slaughter and will ensure animal welfare.

• 7.15 Will work towards ensuring the effect of erosion, floods and other
  environmental hazards are ameliorated and that appropriate adaptation
  measures are implemented

8 Sustainable planning

8.1 Consumption in industrialised countries is excessive by any measure, and
largely responsible for environmental decline. Newly industrialising countries
are also increasing their consumption, which will add significantly to the
ecological pressure.

Changing to a green economy - which mimics ecological processes, eliminates
waste by re-using and recycling materials, and emphasises activities that
enhance the quality of life and relationships rather than the consumption of
goods - brings a promise of new jobs, industries with less pollution, better
work environments and a higher quality of life.

The Greens

• 8.2 Promote measures of well-being rather than GDP to measure progress,
  and recognise the ecological limits to material growth and consumption.

• 8.3 Consider that citizens of countries affected by a development project
  have the right to participate in decisions about it, regardless of
  national boundaries.

• 8.4 Will work to ensure that those who profit from exploiting any common
  and/or natural resources should pay the full market rent for the use of
  these resources, and for any damage they do to any other common resources.

• 8.5 Recognise that the impact of continuing urban growth (sprawl) onto
  agricultural land and the natural environment must be limited and
  ultimately stopped.

• 8.6 Recognise that the process of urbanisation due to rural poverty must
  be slowed and reversed through appropriate rural development programs
  which protect the character and ecology of the rural landscape.

• 8.7 Support local planning for ecologically sustainable business, housing,
  transport, waste management, parks, city forests, public spaces; and will
  establish links between Greens at local and regional level around the
  planet to exchange information and support.

• 8.8 Will work to reduce vehicle based urban pollution by opposing ever-
  expanding freeways; encouraging the use of energy efficient vehicles;
  integrating land use planning with public transport, bicycling and
  walking; prioritising mass transit planning and funding over private auto
  infrastructure; and eliminating tax policies that favour autocentric
  development.

• 8.9 Will work to create socially responsible economic strategies, using
  taxes and public finance to maximise incentives for fair distribution of
  wealth, and eco-taxes to provide incentives to avoid waste and pollution.

• 8.10 Demand that corporations and communities reduce, reuse and recycle
  waste, aiming for a zero waste economy which replicates a natural
  ecosystem.

• 8.11 Will support all policies that allow countries to increase job
  creation through economic activities that add value, or through recycling
  of resources, the production of durable goods, organic agriculture,
  renewable energy and environmental protection.

• 8.12 Promote socially responsible investment and ecological marketing so
  that consumers can make positive choices based on reliable information.

• 8.13 Recognise the value of traditional and local knowledge and beliefs,
  and support its incorporation into planning and projects.

9 Peace and security

9.1 We understand peace as being more than the absence of war. To strive for
peace has always been at the core of the Green agenda. The causes of conflict
are changing. The impacts of climate change, competition for water, food and
resources will become increasingly significant. The distinctions between war,
organised crime and deliberate large-scale abuses of human rights are becoming
progressively blurred. Since 2001 the 'war on 'terror' has also led to the
erosion of human rights in the name of security. The arms trade is growing and
globalising, nourished by a unique exemption from WTO rules against subsidies.
As a global network, we have a vital role to play in strengthening the links
between community organisations working for human rights and peace, and
supporting and shaping the emerging concepts and institutions of global
governance.

The Greens

• 9.2 Support strengthening the role of the UN as a global organisation of
  conflict management and peacekeeping, while, noting that, where prevention
  fails and in situations of structural and massive violations of human
  rights and/or genocide, the use of force may be justified if it is the
  only means of preventing further human rights violations and suffering,
  provided that it is used under a mandate from the UN. Nonetheless,
  individual countries have the right not to support or to cooperate with
  the action.

• 9.3 Will campaign for greater power for countries of the South in the UN,
  by working to abolish the veto power in the Security Council, to remove
  the category of permanent membership of it, and to increase the number of
  states with membership.

• 9.4 Support the International Criminal Court. In war crimes, sexualised
  violence such as mass rape should be regarded as a war crime, as should
  environmental crimes in times of conflict.

• 9.5 Seek to curtail the power of the military-industrial-financial complex
  in order to radically reduce the trade in armaments, ensure transparency
  of manufacturing and remove hidden subsidies that benefit the military
  industries.

• 9.6 Will work to regulate and reduce, with the long term aim of
  eliminating, the international arms trade (including banning nuclear,
  biological and chemical arms, depleted uranium weapons and anti-personnel
  mines) and bring it within the ambit of the UN.

• 9.7 Will help strengthen existing peace programmes and forge new
  programmes that address all aspects of building a culture of peace.
  Programmes will include analysis of the roots of violence, including
  inter-familial violence, and the issue of mutual respect between genders;
  and support training in non-violent conflict resolution at all levels.

• 9.8 Will seek to amend the international rules of military engagement to
  ensure that natural resources are adequately protected in conflicts.

• 9.9 Will fight against any National Missile Defence Project, and work
  towards the demilitarisation and de-nuclearisation of space.

10 Acting globally

10.1 The Global Greens are independent organisations from diverse cultures and
backgrounds who share a common purpose and recognise that, to achieve it, we
must act globally as well as locally.

The Greens

• 10.2 Will work cooperatively to implement the Global Greens Charter by
  taking action together on issues of global consequence whenever needed.
  10.3 Will support the development of Green parties, political movements
  and youth networks around the world.

• 10.3 Will assist, at their request, other Green parties and movements
  including by - providing observers at elections to help ensure that they
  are free and fair; - encouraging voters to enrol and vote Green in their
  home countries.

• 10.4 Will adopt and put into practice in our own organisations the
  democratic principles we seek in broader society.

• 10.5 Will act as a model of participatory democracy in our own internal
  organisation at all levels.

• 10.6 Will encourage cooperation between the global Green parties to ensure
  that member parties are consulted, educated and have equal capacity to
  influence global positions of the Greens.

• 10.7 Will encourage Green parties and green political movements to show
  leadership in establishing policies guaranteeing transparent and
  decentralised structures, so that political power and opportunity is
  extended to all members; and in developing new political models which
  better meet the challenges of sustainable development and grassroots
  democracy.

• 10.8 Will avoid sources of finance that conflict with our vision and
  values.

• 10.9 Will avoid cooperation with dictatorships, sects, or criminal
  organisations and with their dependent organisations, particularly in
  matters of democracy and human rights.

• 10.10 Will strengthen our links with like-minded community organisations,
  and with civil society organisations; we are one part, with them, of the
  growing consciousness that respect for the environment, for social and
  human rights, and for democracy, has to prevail on the economic
  organisation of the world.

• 10.11 Will support each other personally and politically with friendship,
  optimism and good humour, and not forget to enjoy ourselves in the
  process!