APPENDIX 8
Memorandum from Woodcraft Folk
THE PERSPECTIVE OF YOUNG PEOPLE AT WSSD
INTRODUCTION
Woodcraft Folk is an educational movement for
children and young people, designed to develop self-confidence
and activity in society, with the aim of building a world based
on equality, peace, social justice and co-operation. Our international
camp last year gathered together 4,000 young people from over
30 different countries, who produced a declaration on Sustainable
Development. A delegation of 11 representatives, aged 13-23, from
the Woodcraft Folk took this declaration to the World Summit in
Johannesburg. Their mandate was to ensure that the voice of these
young people, and their unique perspective on Sustainable Development,
as the future guardians of this planet, was heard. The Woodcraft
delegates were the only representatives of young people from the
UK who were able to engage in a meaningful way in the political
process at the World Summit.
EVIDENCE
(a) The overall performance and strategy of
the UK delegation at the Summit and the degree of involvement
and influence of non-governmental stakeholders at the event
1. The Government was successful, to an
extent, in involving non-governmental stakeholders such as the
Woodcraft Folk during the World Summit. Regular meetings arranged
by the Government delegation for civil society representatives
were useful and informative for all who attended. However, the
Government failed on two counts.
2. Firstly, there were no satisfactory representatives
of young people on the Government delegation. The WWF/Our World
Project brought four young people to the Summit, as part of the
UK governmental delegation, but they were prevented from engaging
in the political process. They were not able to attend the meetings
with civil society representatives, and their presence was, to
a great extent, a token gesture. These four young people were
not empowered to effect any change at the World Summit. In contrast,
other governments brought representatives of young people to the
World Summit as part of their official delegations, and involved
them fully in the negotiation process.
3. Meaningful participation of young people
requires a fair, representative selection process, not a competition
in schools. Schools do not offer a channel to reach the views
of the majority of youth in the 16-25 age bracket.
4. Secondly, despite the meetings, the apparent
engagement with civil society, and the NGO representatives on
the Government delegation, our influence appeared to be negligible.
The recommendations of civil society, as the primary stakeholders
in Sustainable Development, must translate into policy and action
by the Government.
5. The "Global Peoples' Forum"
that ran parallel to the political summit was well attended, and
fully involved non-governmental stakeholders. However, links between
this and the political summit were weak, and again, recommendations
made here failed to be taken on board by governments and failed
to be incorporated into the Johannesburg Agreement.
6. It was extremely worrying that the Government
allowed business interests to be represented on their official
delegation by the chairman of Rio Tinto Zinc, a company that continues
to be a horrific environmental and human rights abuser. Business
has a clear role to play in Sustainable Development: it must become
sustainable. Where business is to be a partner in Sustainable
Development projects, this must, categorically, be fully transparent,
accountable to civil society, and in the true best interests of
people and the environment above profit for shareholders. The
Government must not give influence and power to companies attempting
to "greenwash" themselves.
7. For the majority, civil society involvement
in WSSD was tokenistic. Major "victories" for civil
society at WSSD were in merely stopping things becoming significantly
worse. The UK Government performed better than many others by
entering into regular dialogue with civil society, but there was
still no reliable, official mechanism for non-governmental stakeholders
to input directly into the Johannesburg Agreement, or even follow
the negotiations.
8. Recommendations to the Government:
— Young people must be fully engaged,
in a meaningful, participatory way in determining their own future.
Youth representatives should be an integral part of official Government
delegations to conferences such as WSSD.
— Civil society participation has to
work. This means more than just listening, it means translating
what we say into real action by the Government at the negotiating
table.
(b) How far the UK Government capitalised
on the Summit to raise awareness of sustainable development issues
at home
9. Awareness of the World Summit and Sustainable
Development as a concept is extremely poor in the UK, and the
Government has done little to rectify this. Whilst there was extensive
media coverage of the World Summit, this was mainly cynical or
negative.
10. Now the World Summit is over, there
is apparently very little being done to raise awareness. The WWF
competition did raise awareness of the World Summit and sustainability
issues in schools, and this was good, but it did nothing to empower
the young people involved. It did not enable them to put issues
of importance to them forward to the four young people who attended
the World Summit, for presentation to the Government.
11. Recommendations to the Government:
— Promote and fund Education for Sustainable
Development. Develop a strategy incorporating both formal education
in schools at all levels, and informal/alternative education,
such as the work of the Woodcraft Folk.
— Work to educate society at large
about sustainability, with the aim of redressing the unsustainable
consumption patterns and use of resources that is currently the
norm in the UK.
— Promote Local Agenda 21 meetings
more pro-actively, in order to empower people of all ages to make
sustainability a reality in their own communities.
— Reach out to involve people new to
LA21. Provide a "rough guide" to local Government bureaucracy
to make it easier for people, especially young people, to get
involved.
(c) How the commitments made at the summit
could/should reshape existing UK policies/strategies or act as
the catalyst for new initiatives
Youth and Civil Society Involvement in Decision Making
12. The inclusion of young people in decision-making
processes is vital to Sustainable Development. However, the reason
for this is not merely that it is young people who will implement
Sustainable Development policies in years to come; rather we are
part of the solution now—a fundamental agent for change
in society. Young people have a unique perspective and vision,
and are willing to face up to the difficult changes that have
to be made in order to achieve a sustainable future.
13. In paragraph 153, the Johannesburg Agreement
commits the Government to improving youth participation in programmes
relating to Sustainable Development, through the promotion and
support of youth councils and by encouraging their establishment
where they do not exist already.
14. Recommendations to the Government:
— Act now to empower young people.
Make representative youth councils a reality across the UK at
all levels, through promotion, funding, and support.
— Use these as the basis for youth
input into Sustainable Development projects and decision making
locally and nationally, as well as a source for true representatives
of youth to future international conferences.
— Give civil society as a whole more
of a voice and more opportunities to participate in politics and
in policy design.
Water/GATS
15. One of the few positive commitments
from the World Summit was on the need to provide clean water and
sanitation to those without it. At the same time that this new
target was being celebrated, leaked documents came to light showing
that the EU is supporting the inclusion of water under GATS, the
global agreement on trade and services. The possibility of water,
a fundamental necessity for life, being controlled for profit,
and potentially being withdrawn from those who need it most is
a violation of human rights, and irreconcilable with the WSSD's
water and sanitation target.
16. Throughout the World Summit, it was
impossible to be sure what the policies of the Government, negotiating
as part of the European Union, really were. When challenged, the
Government often claimed that it supported the point that was
being made, but was unable to do anything being bound by the position
of the EU.
17. Recommendations to the Government:
— Do not allow the EU to incorporate
water services into GATS.
— Provide better mechanisms of transparency
and accountability during negotiations, enabling non-governmental
representatives to scrutinise the differences between UK and EU
positions.
Clean Renewable Energy
18. Due to continued obstruction by the
United States, the Johannesburg Agreement lacked any serious commitment
on Energy. Since the World Summit ended, the Government, along
with the European Union and other like-minded states, has committed
to going further, and increasing the share of clean renewable
energy as a power source. This is a positive move by the Government,
for which they are to be congratulated.
19. However, further commitment and work
is necessary in order to make the UK's energy use sustainable.
The share of clean renewable energy must be increased, and energy
use must be drastically decreased. This is only possible through
serious promotion and investment in clean energy technologies,
specifically wind and tidal power, coupled with a drive to increase
energy efficiency across the board, in homes, schools and businesses.
20. Recommendations to the Government:
— Declare an ultimate aim of 100% clean
renewable energy.
— Set ambitious targets to increase
the share of clean renewable energy in the UK, and phase out the
use of polluting nuclear power and fossil fuels as energy sources.
— Legislate to ensure efficiency becomes
a central tenet in all aspects of energy use, from better public
transport to insulation in homes.
(d) How far the Government has maintained
stakeholder dialogue post-Johannesburg to inform its implementation
of Summit commitments
21. Central Government has done very little
to maintain stakeholder dialogue. Post-Johannesburg stakeholder
dialogues have primarily been in the form of meetings of Local
Government departments looking at the impacts of WSSD on their
region and Local Authorities are still awaiting central Government
reaction to the World Summit. The Local Agenda 21 meetings or
"sustainability commissions" which members of the public
and stakeholders can attend have not been sufficiently promoted,
and members of the general public are unlikely to attend unless
they are invited, or have a particular interest.
22. Recommendations to the Government:
— Initiate contact with the NGO community
that was present in Johannesburg and arrange further dialogue.
— Ensure that the contacts made by
the EPINT team from DEFRA are not lost now this team is being
dissolved. These links must be utilised by all departments working
on Sustainable Development issues.
— Work to ensure that stakeholder groups
who were not present in Johannesburg are engaged in the follow-up
process from now on.
(e) The particular changes to the EU strategy
for sustainable development which the UK Government should be
advocating when the strategy is reviewed at the Spring European
Council in 2003.
23. Whilst very encouraging in places, there
are a number of points where the EU strategy does not go far enough,
and this could be significantly improved. The government must
ensure that the views of civil society are fully integrated into
its approach to the review of this document at the Spring European
Council. Important points for improvement include:
24. Page 7: The commission should also consult
civil society as well as inviting industry to "identify what
it considers the major obstacles to the development and wider
use of new technologies in sectors such as energy, transport and
communications."
25. Page 10: "The Union will insist
that the other major industrialised countries comply with their
Kyoto targets, and will compel countries that have not ratified
the Kyoto protocol to do so. This is an indispensable step in
ensuring the broader international effort needed to limit global
warming and adapt to its effects."
26. Page 11: "Clear action to reduce
energy demand, through, for example, tighter minimum standards
and labelling requirements for buildings and appliances to improve
energy efficiency, and education at all levels to promote the
fundamental lifestyle change that is required in order to reduce
energy demand sufficiently."
CONCLUSION
27. The Government needs to take decisive
action to make sustainability a reality in the UK. The World Summit
emitted 290,000 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, but
the scheme to offset this paid for only one seventh of this amount.
Voluntary initiatives and partnerships alone don't work. Concrete
action is required by the Government to make sustainability happen.
28. Young people throughout the UK and the
rest of the world are working to further Sustainable Development,
and we need the Government to engage us in all levels of decision
making to ensure that meeting the needs of today does not compromise
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
November 2002
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