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"We Must Be Impatient" |
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By Néfer Muñoz*
We must change our patterns of production and consumption if we are to avoid future disaster, says the president of the Earth Council and promoter of the Earth Charter, a universal declaration of environmental rights.
SAN JOSE - Frans van Haren, 56, is a Dutch
career diplomat who confesses he is an economist by training, but
an environmentalist by conviction.
In July 2001, Van Haren assumed the post of president and executive
director of the Earth Council, the international non-governmental
organization (NGO) that was created following the 1992 Earth Summit
in Rio de Janeiro. Headquartered in Costa Rica, the Earth Council
Institute seeks to promote sustainable development worldwide.
Van Haren also serves as the first International Ombudsman for the
Environment and Sustainable Development, a title arising from an
agreement between the Earth Council and the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).
Tierramérica spoke with Van Haren in an exclusive interview at his
office in Ciudad Colón, outside San José, Costa Rica.
Q: What have been the principal achievements of the Earth Council
in its first decade of existence?
A: We have been successful in creating National Sustainable Development
Councils in 80 countries, with the participation of governments,
NGOs and private enterprise. Other achievements include the promotion
of the Earth Charter (a bill for a universal declaration of environmental
rights), the founding of an academic center for research on indigenous
peoples, and the creation of the Ombudsman for the Environment.
Q: Has the world changed as a result of the 1992 Earth
Summit?
A: Though it has not been nearly enough, the world has indeed changed
because the social and environmental question has won a firm place
on the international agenda. The greatest change has been in the
awareness of the people, although so far it hasn't translated into
much change in human behavior.
Q: Many environmental NGOs are criticized for receiving great
quantities of money but obtaining few results. What is your opinion
on the matter?
A: Changing attitudes takes time. Investing in the environment is
not like building a bridge or planting trees, cases in which you
see concrete outcomes. Environmental investment is difficult to
measure. The results will be seen only in the very long term.
Q: How is progress on the Earth Charter?
A: It continues to receive broad support around the world. The Earth
Charter (which is slated for official presentation in 2002) served
two functions: to be an educational tool and to form part of what
are known as "soft laws", that is, new ideas, regulations, concepts
and values that are being developed in a society.
Q: What are your roles as Ombudsman?
A: The Ombudsman post came about in 2001, and is the first international
projection of the concept of a "defender's office", successful in
more than 100 countries. Our office receives those environmental
denunciations that have international repercussions and we issue
recommendations. We are already working on our first cases.
Q: What do you foresee for the world in 10 years?
A: We must have a certain degree of impatience because there are
some very worrisome situations. For example, consumerism. If all
the people of China are going to consume at the same level as the
people of the United States, it will be the end of the world. We
have to change our patterns of production and consumption. And that
is something we can do only when people are aware of the urgency
of these changes.
* Néfer Muñoz is an IPS correspondent.
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