Under the guise of needing to protect the earth from destruction, the Earth Charter originally started as a dream to create a pantheistic society for the entire world. The original charter was so pantheistic, however, that it was not accepted at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janerio in 1992. Maurice Strong (Earth Council) and Michail Gorbachev (Green Cross) have undertaken the job to sanitize the charter in a way that keeps its pantheistic goals, but looks benign to most people, especially Christians. The following is the progressive versions of the Earth Charter to illustrate the how the sanitization was done.

	Original NGO Version Introduced at the 1992 Earth Summit
	1997 Benchmark Draft I released at the Rio + 5 in March, 1997
	1999 Benchmark Draft II released April, 1999

1992 NGO Earth Charter:

THE EARTH CHARTER


PREPARED BY THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS GATHERED TOGETHER 
IN RIO DE JANEIRO 

JUNE 3-14, 1992 


PREAMBLE 


We are the Earth, the people, plants and animals rains and 
oceans breath of the forest and flow of the sea. 

We honour Earth as the home of all living things. 

We cherish Earth's beauty and diversity of life. 

We welcome Earth's ability to renew as being the basis of all 
life. 

We recognize the special place of Earth's Indigenous Peoples, 
their territories, their customs and the unique relationship to 
Earth. 

We are appalled at the human suffering, poverty and damage to 
Earth caused by inequality of power. 

We accept a shared responsibility to protect and restore Earth 
and to allow wise and equitable use of resources    so as to 
achieve an ecological balance  and new social, economic and 
spiritual values. 

In all our diversity we are one. Our common home is 
increasingly threatened. We thus commit ourselves to the 
following principles, noting at all times the particular needs
of women, indigenous peoples, the South, the disabled
and all those who are disadvantaged: 

PRINCIPLES 

1.   We agree  to  respect,  encourage,  protect  and restore  
Earth's ecosystems to ensure biological and cultural diversity. 

2.   We recognize our diversity and our common partnership. We  
respect all cultures and affirm the rights of  all  people to  
basic  environmental needs. 

3.   Poverty affect us all. We agree to alter unsustainable 
patterns of production and consumption to ensure the eradication 
of poverty and  to  end the abuse of Earth. This must include a 
recognition of the role of debt  and financial flows from the 
South to the North and opulence and  corruption  as primary 
causes. We shall emphasize and improve the endogenous  capacity 
for technology creation and development. Attempts to  eradicate 
poverty  should not be a mandate to abuse the environment and 
attempts to protect or  restore the environment should not ignore 
basic human needs. 

4.   We recognize that national barriers do not  generally 
conform  to Earth's ecological realities. National sovereignty 
does not  mean  sanctuary from  our  collective  responsibility 
to  protect   and   restore   Earth's ecosystems. Trade practices 
and transnational corporations must  not  cause environmental 
degradation and should be controlled  in  order  to  achieve 
social justice, equitable trade solidary with ecological 
principles. 

5.   We reject the build up and use  military  force  and the  
use  of economic pressure as means of resolving  conflict. We  
commit  ourselves  to pursue genuine peace, which is not merely 
the absence of war but includes the eradication of poverty,  the  
promotion  of  social  justice  and  economic, spiritual, 
cultural and ecological well-being. 

6.   We agree  to  ensure  that  decision-making  processes and  
their criteria  are  clearly  defined,  transparent, explicit,   
accessible   and equitable. Those whose decisions or activities 
may affect  the  environment must first  prove  the absence  of  
harm.  Those  likely  to  be  affected, particularly populations  
in  the  South  and  those  in subjugation  within existing 
States, should have free  access  to  information  and 
effectively participate in the decision-making processes. 

7.   States, institutions, corporations and  peoples  are unequal  
in their  contribution  to  environmental  harm,  experience   of   
ecological degradation and ability to respond to environmental 
destruction. While all are responsible for improving  
environmental  quality,  those  who have expropriated or consumed 
the majority of Earth's resources or who continue to do so must 
cease such expropriation or reduce such consumption and must bear 
the costs of ecological restoration and protection by providing 
the majority of financial and technological resources. 

8.   Women constitute over half of Earth's human population. They 
are  a powerful source for change. They contribute more than half  
the  effort  to human welfare. Men and women agree that women's 
status indecision-making and social processes must equitably 
reflect their  contribution.  We  must shift from a society 
dominated by men to one which more accurately reflects the valued 
contributions of men and women to human and ecological welfare. 

We have come to  realise  that  the  threats  to  the biosphere  
which sustains all live on Earth have increased in rate, 
magnitude  and  scale  to such extent that inaction would be 
negligent. 


EARTH CHARTER ACTION PLAN 

1. We shall adopt the spirit and principles of the Earth Charter 
at  the individual level and through concrete actions within  our  
Non-Governmental Organizations. 

2. We will use  existing  mechanisms  and/or  create  an 
international network of  the  signatories  here  to  disseminate 
the  Earth  Charter  as principles for action at the local, 
national and global level. 

3. The Earth Charter shall be translated  into  all  the 
languages  of Earth. 

4. We shall commit ourselves to  preparation  of  "OBJECTIVE 
1995"  by which the United Nations will celebrate its 50th 
anniversary at  which  time we want them to adopt this Earth 
Charter. 

5. Non-Governmental Organisations world wide shall initiate a  
combined campaign "WE ARE EARTH" through to  1995  and  the 
adoption  of  this  Earth Charter by the United Nations. 

6. Every individual, organization, corporation and state shall 
dedicate a percentage of their operating  budget  and their  
profit  as  an  "Earth Percentage" dedicated to  the restoration,  
protection  and  management  of Earth's ecosystems and promotion 
of equitable development. 

7. We call for a second Global Forum to be held n 1999 to 
evaluate  and reaffirm our commitment  to  the  relationships 
made,  the  accomplishments achieved and the goals sought at this 
"1992 Global Forum". 

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Rio + 5 Benchmark Draft I, March, 1997      

THE EARTH CHARTER
Benchmark Draft II, April 1999

View the abbreviated version of the Benchmark Draft document.

PREAMBLE:

In our diverse yet increasingly interdependent world, it is imperative that we, the people of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations. We are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.

Humanity is part of a vast evolving universe. Earth, our home, is alive with a unique community of life. The well-being of people and the biosphere depends upon preserving clean air, pure waters, fertile soils, and a rich variety of plants, animals and ecosystems. The global environment with its finite resources is a primary common concern of all humanity. The protection of Earth's vitality, diversity, and beauty is a sacred trust.

The Earth community stands at a defining moment. With science and technology have come great benefits and also great harm. The dominant patterns of production and consumption are altering climate, degrading the environment, depleting resources, and causing a massive extinction of species. A dramatic rise in population has increased the pressures on ecological systems and has overburdened social systems. Injustice, poverty, ignorance, corruption, crime and violence, and armed conflict deepen the world's suffering. Fundamental changes in our attitudes, values, and ways of living are necessary.

The choice is ours: to care for Earth and one another or to participate in the destruction of ourselves and the diversity of life.

As a global civilization comes into being, we can choose to build a truly democratic world, securing the rule of law and the human rights of all women, men, and children. We can respect the integrity of different cultures. We can treat Earth with respect, rejecting the idea that nature is merely a collection of resources to be used. We can realize that our social, economic, environmental, and spiritual problems are interconnected and cooperate in developing integrated strategies to address them. We can resolve to balance and harmonize individual interests with the common good, freedom with responsibility, diversity with unity, short term objectives with long term goals, economic progress with the flourishing of ecological systems.

To fulfill these aspirations, we must recognize that human development is not just about having more, but also about being more. The challenges humanity faces can only be met if people everywhere acquire an awareness of global interdependence, identify themselves with the larger world, and decide to live with a sense of universal responsibility. The spirit of human solidarity and kinship with all life will be strengthened if we live with reverence for the sources of our being, gratitude for the gift of life, and humility regarding the human place in the larger scheme of things.

Having reflected on these considerations, we recognize the urgent need for a shared vision of basic values that will provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community. We, therefore, affirm the following principles for sustainable development. We commit ourselves as individuals, organizations, business enterprises, communities, and nations to implement these interrelated principles and to create a global partnership in support of their fulfillment.

Together in hope, we pledge to:

I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES

1. Respect Earth and all life,

recognizing the interdependence and intrinsic value of all beings;

affirming respect for the inherent dignity of every person and faith in the intellectual, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.

2. Care for the community of life in all its diversity,

accepting that responsibility for Earth is shared by everyone;

affirming that this common responsibility takes different forms for different individuals, groups, and nations, depending on their contribution to existing problems and the resources at hand.

3. Strive to build free, just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful societies,

affirming that with freedom, knowledge, and power goes responsibility and the need for moral self-restraint;

recognizing that a decent standard of living for all and the quality of relations among people and with nature are the true measure of progress.

4. Secure Earth's abundance and beauty for present and future generations,

accepting the challenge before each generation to conserve, improve, and expand their natural and cultural heritage and to transmit it safely to future generations;

acknowledging that the benefits and burdens of caring for Earth should be shared fairly between present and future generations.

II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

5. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain and renew life.

¹ Make ecological conservation an integral part of all development planning and implementation.

² Establish representative and viable nature and biosphere reserves, including wild lands, sufficient to maintain Earth's biological diversity and life-support systems.

³ Manage the extraction of renewable resources such as food, water, and wood in ways that do not harm the resilience and productivity of ecological systems or threaten the viability of individual species.

⁴ Promote the recovery of endangered species and populations through in situ conservation involving habitat protection and restoration.

⁵ Take all reasonable measures to prevent the human-mediated introduction of alien species into the environment.

6. Prevent harm to the environment as the best method of ecological protection and, when knowledge is limited, take the path of caution.

¹ Give special attention in decision making to the cumulative, long-term, and global consequences of individual and local actions.

² Stop activities that threaten irreversible or serious harm even when scientific information is incomplete or inconclusive.

³ Establish environmental protection standards and monitoring systems with the power to detect significant human environmental impacts, and require environmental impact assessments and reporting.

⁴ Mandate that the polluter must bear the full cost of pollution.

⁵ Ensure that measures taken to prevent or control natural disasters, infestations, and diseases are directed to the relevant causes and avoid harmful side effects.

⁶ Uphold the international obligation of states to take all reasonable precautionary measures to prevent transboundary environmental harm.

7. Treat all living beings with compassion, and protect them from cruelty and wanton destruction.

III. A JUST AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC ORDER

8. Adopt patterns of consumption, production, and reproduction that respect and safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.

¹ Eliminate harmful waste, and work to ensure that all waste can be either consumed by biological systems or used over the long-term in industrial and technological systems.

² Act with restraint and efficiency when using energy and other resources, and reduce, reuse, and recycle materials.

³ Rely increasingly on renewable energy sources such as the sun, the wind, biomass, and hydrogen.

⁴ Establish market prices and economic indicators that reflect the full environmental and social costs of human activities, taking into account the economic value of the services provided by ecological systems.

⁵ Empower consumers to choose sustainable products over unsustainable ones by creating mechanisms such as certification and labeling.

⁶ Provide universal access to health care that fosters reproductive health and responsible reproduction.

9. Ensure that economic activities support and promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

¹ Promote the equitable distribution of wealth.

² Assist all communities and nations in developing the intellectual, financial, and technical resources to meet their basic needs, protect the environment, and improve the quality of life.

10. Eradicate poverty, as an ethical, social, economic, and ecological imperative.

¹ Establish fair and just access to land, natural resources, training, knowledge, and credit, empowering every person to attain a secure and sustainable livelihood.

² Generate opportunities for productive and meaningful employment.

³ Make clean affordable energy available to all.

⁴ Recognize the ignored, protect the vulnerable, serve those who suffer, and respect their right to develop their capacities and to pursue their aspirations.

⁵ Relieve developing nations of onerous international debts that impede their progress in meeting basic human needs through sustainable development.

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

¹ Secure the human right to potable water, clean air, uncontaminated soil, food security, and safe sanitation in urban , rural, and remote environments.

² Establish racial, religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic equality.

³ Affirm the right of indigenous peoples to their spirituality, knowledge, lands and resources and to their related practice of traditional sustainable livelihoods.

⁴ Institute effective and efficient access to administrative and judicial procedures, including redress and remedy, that enable all persons to enforce their environmental rights.

12. Advance worldwide the cooperative study of ecological systems, the dissemination and application of knowledge, and the development, adoption, and transfer of clean technologies.

¹ Support scientific research in the public interest.

² Value the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities.

³ Assess and regulate emerging technologies, such as biotechnology, regarding their environmental, health, and socioeconomic impacts.

⁴ Ensure that the exploration and use of orbital and outer space supports peace and sustainable development

IV. DEMOCRACY AND PEACE

13. Establish access to information, inclusive participation in decision making, and transparency, truthfulness, and accountability in governance.

¹ Secure the right of all persons to be informed about ecological, economic, and social developments that affect the quality of their lives.

² Establish and protect the freedom of association and the right to dissent on matters of environmental, economic, and social policy.

³ Ensure that knowledge resources vital to people's basic needs and development remain accessible and in the public domain.

⁴ Enable local communities to care for their own environments, and assign responsibilities for environmental protection to the levels of government where they can be carried out most effectively.

⁵ Create mechanisms that hold governments, international organizations, and business enterprises accountable to the public for the consequences of their activities.

14. Affirm and promote gender equality as a prerequisite to sustainable development.

¹ Provide, on the basis of gender equality, universal access to education, health care, and employment in order to support the full development of every person's human dignity and potential.

² Establish the full and equal participation of women in civil, cultural, economic, political, and social life.

15. Make the knowledge, values, and skills needed to build just and sustainable communities an integral part of formal education and lifelong learning for all.

¹ Provide youth with the training and resources required to participate effectively in civil society and political affairs.

² Encourage the contribution of the artistic imagination and the humanities as well as the sciences in environmental education and sustainable development.

³ Engage the media in the challenge of fully educating the public on sustainable development , and take advantage of the educational opportunities provided by advanced information technologies.

16. Create a culture of peace and cooperation.

¹ Seek wisdom and inner peace.

² Practice nonviolence, implement comprehensive strategies to prevent violent conflict, and use collaborative problem solving to manage and resolve conflict.

³ Teach tolerance and forgiveness, and promote cross cultural and interreligious dialogue and collaboration.

⁴ Eliminate weapons of mass destruction, promote disarmament, secure the environment against severe damage caused by military activities, and convert military resources toward peaceful purposes.

⁵ Recognize that peace is the wholeness created by balanced and harmonious relationships with oneself, other persons, other cultures, other life, Earth, and the larger whole of which all are a part

A New Beginning

As never before in human history, common destiny beckons us to redefine our priorities and to seek a new beginning. Such renewal is the promise of these Earth Charter principles, which are the outcome of a worldwide dialogue in search of common ground and shared values. Fulfillment of this promise depends upon our expanding and deepening the global dialogue. It requires an inner change--a change of heart and mind. It requires that we take decisive action to adopt, apply, and develop the vision of the Earth Charter locally, nationally, regionally, and globally. Different cultures and communities will find their own distinctive ways to express the vision, and we will have much to learn from each other.

Every individual, family, organization, corporation, and government has a critical role to play. Youth are fundamental actors for change. Partnerships must be forged at all levels. Our best thought and action will flow from the integration of knowledge with love and compassion.

In order to build a sustainable global community, the nations of the world must renew their commitment to the United Nations and develop and implement the Earth Charter principles by negotiating for adoption a binding agreement based on the IUCN Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development. Adoption of the Covenant will provide an integrated legal framework for environmental and sustainable development law and policy.

We can, if we will, take advantage of the creative possibilities before us and inaugurate an era of fresh hope. Let ours be a time that is remembered for an awakening to a new reverence for life, a firm commitment to restoration of Earth's ecological integrity, a quickening of the struggle for justice and empowerment of the people, cooperative engagement of global problems, peaceful management of change, and joyful celebration of life. We will succeed because we must.

The Earth Charter Campaign, International Secretariat
The Earth Council | Apdo. 2323-1002 | San José, Costa Rica
Tel: +506-256-1611 | Fax: +506-255-2197 | e-mail: echarter@terra.ecouncil.ac.cr