WesleyanWS4/26/03 FIRST DRAFT Brief Summary of a Workshop on

							WesleyanWS4/26/03                      FIRST DRAFT

                         Brief Summary of a Workshop
                                       on
Western Hemisphere Knowledge Partnerships and Global Environmental Governance
                                       at
                              Wesleyan University
                        Environmental Studies Program
                     Supported by the Schumann Foundation
                                 April 26, 2003

Presentations by: Gary Yohe (John E. Andrus Professor of Economics, Wesleyan
University), Tom Malone (University Distinguished Scholar Emeritus, North Carolina State
Univ. and former Foreign Secretary, Nat’l. Acad. of Sciences), Ned Strong (Executive
Director of the Harvard-affiliated academic and profession exchange program with Latin
America – LASPAU), John Stewart (Dean Emeritus, College of Agriculture, Univ. of
Saskatchewan and recently Interim Director, InterAmerican Institute for Global Change
Research, chair, IAI Scientific Advisory Cmte., and past president SCOPE),.Jose Sarukhan
Professor of Ecology and former Rector, UNAM, president of Mexican Acad. of Science and
of the Union of Latin American Universities, and Dan Esty (Associate Dean, School of
Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale Univ., senior co-editor of Global Environmental
Governance: Options and Opportunities and Greening the Americas, and former Deputy
Assistant Administrator for Policy at EPA


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The evidence is persuasive that the world is on the brink of a planetary ecological
emergency. Continuing exponential growth in the human system on planet Earth is exceeding
the capacity of the planet’s finite natural system to support the human system. Two inter-
related steps are in order to ensure that the emergency does not turn into a crisis: (a) action
by informed individuals and institutions at the level of local communities, and (b)
imaginative innovation in global environmental governance by nations at the international
level.

World population increased 22-fold (to 6 billion people) during the Second Millennium, and
the average economic productivity of individuals grew 13-fold. As a consequence, the global
economy expanded 286 times (to $40 trillion, adjusted for differences in purchasing power).
There was no corresponding expansion in the air, water, sunlight, land, and living organisms
in the world’s ecosystems that combine to support human life. Analysis of the “ecological
footprints” left by human activity suggests that by 2000 the demands by the human system
on the natural system were overshooting the regenerative capacity of the natural system by
~20 percent. The human system was drawing down the “natural capital” of the environment.
This “draw down” began in the 1980s and is proceeding at an accelerating rate.
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The present path on which the human system is embarked would lead to a 1.5-fold growth in
population by 2050 and a 3-fold growth in the average economic productivity of individuals.
The result would be a 4.5-fold growth in the global economy (to $180 trillion), leading to the
possibility of a collapse of overstressed world’s ecosystems with a catastrophe possible for
civilization. The TV series Journey to Planet Earth is now bringing this possibility to public
attention. That possibility outlines the issue of environmental sustainability—a concept that
emerged in the 1980s, accompanied by recognition of the need to forge an Earth Charter to
provide guiding principles for harmonizing the human and the natural systems.

Economic equability (or fairness) is another dimension of the planetary emergency. 800
million people in the 20 highly industrialized countries enjoy average living standards
(measured by individual economic productivity) that are 20 times higher than those for the
600 million people in the 43 least-developed countries. This inequality would increase to >30
times by 2050 if the present paths of these two groups were to continue. If it were possible to
bring average living standards in the 43 impoverished countries up to the present level in the
20 affluent countries by 2050, the economy in those 43 countries would have to expand ~20
times. If both groups continued on the present demographic and productivity paths to 2050,
the economy of the 43 developing countries would have to expand >150 times above the
2000 level in order to achieve average living standards equal to those in the industrial nations
at that time. The resulting devastation on the ecosystems in the 43 countries would be almost
beyond comprehension. Social unrest and conflict among nations would almost certainly
characterize such a transition of this dimension. The economic inequity between nations is, of
course, mirrored by economic inequity within both industrial and developing nations.

The outlook, however, is far from dismal. Five developments provide a basis for hope that
the issues of sustainability, equability, and peace can be addressed successfully. The first is
the explosion under way in knowledge about our world and the role of humanity in that
world. The second is the revolution in the technologies for sharing that knowledge. The third
is an increasingly complex interaction among the elements that link environment, economics,
and social issues. The fourth is the transition, also under way, from a hierarchal “top down”
structure of decision making by institutions to a networking mode that facilitates addressing
highly interconnected issues in a “from the bottom up” manner. The fifth is the favorable
reception emerging around the world to the principles of human behavior that are embodied
in the Earth Charter.

The present moment appears to be the time to orchestrate the findings of the mega-
conferences that began in Stockholm in 1972, were extended through Rio de Janeiro in1992,
and culminated in Johannesburg in 2002. A determined effort is needed to capitalize on the
developments mentioned in the preceding paragraph in order to forge solutions in local
communities within an imaginative new framework of global governance. A sustainable,
equitable, and peaceful world will be the aggregate of a worldwide array of local
communities. The Western Hemisphere is an attractive regional venue for exploring this
approach.
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Canada and the United States are industrial countries. Another thirty-four nations in Latin
America and the Caribbean are typical of developing countries. By addressing at the
community level the driving forces (population growth and gains in individual economic
productivity) that influence sustainability and equability, progress could be made toward a
sustainable, equitable, and peaceful society in the Americas. Success in this endeavor might
suggest a model that could be adapted globally.

Population in the Western Hemisphere is likely to increase more than 50 per cent by 2050.
The average economic productivity of individuals is expected to grow ~3-fold. As a result,
the economy of the Western Hemisphere would expand more than 4-fold, increasing the
demands on already stressed, life-supporting, ecosystems.

Average living standards in Canada and the United States, measured by the capacity of
individuals to produce goods and services, are now more than four times greater than those in
34 other Western Hemisphere countries. In order to bring present living standards in the 34
countries up to those in Canada and the United States, the economies in the 34 countries
would have to be expanded more than 4-fold. By 2050, the economy of Canada and the
United State would have grown 4-fold if current rates of population growth and gains in
economic productivity are maintained. Given the near doubling in the number of people
expected in the 34 countries by 2050, equality in average living standard with Canada and
the United States at that time would require that the economies of the 34 countries grow more
than 20 times. The havoc this would cause to the life-supporting capacity of ecosystems and
the impact on society can scarcely be imagined. Much wisdom and a great deal of
imagination will be required to plan an acceptable path into the 21st century for the Western
Hemisphere.

Partnerships among disciplines and sectors of society in local communities of the Western
Hemisphere to share knowledge and use it wisely during the next five decades could, for
example, (a) reduce the population in the Americas by 25 per cent, (b) double individual
economic productivity in the developing countries, and (c) reduce by one-half the rate of
individual productivity gains in Canada and the United States while still raising living
standards in those two countries by nearly 70 per cent. This scenario would dramatically
reduce the gap in living standards between the industrial and the developing countries and
reduce the demands on ecosystems in the Western Hemisphere by nearly twenty per cent.
Other measures would be required to reduce the environmental impact of economic
production and consumption.

Pursuit would have begun, however, on the vision of a sustainable, equitable, and peaceful
Western Hemisphere that is now coming within reach, This vision is a Western Hemisphere
in which all of the basic human needs and an equitable share of human “wants” can be met
by successive generations while maintaining a healthy, physically attractive and biologically
productive environment. That vision can be pursued by an array of knowledge-based local.
communities linked electronically internally and to each other, and proceeding within the

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framework of a Global Environmental Mechanism (GEM) that would “characterize
problems, track trends, and identify interests.”

This approach would require the “change of mind and heart … a new sense of global
interdependence and universal responsibility” stipulated by the Earth Charter
(www.earthcharter.org) as necessary to achieve harmony between the human and the natural
system. Among key statements in the Charter: “We stand at a critical moment in earth’s
history, a time when humanity must choose its future … form a global partnership to care for
the earth and one another or risk the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life …
when basic needs have been met, human development is primarily about being more, not
having more [emphasis added] … the arts, sciences, religions, educational institutions,
media, business nongovernmental organizations, and governments, are all called to offer
creative leadership … partnerships of government, and society, and business are essential.”

Priority issues to be addressed by knowledge partnerships in the Americas include:

       Universal education – life-long learning is a sine qua non for a knowledge-based
       society
       Stabilizing population
       Adjustments in individual economic productivity in the interests of equability and the
       elimination of poverty
       Development of environmentally benign sources of energy needed to power
       economic development in developing countries
       Innovations in technology and human behavior to reduce the impact of economic
       production and consumption on the environment (i.e., eco-efficiency)
       Health care for all
       Biodiversity

Meanwhile, a powerful proposal for launching a Global Environmental Mechanism (GEM)
to address issues that cross national boundaries and transcend national interests was made at
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 (Global Environmental Governance:
Problems and Opportunities,Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies). The
present array of institutions is dysfunctional. As the GEM takes form and substance, effective
links need to be established with efforts at the community level. Action in concert by
initiatives at the community and the international levels is imperative. Both are necessary,
neither is sufficient. An initiative on global governance in the contest of the UN Millenial
Goals is being mounted by the World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org/site/
homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Governance+Initiative).

An array of institutions is in place to support this initiative. The InterAmerican Institute for
Global Change Research (www.iai.org) is an institution that is addressing environmental
issues in the Americas. The International Council for Science’s START (www.start.org)
works closely with IAI and provides a link with the ICSU’s Human Dimensions of Global
change and its the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, as well as with the World
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Climate Research Program. Eight ecosystems in the Western Hemisphere are under
intensive study (www.millenniumassessment.org/en/news/) in the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment Project . The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives
(www.iclei.org) complements the activities of IAI. Its Local Action 21 is a mandate to
implement sustainable development globally through cumulative local action..
Regional Websites are located in Berkeley, CA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and an
International Secretariat is maintained in Toronto. Extensive information is
available on local community networks (www.ofcn.org).

An array of institutions is also available to help develop the initiative. The American
Distance Education Consortium (www.adec.edu) has a comprehensive program with
increasingly strong links to Canada and Latin America. The Global Seminar on the
Environment and Sustainable Food Systems (www.cals.cornell.edu/global/indexw.html)
already reaches into Latin America. Together with the academic and professional exchange
program with Latin America and the Caribbean that is affiliated with Harvard University
(www.laspau.harvard.edu) that is now involved in resolution of air quality issues in the
border between Mexico and the United States, there is an impressive institutional strength to
participate in the top priority issue of universal education.

The nucleus of an array of local communities exists in the Western Hemisphere at which
initial steps could be taken (www3.iclei.org/localstrategies/summary/ccp.html). For example,
Austin, TX. Burlington VT, Curitiba, Brazil, Manizales, Colombia, Mexico City, and
Vancouver, Canada have under way active community initiatives on sustainability. Initiatives
in San Diego, CA and in Oregon also have possibilities. Three developments in Connecticut
are germane: (a) the initiative of New England states and Canadian provinces to initiate
action on the issues of global warming (www.cleanair-coolplanet.org), (b) the state-
sponsored program by a consortium of local college to generate understanding and promote
action on sustainability, equability, and peace (www.ourcommonfuture.org) and (b) the
imminent arrival of Barry Chernoff from the Field Museum to lead the Environmental
Studies Program of Wesleyan University. Barry has keen interest and considerable
experience in Latin America. Connecticut also has a unique set of Social Indicators to
complement the usual economic measures of progress.

In sum, the stage appears to be set for an action-oriented initiative in the Western
Hemisphere. The National Science Foundation has issued an RFP for collaborative research
in the Americas (http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03559/nsf03559.htm) with a deadline of
1 November for submission of proposals. The AOL Foundation sponsors a Digital Divide
Grants Initiative, providing grants ranging from $25,000-100,000 to help nonprofit
organizations develop and implement projects that help bridge the divide between those who
have access to technology and those who do not.



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