Brundtland Report/Chapter 2. Towards Sustainable Development

[ page ] [ page ] [ page ] [ page ]En,! 1 i If the desert is growing. forest disappearing, malnutrition increasing, and people in urban areas living in very bad conditions. it is not because we are lacking resources but the kind of policy implemented by our rulers, by the elite group. Denying people rights end peoples' interests is pushing us to a situation where it is only the poverty that has a very prosperous future in Africa. And it is our hope that your Commission. the World Commission, will not overlook these problems of human rights in Africa and will put emphasis on it. Because it is only free people. people who hve rights. who are mature and responsible citizens. who then participate in the development and in the protection of the environment. Speaker from the floor WCED Public Hearing Nairobi, 23 Sept 1986 This shift is still under way in many developing countries. 20. It is not that there is one set of villains and another of victims. All would be better off if each person took into account the effect o� his or her acts upon others. But each is unwilling to assume that others will behave in this socially desirable fashion, and hence all continue to pursue narrow self-interest. Communities or governments can compensate for this isolation through laws, education, taxes, subsidies, and other methods. Well-enforced laws and strict liability legislation can control harmful side effects. Most important, effectiv9 participation in decision-making processes by local communities can help them articulate and effectively enforce their common interest. 21. Interdepeadence is not simply a local phenomenon. Rapid growth in production has extended it to the international plane, with both physical and economic manifestations. There are 9rowing global and regional pollution effects, such as in the more than Z00 international civet basins and the large number of shared seas. 22. The enforcem nt of common interest often suffers because areas of political )urisdiction and areas of im{act do not coincide. Energy policies in one ju, isdiction cause acid precipitation in another. The fishing policies of one state affect the fish catch of another. No supranational authority exists to resolve such issues, and the commoa interest can only be articulated through international cooperation. 23. In the same way, the ability of a government to control its national economy is reduced by growing international economic interactions. For example, foreign trade in commodities makes issues of carrying capacities and resource scarcities an iDternational concern. (See Chapter 3.) If economic power and the benefit of trade were more egually distributed. common in, crests would be generally recognized. But the gains from trade are unequally distributed, and patterns cf trade in, say, [ page ] [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/60 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/61 [ page ] [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/63 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/64 [ page ] [ page ] [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/67 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/68 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/69 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/70 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/71 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/72 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/73 [ page ]Page:Brundtland Report.djvu/74 [ page ]