Select Committee on Environmental Audit Written Evidence


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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