A/42/427
English
Page 72
The issues that have been brought forward here, I think, are wide-ranging and maybe you know, maybe you don't know, the answers to all those issues. But at least by healing all those questions. stories. all these expressions that have been put forward. at least you could have some idea.
You don't know the answers nor the solutions, but you could suggest the way to solve many problems and this is by suggesting either to governments, or the UN, or international agencies, to solve any problem the best way: that is to include those with direct interests in it. The beneficiaries, as well as the victims of any development issue should be included, should be heard.
I think that is the one thing. maybe that all of us are hearing here, or expecting: that in every development planning or development issue as much as possible to listen and to include, to consult the people concerned. If that is taken care of. at least one step of the problem is resolved.
Ismid Hadad
Chief Editor. Prisma
WCED Public Hearing
Jakarta, 26 March 1985
76. Sustainability requires the enforcement of wider responsibilities for the impacts of decisions. This requires changes in the legal and institutional frameworks that will enforce the common interest. Some necessary changes in the legal framework start from the proposition that an environment adequate for health and well-being is essential for all human beings including future generations. Such a view places the right to use public and private resources in its proper social context and provides a goal for more specific measures.
77. The law alone cannot enforce the common principally needs community knowledge and support, which entails greater public participation in the decisions that affect the environment. This is best secured by decentralizing the management of resources upon which local communities defend, and giving these communities an effective say over the use of these resources. It will also require promoting citizens initiatives, empowering people's organizations, and strengthening local democracy.[1]
78. Some large-scale projects, however, require participation on a different basis. Public inquiries and hearings on the development and environment impacts can help greatly in drawing attention to different points of view. Free access to relevant information and the availability of alternative sources of technical expertise can provide an informed basis for public discussion. When the environmental impact of a proposed project is particularly high, public scrutiny of the case should be mandatory and. wherever feasible. the decision should be subject to prior public approval, perhaps by referendum.
- ↑ See 'For Municipal Initiative and Citizen Power', in INDERENA, La Campana Verde y los Concelos Verdes (Bogota, Colombia: 1985).
