A NEW PARADIGM FOR GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

The Righting Institute

Input for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
Rio+20

June 2012

A NEW PARADIGM FOR GLOBAL GOVERNANCE

OVERVIEW

The alarming collapse of the biosphere which we are idly witnessing represents the
greatest failure of governance of all time, one which places in serious jeopardy all
human welfare, permanently.
Many of the ecosystems on which we depend inextricably for life and its maintenance
are in a state of such deep crisis that the very future of humanity is called into question.
This crisis apparent scientifically in many aspects of the Earth system, and on multiple
levels.
The prospects for maintaining the forms of society in which the lives of most people are
embedded and on which they are now completely dependent would appear impossible
unless decisive and far-reaching action is taken with the utmost urgency to avert this
unprecedented disaster now unfolding.
All conventional development is rendered futile, short-term and meaningless in a context
of large scale ecosystem collapse. Such outcomes destroy any advances so far
achieved, and can only result in human suffering on a gargantuan scale, vastly beyond
anything previously experienced. These are entirely the consequence of our own hubris,
ignorance and misplaced priorities.

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Worse, ecosystem collapse on the scale which now seems imminent must be regarded
as permanent on all meaningful time horizons. This means that not only present, but all
future generations will be forced to suffer the consequences of the absolute folly which
is being enacted and facilitated now by those invested with the authority to prevent it,
and on whom rests an absolute duty to do so.

Part 1 of this paper argues that such a collapse is inevitable under the present model of
governance, being the unavoidable consequence of errors in the underlying paradigm,
errors which are entirely obvious.

These, in turn, are reflected in environmental governance mechanisms which are
fundamentally misconceived as a consequence, and which can only result in ecological
collapse, be it sooner or later.

To date, the net results of the old paradigm have been a massive and continuous
assault on the biosphere; and governance which in practice has done nothing other
than fail to get to grips with a life threatening problem, to recognise it for the
unprecedented crisis it represents, or to recognise it at all.

In fact its primary manifestation has been to facilitate and legitimate the destruction
taking place in the name of development, progress and economic growth.

Instead, part 2 of this paper proposes a single, simple, transparent and deliverable
governance framework as an indispensable expedient in addressing the ecological and
humanitarian crisis unfolding. It would address the root causes of the destruction of the
biosphere and, if effectively enacted and delivered, would furnish what is perhaps our
very best chance of averting the irreversible catastrophe which hangs imminently before
us.

In contrast, it would seem that most, perhaps all, of the expedients and responses
currently under consideration are embedded in the existing paradigms of environmental
governance and of development, sustainable or otherwise.

As a result, while they may alleviate or moderate particular aspects of the multiple crises
we face and may well have great utility for that reason, they remain intrinsically
incapable of averting large scale ecosystem collapse because they fail to address the
problem coherently or comprehensively, as well as being rooted in a model that has
failed catastrophically and is continuing to do so.

The paper concludes with concrete recommendations for the outcome document

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intended to embed the proposed new paradigm in our global governance at every level:
the UN, nationally, regionally, locally, in business, NGOs, and ultimately at the level of the
individual.
Only by changing our fundamental relationship with Earth at every level can we expect
to have any hope of traversing the imminent ecological crisis benignly.

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PROLOGUE

FOR THE BIOSPHERE IS NOW IN DEEP CRISIS

PART I

This planet we live on, Earth, is the only one we have
It is our home

We have no other

There is no conceivable way to leave
And nowhere else to go which could support life

Whatever we may wish
it is a finite planet
And always will be

At least until such time as we develop teleportation
over inter-galactic distances
or time travel
In both cases, reliably
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PART II

On a finite planet, resources are equally finite
This came as a shock to us
Because we thought
they were infinite
and inexhaustible

So we assumed
these resources
defined our limits

We have conducted ourselves
accordingly
since

And still are

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PART III

On a finite Earth
human welfare depends

absolutely
upon the health of the Biosphere

That is our fundamental reality
The Golden Rule
which can never be
Altered
Or avoided
Or negotiated
Or circumvented
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For we depend on the Biosphere
for very life itself

And for all that sustains it
This dependency
is inescapable
Eternally

PART IV
But now we know
the carrying capacity of Earth
is yet more limited
than we care to admit
than we dare to admit

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than is expedient for us to admit
than we are willing to admit

Even though we know this to be true
and inescapable

For our limits
are defined
by the Biosphere

Not
by the abundance
of physical resources

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Given the state of our scientific knowledge
that reality

would appear
permanent

for all practical purposes

PART V

In this
lies the root of our

crises

If we wish to survive
we must live

within those limits

If we are to prosper
we must do so
on even less

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leaving
a considerable margin

for recuperation
and recovery

That is
the root of our

crises
Or

That is
The solution to

our crises

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PART VI

Now
we must choose

which
it is to be

Now
For there is no time left

for prevarication
for compromise

of political
or diplomatic

nature

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For there is
no

negotiating
with

Nature

And she is tired
of your ways

and will tolerate them
no longer

PART VII

For the Biosphere is in deep crisis
apparent

not merely on multiple measures
but on all measures

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In crisis
to the extent
that our very survival
hangs in jeopardy

Each day
the health of the Biosphere

is deteriorating

Each day
the carrying capacity of Earth

declines

Some
of this loss
is recoverable

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Some
may not be

Some
has gone

Forever

PART VIII

Sustainable development
fails

within such a context

All development
fails

within such a context
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The very concept of development
becomes a nonsense
within such a context

Human welfare
cannot be maintained
within the context of
a seriously deteriorating

Biosphere

A point
will be reached

inevitably

at which
the capacity of the Biosphere

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can meet no longer
existing human needs

This will happen more rapidly
in the context of

a rapidly expanding
human population

This will happen more rapidly
within a paradigm in which
human welfare is defined
in terms of
increasing levels of
material consumption

This will happen more rapidly
within a paradigm which evaluates

success

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prestige
and

happiness
in terms of
conspicuous consumption

PART IX

Meaningful human development
is impossible

within the context
of a seriously deteriorating

Biosphere

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Any successes achieved
must inevitably be

short-term in nature

Or outside
of Nature

As the Biosphere
continues

to deteriorate
these gains

will be wiped out
by a collapse

of carrying capacity

Worse
many
perhaps most

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measures
as currently conceived
will merely accelerate

the arrival
of that

eventuality

The only development possible
within the context of a failing biosphere

is negative

A failing biosphere
equals

failed development

A failing biosphere
is

the consequence of

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failed development

PART X

For
the principal and overriding cause
of the collapse of the Biosphere

is human activity

This may have commenced
very long ago

with the deliberate burning
of grasslands

It is certain it
accelerated tremendously

when
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agriculture appeared

The most grievous damage
has been caused
very recently
as a consequence

of industrialisation
And

most of all
by us

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PART XI

Harnessing of non renewable forms of energy
the chemical industry
advances in transport

scientific and technological improvements
all employed on a massive scale

have caused an assault on the Biosphere
on a global scale

to maximise the exploitation of 'resources’
in the pursuit of economic growth

The extreme and unbalanced
nature of this assault
is the cause

of our perilously deteriorating
ecological situation

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The only cause
of a failing biosphere
is failed development

(Leaving aside
acts of God)

This has occurred
because

despite the passage of time
and advances in our understanding

our thinking remains
fixated

in values and beliefs
which arose

when we considered Earth
infinitely

and inexhaustibly
bountiful

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a thing to be exploited
to meet

our every desire
and

satisfy our taste for
ostentation

PART XII

Our ecological crises
have unfolded
because
our governance
has failed

It has done so
absolutely

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The greatest failure
of governance
of all time

It remains incapable
of grasping the problem
of addressing the problem

For the problem
is not resolvable
within the outdated paradigm

Lacking the tools
Lacking the understanding

Lacking the will

It can only fumble
the problem

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and fail...
If it fails
it fails in everything
it fails us in everything
it fails the future in everything
it fails life itself in everything
And it fails
in every possible way

Therefore

It cannot fail

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PART 1

THE EXISTING GOVERNANCE PARADIGM LEADS
INEVITABLY TO ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE AND
HUMANITARIAN DISASTER

A FINITE PLANET

We live on a finite planet with a single life support system, the biosphere, upon which
we have been absolutely dependent for our existence since life began.

This situation is likely to continue indefinitely; at least until such time as we perfect either
teleportation over galactic distances or time travel and discover as an alternative
somewhere habitable, reachable, and where our presence in large numbers would be
peaceably accepted.

For a very long time we have been gradually dismantling that life support system
because we are enamoured with the comforts, ostentations and fast-living lifestyles we
are able to affect with the bits of it we remove.

That rate of dismantling has been accelerating dramatically since industrialisation as a
result of the exponential increase in the capacity to do that it has enabled. And still is.

A BIOSPHERE ON THE CUSP OF INCIPIENT COLLAPSE

Our biosphere is now in a state of deep crisis. On multiple measures - probably on all
measures - we have already reached the point where the integrity of our life support
system is critically compromised, to the extent that it is showing serious symptoms of
partial or total collapse.

This is the direct result of human actions, cumulative over time.

Examples are well known and overwhelming in number. These include the alarming
collapse of ocean ecosystems; the mass extinction episode commencing which we
have brought upon ourselves directly as a result of our own folly; the global
haemorrhaging of topsoil, loss of soil fertility, and loss of agriculturally productive lands;
desertification on a massive scale; disruption of the water cycle, depletion and
contamination of water sources; the ubiquitous contamination of the biosphere; and,

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most prominently, climate change.

Each one of these alone ought be recognised as a danger signal of the utmost gravity.
In a world of objective governance, each one, alone, should already have called forth a
decisive response to avert a calamity unfolding.

To take a single example, it must be obvious that on a planet that is estimated to be
loosing 1% of its topsoil annually1, for creatures which rely on that topsoil for most of
their food, for oxygen, for purifying freshwater and moderating the water cycle, for its
role in maintaining a stable climate, and for many material needs, the prospects even in
the medium-term are catastrophic. Unless stemmed, the prospects for humanity
surviving even a century would seem unlikely on that metric alone.

Taken together, these represent an crisis of ultimate severity, the knell of impeding doom
which should and must call forth absolutely decisive action at all levels, and with the
utmost urgency.

For such a collapse would undoubtedly cause untold suffering to human and non-
human life forms on a scale that is almost unimaginable, and bring irreversible changes
to the extent that a vast number of species would become extinct, quite possibly
including homo sapiens sapiens.

SUCH A COLLAPSE WOULD BE PERMANENT AND IRREVERSIBLE

Much of the damage we are causing to the biosphere must be regarded as permanent
and irreversible. Even at best, it is so long-term in nature that it will affect future
generations permanently on all meaningful and foreseeable time horizons.

ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE RENDERS DEVELOPMENT AS CURRENTLY
CONCEIVED MEANINGLESS

Further, its impacts upon civilisation would be so catastrophic as to render all more
conventional political and policy priorities meaningless and futile. There can be no
‘economic progress’ under such a scenario, and what has so far been achieved would
be destroyed or rendered useless.

The very idea of development - of any type - under such a scenario is rendered
meaningless. One is looking at a serious collapse of the planet’s ability to sustain human
life which will destabilise existing modes of existence and cause incalculable misery.

1 Alan Savory, interviewed by Ken Rose on the What Now show, 11 February 2011. Available at
www.pantedmonkey.org

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THE GREATEST FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE OF ALL TIME

That we should find ourselves in such an existential predicament represents the greatest
failure of governance of all time. The only other challenge we have faced which offered
the prospect of permanent and irreversible damage to the biosphere on a global scale
has been the prospect of all out nuclear war.

There governance has so far proven adequate to prevent that eventuality arising. Here,
it is not merely that this calamity has been allowed to arise. It not merely that human
actions have actually set this in motion. Nor is it merely that now we understand the
consequences of these actions we are continuing to prosecute them.

It is that being well informed of the consequences, our governance is incapable of
grasping the problem. Instead it is impotently allowing the worst case scenario to
develop more or less entirely unchecked through sheer inaction.

To continue exacerbating such a collapse – which is the net outcome of current policy –
is objectively insane and suicidal.

Given the impacts on present and future generations of humans, of other species, and
on the biosphere as a whole, it is also immoral.

THESE FAILURES ARE INHERENT IN THE EXISTING GOVERNANCE PARADIGM

This absolute impotence in the face of a critical threat arises as an inevitable
consequence of the existing paradigm of governance. Some important elements of this
are:

• The prioritisation of the creation of wealth as measured in conventional economic
terms over all other policy goals.

• That this prioritisation of wealth creation is inherent in the structure of
environmental law, which has failed catastrophically, partially as a result.

• The Westphalian mindset, which inevitably results in states behaving
narcissistically, acting for what is perceived as short-term advantage over other
states viewed as competitors, even when subordination of their immediate
priorities is in their best long-term interests, as well of the global community as a
whole.

• This results in a further problem: the haphazard nature of environmental
regulation when viewed globally.

• Serious flaws in governance as it relates to corporations with the result that in

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practice environmental protection is largely subordinated to corporate interests.

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW HAS FAILED CATASTROPHICALLY

It is indisputable that environmental law has failed catastrophically – we could not
possibly be in this predicament if it were functioning even tolerably badly.

The the reason it has done so is the result of fundamental beliefs and values embedded
in environmental law as it currently exists. These include:

• that the exploitation and commodification of the biosphere should be maximised
for human benefit

• that human welfare is maximised by so doing
• that the biosphere is infinitely resilient such that even the most gross impacts

upon it can be absorbed without long-term negative impacts
• the presumption that exploitation and contamination of natural resources is

benign unless scientifically proven otherwise
• that environmental regulation should only be used as a last resort.

These are exacerbated by a failure to agree and implement effective regulation at the
global level, and by the inconsistent and often incoherent pattern of regulation
introduced by lower tiers of government that results.

ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE IS AD HOC, POST HOC AND PIECEMEAL

In essence it results in systems of ecological governance and regulation that are ad-
hoc, post-hoc and piecemeal. The inevitable outcome is that we are stumbling into
ecological crises one after another because the means to avert them is absent.

In contrast, sensible governance would demand environmental regulation to be
permanently in place in anticipation.

It is as practical a position as having to pass legislation to form a fire brigade after the
fire has started and is well on the way to becoming an inferno. While still needing to
assemble the expertise and wherewithal to design and build the fire engines after that...

Accordingly we currently have a situation where environmental problems go entirely
unaddressed other than at an extremely local level until such time as they are not only

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recognised as being seriously threatening by the scientific community, but have also
been accepted as such - almost invariably with the greatest of reluctance - by the
political community which holds a monopoly on the power to respond.

Unfortunately that, in turn, is compounded by the sloth-like nature of the political
response, which is the result of legislative systems based on a model developed and
appropriate to a world which existed several hundred years ago.

The result is that almost every threat is allowed to get entirely out of hand before
anything starts to happen; and by the time what to do has finally been collectively
decided, the problems are often approaching the point of being beyond control,
requiring desperate measures to rein them in.

It is all rather akin to refusing to accept you have an illness until it is already life-
threatening. It really is no way to run a planet.

Dissecting it further, specifically the system is ad-hoc because in practice each problem
is perceived as discrete so treated more or less in isolation.

This is entirely a perceptual thing deeply rooted in the mindset of the dominant cultures.
Thus we have a problem with fish populations, another with the emission of greenhouse
gases, various problems concerning vehicles, with a scarcity of rare earth metals
necessary to build enough wind turbines, with deforestation, with the horrendous
extinction rates of species and with countless other things ecological.

We fail to perceive that all of these problems emanate from the same source: a
fundamentally flawed conception of our relationship with the planet compounded by a
reductionist view of life, and the grossly misplaced set of values that results.

Even if not perceived in isolation, the response almost invariably treats the perceived
problem as such. So we have ineffective fishing quotas, but do nothing about the
catastrophic deterioration of the marine environment; we have various localised
measures on silencing vehicles, limit engine emissions but completely undermine the
purpose by leave mileage entirely unregulated, and ignore most other forms of pollution
such as the 25% of vehicle emissions which emanate from brakes, and so on.

Taking the example of climate change, Kyoto 1 was concerned almost exclusively with
greenhouse gas emissions. These were treated more or less in isolation; and only from
certain sources, avoiding politically difficult and unpopular choices such as international
aviation and shipping, the built environment, and, inevitably, those caused by
consumers.

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It is post-hoc because we react exclusively to problems after they have emerged,
almost invariably long after or way too long after, and only when forced to because they
have become so serious it proves impossible to ignore them further without the most
serious consequences.

These two reasons combine to produce a piecemeal response, augmented by the
massive propensity built into our ecological governance not merely to compromise, but
to subordinate entirely ecological interests to economic and political ones. A further
factor is the near universal imperative to poodle to consumers on account of their nasty
reactions. The result is that measures are taken reluctantly, late, and are almost
invariably watered down to please vested interests and minimise the impact on the
electorate. This, unhappily, is self-defeating as the less impact they have on these
groups, the less impact they have on the problem.

The measures that result may impact the problem to a limited extent but frequently fail
to halt it, let alone heal and rebuild the ecological wounds which have resulted, instead
leaving a chronic condition which continues to deteriorate, though perhaps at a slower
rate or less visibly.

This is further aggravated by the widely generalised perception that once a measure has
been taken to address a problem it is fixed, can be dismissed from the political agenda,
left to the experts, technical people, bureaucrats and those directly affected, and
general forgotten. Thus ineffective or partial responses tend to be accepted for long
periods of time, during which the real situation continues to deteriorate.

Finally, environmental regulation varies between different states in a manner which
renders it haphazard, when what is required is a unified global system. If an activity or
substance is environmentally damaging in one state, it almost invariably is everywhere.

This piecemeal approach further undermines effective regulation because it presents
states with an opportunity to seek advantage economically. If a state fails to regulate
where others have, it gains a competitive advantage, so environmental regulation is
resisted and a race to the bottom ensues. This pernicious practice could be entirely
avoided were environmental standards agreed and implemented in common.

FLAWED GOVERNANCE RELATING TO CORPORATIONS

A fundamental causal factor is the very serious flaw that exists in governance as it

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relates to corporations. This manifests at all levels, both in society in general, and in
environmental governance in particular.

The fundamental problem lies in the governance of corporations themselves. The
primary legal duty upon directors is to maximise profits on behalf of shareholders, which
in most circumstances places them under a duty to avail themselves of any lawful
opportunity to do so. This obligation is not tempered by any requirement to do so in an
environmentally benign manner, nor to do so in one which maximises human welfare.

Therefore the only constraints upon environmentally damaging activities arise as a result
of:

• the expressed desire of a sizeable body of shareholders – which is practice is
rare

• marketing pressures as a result of adverse public opinion

• environmental regulation - which is an incomplete, weak, and poorly constructed
net which corporations can to a large extent evade with ease.

As a result, the relationships of corporations tend to be predatory by nature - with the
natural world, and with other things, too.

A second failure is the inappropriate influence corporations have been allowed to wield
in political affairs. It has become apparent that this is now so pervasive as to question
the extent to which democracy is still functioning.

This influence is employed with its full force to oppose the introduction of environmental
regulation, and to campaign for the repeal or watering down of that which has been
enacted, because any such regulation remains an impediment to corporate profits.

This is arguably a rational response by directors, given their primary legal duty. It would
not appear to be so from any other perspective. Clearly the corporate behaviour that
results is entirely incompatible with a sustainable human relationship with the biosphere.

Closely related to this is corporate control of the media, which is heavily employed to
condition the views of electorates in favour of the corporate exploitation of the
biosphere and against environmental regulation, primarily by portraying it as a threat to
economic progress and hence to the immediate welfare of individuals.

A final aspect is corporate personhood, whereby corporations are recognised as
persons before the law, and the corporate rights which are considered to attach to
them as a result. This has enabled or facilitated many the corporate behaviours
incompatible with a benign relationship with nature.

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Suffice to that in reality corporations are nothing more than legal entities, and exist only
as legal documents.

Each and every person with an interest in a corporation, be it the CEO, board members,
shareholders, or employees, already has their full share of democratic rights as an
individual, which they are free to exercise as they will.

To effectively grant them further rights by virtue of being a corporation is entirely
incompatible with democracy as it is normally understood. It is all the more so when the
massively disproportionate political influence corporations bring to bear is concentrated
in the hands of very few individuals.

Accordingly this aspect of governance is extremely corrosive to our future prospects on
many levels.

In general, such concentration of power focussed exclusively on the pursuit of profit
would seem highly unlikely to result in the desired goals of development being achieved.

In terms of the environment, it seems reasonable to conclude that disaster on a global
scale cannot be averted unless the governance of corporations is fundamentally revised
such that they naturally behave in ways which are benign.

LARGE SCALE ECOLOGICAL COLLAPSE IS THE INEVITABLE RESULT

The inevitable consequence of these failures of environmental governance and law is
ecosystem collapse on a vast scale.

This must result because harmful activities will go unaddressed until they have
developed into a major environmental problem, quite possibly for a considerable time
further while the political will to act and the necessary science are assembled, or quite
possibly not at all, because one or the other of these remains inadequate.

This difficulty is exacerbated because the final response is almost invariably inadequate
or ineffective as a result of political compromise, inadequate scientific understanding, or
misdesign of policy.

As a result, even at best the biosphere suffers a constant war of attrition as new,
unregulated activities impact upon it until they are addressed by regulation, and possibly
continue thereafter in a reduced form. In addition, sources of environmental damage
which are seriously damaging on a global scale can remain unregulated or inadequately
regulated for long periods.

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Obvious examples that have gone unregulated are emissions from aviation and
international shipping, while those from power generation remain unregulated in large
parts of the world.
Examples of inadequate regulation are the speed limits for drivers which are at best only
vaguely related to the various environmental consequences caused, and the patchwork
nature of emissions covered by Kyoto 1.
Given that the biosphere is not infinitely resilient and that recovery, where it occurs, is a
slow process occurring on time scales of centuries or longer, sooner or later these
cumulative impacts must result in serious collapse.
As the incidence of these incursions is becoming ever greater as a result of the pace of
technological development which is increasingly leaving regulation far behind, the
prospects of sooner appear more likely than later, and that is borne out by the science.

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PART 2

RECONFIGURING THE PARADIGM

When standing on the edge of an abyss with the ground starting to collapse under your
feet, the only rational response is to retreat to safety as gingerly and rapidly as you
possibly can.

What is both insane and absolutely suicidal is to insist on taking further steps in front
because that is the direction in which you are fixated on travelling and you somehow
believe the support of the ground is irrelevant in that process.

A RADICAL REVISION OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BIOSPHERE IS AN
INDISPENSABLE PREREQUISITE FOR SURVIVAL

Existing environmental governance shares the same mindset with the Chernobyl
controllers who disregarded the alarm warnings and overrode the safety systems
because they considered society would be too discomfited were they to shut down.
Viewed more objectively, the only possible conclusion is that we are set on a course
which can only lead to ecological collapse on a massive scale, and that that collapse is
incipient.

There is no choice but to change our paradigm concerning our relationship with the
biosphere if we wish to survive. If we do not do so we are doomed to a terrible fate.

DRAWING THE LINE

It would seem indisputable that there is a finite limit to the amount of damage which can
be inflicted on the biosphere before catastrophe ensues.

Each human incursion produces a loss of ecological integrity. As this declines, a point
must inevitably be reached at which the resilience of the ecology concerned collapses,
causing the ecology itself to fail completely.

We are very familiar with this process – the formation of dust bowls and desertification
are excellent examples of the total collapse of previously productive ecologies, often
robust ones in their natural state. Dead zones in the oceans are another.

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Viewed with this in mind, it is abundantly clear that ecosystems more or less globally are
in a state of great stress. Many are showing signs of imminent collapse, and others are
indisputably collapsing.

Further, we know that through our own folly we have lined up further enormous
stressors of a magnitude which will impact the biosphere globally and more or less
permanently. This can only exacerbate the problem most gravely.

Climate change and mass extinction are very obvious examples which will cause
enormous additional stresses on a global basis, the consequences of which must be
regarded as permanent and irreversible. We have no way to reinvent extinct species,
nor to remove CO2 from the atmosphere safely, economically or with predictable and
risk free outcomes.

At what point each of these is likely to cause ecological collapse on a grand scale is
merely a question of judgement. That they have the capacity to do so is indisputable.

Acting simultaneously, we must expect synergistic effects to be pervasive such that the
critical point will arise earlier still.

PRIORITIES TO AVERT INCIPIENT DISASTER

Faced with these facts, we have no option but to conclude that we are already
very heavily in the danger zone in this respect, and must act with the greatest
of expediency to repair the damage and cease activities which have given rise
to it on any significant scale.

If we wish to safeguard our future, it is imperative that the paramount goal of
governance must now be to prevent the line at which ecological collapse
becomes inevitable from being crossed, while acting with the greatest urgency
to facilitate ecological recovery, at least until such time as it is certain that
resilience has been robustly re-established.

The only rational response, therefore, is to immediately cease to add to the causes of
ecological collapse by contributing nothing further to the stresses already inflicted on
the biosphere, while acting to heal the distress. This can be effected by adopting robust
and uncompromised policy responses which deliver that outcome universally.

First, that means we must accept - immediately and without equivocation –
our permanent and absolute dependency on the biosphere for life itself and all
its necessities.

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Second, we must fully recognise the biosphere's vulnerability in the face of
human interventions.

Third, we must immediately place the maintenance and amelioration of
ecological integrity as the primary determinant of all policy.

Fourth, we must introduce with the utmost urgency a seriously robust policy
framework which brings a halt to all activities giving rise to this crisis as
rapidly as can be expedited without serious human distress.

Fifth, that framework must be simple, transparent and able to address all
threats to the environment immediately they arise.

In concrete terms, it means we must now learn to live on what we already
have, in order to leave what remains of the biosphere viable for the life support
services it provides and to allow the best chance of recovery. That is the line
that must now be drawn. Absolutely, universally, and urgently.

To an unquestioning mind thoroughly marinated in the values of consumer culture that
may sound an entirely unacceptable prospect. Viewed dispassionately, it is an absolute
prerequisite of survival. If we do not make this shift, and very swiftly, our future would
seem sealed.

Our planet is finite; we have nowhere else to go. It is indisputable that at least some part
of it must be left intact (or as near to it as we can now achieve given the all-pervasive
nature of the damage already inflicted) to fulfil the ecological services we are absolutely
dependent upon for life and for survival: the provision of a breathable atmosphere, food,
water and a stable climate seeming prerequisites in this respect.

So that line has be drawn at some point if we intend to survive. It is just a
question of where and how. All the indications are that we are already
perilously overdue in doing so.

On scientific measures we are far, far adrift. Our situation would appear hopeless unless
we immediately come out of denial, accept its calamitous nature, and react intelligently
and with all the power at our disposal. However unwelcome the prospect may be, that
line must be drawn. Unless we do so with the utmost urgency and in a manner which
delivers universally we predestine ourselves for assured destruction.

Viewed in those terms, the policy framework proposed is actually very mild. Essentially it
constrains us to live on what we already have. To say enough is enough. To accept that
we already have more than sufficient resources at our disposal for all to live well and to

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live happily.

ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY MUST BE ADOPTED AS THE PRIMARY
DETERMINANT OF ALL POLICY

Ecological integrity is the scientific measure of the health of an ecosystem. It can be
assessed qualitatively on numerous metrics.
Taken as a unity, our crisis is one of collapsing ecological integrity. All its component
crises, such as climate change, desertification and loss of biodiversity, are simply
different manifestations of that problem.
This measure must now be placed at the absolute centre of all policy.
We must recognise that all other priorities which have hitherto predominated are
secondary: without life and the means to support it, they are entirely hypothetical and, in
policy terms, evaporate without trace.
From this it does not take much consideration to appreciate the folly of our existing
paradigm of governance, which is presiding over catastrophic declines in ecological
integrity on a global scale, and can only deliver that outcome.
A new one is the essential prerequisite for successfully traversing this crisis.

ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY AS THE NEW PARADIGM FOR GLOBAL
GOVERNANCE

The expression of the new paradigm in terms of governance is very simple. It consists
of three principles. These merely express what must be observed to live sustainably, in
all circumstances. In its pure form these are:

Actions which harm the integrity of an ecology are unlawful

Actions which enhance the integrity of an ecology are lawful

Actions which are ecologically neutral are permitted only where they are
necessary and no more benign alternative exists

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This insight is not original. It merely gives expression to the principles which are
common to the indigenous societies which have succeeded in living benignly with the
biosphere over many millennia – possibly 40,000 years or more in the case of the
Australian Aboriginals, 14,000 years or so by the various American Indian nations, and
many others.

It is also more or less ubiquitous in the more elevated teachings of spirituality in all its
forms, and does no more than articulate in general terms the principles on which all
genuinely spiritual and ecological lives are predicated (indeed if there is a distinction).
Nonetheless it is an entirely practical proposition that deals exclusively with scientifically
measurable realities and which demands no belief other than in objective reality.

In contrast, all civilisations which have adopted the domineering, exploitative attitude
towards the biosphere which appears to be closely correlated with agriculture beyond
the subsistence scale have been of much shorter duration, and have often come to a
difficult end as a result of ecological collapse. Historically these collapses have been
relatively localised.

In the case of our mass, globalised, industrialised society, it would appear the prospects
of it enduring much more than 300 years would currently seem slim.

More critically still, the extreme power to disrupt the biosphere at its disposal places in
jeopardy the future viability of the biosphere as a whole, at least in terms of anything we
are used to and capable of sustaining us in existing numbers.

LEARNING FROM INDIGENOUS GOVERNANCE

Given that the indigenous peoples are the only cultures on the planet with a track record
of living sustainably, whilst dominant cultures appear to have one only of destroying
themselves in short order, it is instructive to contrast the different approaches.

The fundamental features of governance seen in sustainable indigenous cultures are
that it is:

• embedded in the values system such that actions which are ecologically
destructive do not form a part of the culture so are rarely contemplated

• ecologically destructive acts are subject to social mores or taboos

• comprised of simple operating principles

• which are universally applicable and can be applied to any circumstance arising

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• these are known, comprehended, observed and enforced by all members of
society

• and applicable equally and to all
• remediation is immediately accessible, and by all
• with an emphasis on remediating the problem, not on punishing, isolating or

alienating those responsible.

The essence is a simple, streamlined form of governance that can deal effectively with
any circumstance that arises, when it arises, equitably, and with the support of the
majority. As a result destructive acts can be addressed quickly before they get out of
hand.

In contrast, dominant forms of society have adopted a reductionist form of
environmental regulation in which:

• everything is permitted unless explicitly regulated, no matter how destructive
• no social mores are applicable
• is unknown or opaque to most citizens
• is largely irrelevant in their thinking, and considered to be so
• is viewed as a cost and impediment
• is widely regarded ambivalently at best, if not with hostility
• is not considered to be a benign and necessary part of the culture fundamental

to all, to be defended by all in their own interests
• is micro-managed on a case by case basis
• and which produces a system that fails through its own complexity.

This model dissociates members of society from the consequences of their actions and
of responsibility for defending their environment from incursion by others.
It must be obvious that regulation can never keep abreast with the development of new

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technology, the application of existing technology into new areas, or even geographic
mobility of harmful activities. All the less so, given the medieval forms of governance
more or less ubiquitously practised by modern societies. Indeed, it is inevitable that the
gap will continuously widen, unless a new approach such as the one proposed is taken.

The biosphere suffers constant attrition as a result. Striking current examples include
nanotechnology, biotechnology and genetically modified organisms, all of which are
unregulated or inadequately regulated at present and are likely to remain so for a
considerable period at great risk to the biosphere, as well as to human beings more
directly.

This can only be addressed by replacing or superimposing a framework which is
universal in application, is simple, transparent, under which remedy is immediate, and
which can be embedded in the culture and its values system.

THE NEW PARADIGM IN TRANSITIONAL FORM

Clearly that paradigm cannot be introduced instantaneously into dominant society
without excessive dislocation. Therefore it would need to be expressed in a transitional
form:

Actions which harm the integrity of an ecology are unlawful unless
subject to transitional exemption

Actions which enhance the integrity of an ecology are permitted

Actions which are ecologically neutral are permitted unless subject to
transitional measures

In addition, a set of secondary principles would be required. Both these and the
transitional arrangements are discussed in more detail below.

THE NEW PARADIGM AS A POLICY INSTRUMENT

Despite its simplicity, this set of principles is sufficient to cover any ecological or
environmental issue which may ever arise, whether currently conceived or unimagined.

In that lies its elegance in terms of policy. Also its strength.

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It is universal, transparent, equitable, tangible, and readily comprehensible in both
justification and application by more or less anyone.

Critically, it finally draws a line beyond which we cannot go. That is its essential purpose,
indispensable in any sane strategy for a future.

Universal because it applies to any situation that may ever arise, and to all. This results
from framing the criteria in terms of the consequences of an action rather than the
action itself. A common pitfall with environmental regulation has been to place the focus
on the action giving rise to the consequence rather than the consequence itself. If an
action was not anticipated at the time of regulation or its consequences unforeseen,
under such a regime it slips through the net. Major problems also arise when the effects
have been misunderstood or their magnitude misjudged in the model employed. Critical
policy failures of this type are avoided by concentrating entirely on measurable effects.

Transparent because its simplicity provides no possibility to hide from justice behind
complexity; by being readily comprehensible by all; and because frequently the cause
and the legal responsibility arising from it will be obvious to any observer as a result.

Equitable because it applies equally to all, as much to the individual emptying their used
sump oil down a drain, as to the Athabasca oil sands, or oil exploration in the Arctic. In
general, what is permitted for one is permitted for all, although limited exceptions will be
necessary based exclusively on necessity in the case of acts affecting a sensitive areas,
together with a de minimis rule applicable to individuals. This is discussed further below.

Tangible because it deals exclusively with real, scientifically measurable events, rather
than abstract concepts such as rights. Also because the events it deals with -
ecological enhancement or degradation - are often readily apparent even to the
untrained eye, as may be the actions from which they result, and possibly the actors
responsible.

As time passes, the effects of policy framed accordingly should allow ecosystems to
recover and strengthen, because, leaving aside transitional exemptions, all permitted
actions either positively facilitate that end, or at worst are neutral.

This should also gradually augment the scale of ecosystems, as the contraction and
abandonment of certain activities together with restoration returns land to a more
natural state. To a lesser extent this should also apply to the built environment,
augmented by the greening of cities and so on. In turn, these responses should help to
stabilise climate by sequestering CO2, reducing the planet’s albedo and moderating the
water cycle.

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SECONDARY PRINCIPLES

The primary principles define the scope of the framework in practice. A number of
secondary principles are required to ensure these are maximally effective:

Enabling legislation must be commensurately simple and transparent

Standing in respect of ecological matters is universal

Recourse to justice and final decision must be rapid and timely

The cost of seeking legal remedy must be reasonable, affordable and must not
act as a deterrent, nor prevent cases being brought to court or pursued to final
decision

Guilty parties must meet the full costs of remediation plus the full value of any
loss of ecological value or function resulting from their actions, be it permanent
or temporary, entirely separately from any fines and other punitive measures
imposed.

The second means that everyone has the right to pursue infringements of the
convention in law. It means that anyone can take a case to court to protect any natural
entity or ecosystem. This is vital so that violators cannot evade the law through cosy or
intimidatory relationships with government, politicians, regulators or enforcement
agencies, or through plain lack of public resources needed to pursue offenders.

It is also necessary to close down another way that polluters presently avoid being held
accountable: by removing the necessity to have suffered some kind of loss or have
some other tangible personal interest in a matter to be able to pursue a case in law.

The first, third and fourth go hand in hand with this, maximising access to justice so
anyone can bring a case to defend ecological integrity without being intimidated by
costs, technicality, or the obscurity of the law.

The fifth is so that the remedy is effective in protecting the biosphere in practice, not just
hypothetically.

It also means that those damaging the environment know they will have to meet the
entire costs of the damage they are causing by externalising costs.

This is essential to eliminate situations where damaging activities remain profitable even
after cases go against them because the net revenues arising exceed the damages
imposed, including the situation where the anticipated fines can be factored into the

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cost and pricing structures and thus passed on to the consumer.

That outcome is likely to occur more and more frequently under existing regulation as
resources become scarcer and therefore more valuable.

Careful consideration will therefore need to be given as to at what point activities should
be criminalised, and to the degree of personal as well as corporate responsibility of
those involved.

SHIFTING THE PARADIGM AT ALL LEVELS OF SOCIETY

The objective of this framework is not merely to change the way in which people behave
towards the environment by altering the legal framework within which they operate. It is
to effect a renaissance in their entire relationship with the natural world. This is an
fundamental prerequisite for sustainability which has been largely overlooked in existing
policy expedients.

Ordinarily, environmental regulation may affect behaviour by making things more
expensive or unavailable, or by prohibiting a certain action, but it tends to do so in an
entirely practical way which rarely touches our values.

Despite emission regulations on vehicles, for instance, drivers (in the main) still consider
themselves to be virtuous people and may smile and wave at pedestrians in a spirit of
bonhomie accordingly. Viewed dispassionately, they are actively assailing the health of
those same pedestrians at least as actively as a smoker in an enclosed environment,
whilst simultaneously damaging the physical and biological environments, causing far-
reaching stress and damage through noise, vibration, and possibly light pollution, all of
which may adversely affect very large numbers of people, other living beings the local
ecology, and the biosphere in general. A day will come when drivers are treated with as
much opprobrium as smokers, and quite objectively, but the point here is that existing
environmental regulation has done nothing to challenge the mindset of the motorist and
its conceptualisation of motoring as a perfectly acceptable and respectable thing to do.

Criminalising ecocide is extremely important in changing the way we treat the
environment and needs to be introduced as rapidly as possible. However it will make
little difference to the way in which individuals relate to it at a personal level, although
they may well support the measure wholeheartedly out of a sense of justice or
retribution. Just as war crime legislation does not affect them personally because they
have no desire to commit war crimes and probably will almost certainly never be in a
position to do so, it is much the same with ecocide. It will be considered as something
apt only for those in the boardroom and their servants who carry out the crime in
practice, so make little difference to how the great mass of the population conceptualise
their personal relationship with the environment, and their behaviour in regard to

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available choices is likely to alter little accordingly.

In contrast, the purpose of the proposed framework is to place ecological
considerations centrally in every environmentally significant decision we make. This
would first find widespread expression in decision-making in the workplace and
administratively, though the framework, however implemented, would also place
responsibilities on individuals from the outset. Over time, the ubiquity of the practice
should seep in as individuals begin to recognise that they agree with that prioritisation,
or if not merely through sheer habituation, until it becomes second nature to consider
the environmental impact in every decision people make, and at every level.

In this way it would foster a sea change in prevalent attitudes, from one where the
environmental consequences of actions are in practice almost always totally discounted
in favour of consumer values even by committed environmentalists, to one where those
consequences become primary in all our decision making processes.

This change is an absolute prerequisite if we are to successfully navigate the multiple
catastrophes unfolding upon us.

POLICY INSTRUMENTS

A range of policy instruments can be envisaged to give effect to the framework
proposed.

These expedients would be employed to accelerate ecological recovery in order to
stabilise the biosphere as quickly as possible, including front loading where necessary.
Obvious measures to this effect would be measures to:

implement large scale ecosystem restoration

convert land to ecologically more benign uses

allow land to revert to a natural state or accelerate it in so doing

combat deforestation and forest degradation

safeguard threatened species

lower demand

localize human activities

transition to low impact lifestyles

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re-establish community at a practical level, including the pooling of resources

recover self-reliance and sustainability skills

convert dirty technologies to clean alternatives.

A full range of disincentives would also need to be made available. These would range
from fiscal measures, limits on supply (quotas and caps) and demand (rationing), fines
and other penalties, through to criminalisation, confiscation and the like. At the far end
of these would be the criminalisation of ecocide to deal with the most gross and
exploitative excesses.

TRANSITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Clearly a change of this magnitude cannot reasonably be brought in overnight.
Transitional arrangements would be necessary to allow an orderly transition, to provide
time for the necessary learning, investment, social and infrastructure adjustments and
so on.

During this period the incentives would be front-loaded and maximised to encourage
change as rapidly as possible in order to maximise the chances of restabilising the
biosphere before critical thresholds are passed.

Whilst ecocide and the penalties for the most blatant and cynical exploitation of the
environment would come into full force immediately, lesser incursions would be subject
to gradually tightening regimes to allow a reasonable opportunity to adjust to the new
framework. Thus less damaging activities might initially be subject only to fiscal
measures to raise prices and costs at the expense of profitability. The next stages might
be caps and rationing, followed by direct financial penalties which start light but
escalate with time until the activity becomes unviable. Alternatively where an activity
needs to be curtailed more quickly, prohibition and criminalisation may be introduced at
an early stage.

EXEMPTIONS

In practice most human activities, at least as practised outside of indigenous
communities, have a negative ecological impact. The framework must take account of
this to be workable. It would do so in three ways.

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First, there would be a small and limited exemption for each individual to allow the
ecological equivalent of a personal space. In practice this would mainly be accounted
for by common sense and the disregarding of impacts that are insignificant. However
where individuals resort to overtly destructive acts or their impacts become significant
on an ecological scale the appropriate measures would apply with full force.

Second, there would need to be a system of permitted activities on a prescribed basis,
defined by real need rather than merely demand, profitability or political expediency. An
example might be the manufacture of computers, being justified by the massive
augmentation in knowledge and communication they allow which in turn makes for
better informed and co-ordinated action and less need to travel, resulting in positive
impacts environmentally. Public services and public transport are others.

Third, during the transitional period at least, it may be necessary to view impacts from a
marginal or net perspective, meaning an activity that is environmentally damaging but
significantly less so than one it replaces or displaces would be permissible, if not
encouraged. Such an activity could nevertheless be subject to sanctions to encourage
further transition to truly benign alternatives, either immediately or at a later stage of the
transitional arrangements.

EQUITY

Equity will clearly be major policy challenge. How to distribute, or, more correctly,
redistribute available resources such that all have at minimum sufficient for living safe,
meaningful, healthy lives is a crucial question in resolving the world’s multiple problems.
But this problem must be tackled anyway. It is transparently obvious that our historical
and present development path has failed catastrophically in this respect, and failed the
poor in so doing.

It would also seem indisputable that that goal cannot be reached within the context of a
failing or deteriorating biosphere. If we are serious about tackling these issues, the first
priority must be to stop ecological degradation.

In his Blueprint for a Safer Planet Nicholas Stern courageously and very clearly shows
that the solutions to our environmental and development issues are inextricably linked,
that crucially we cannot solve one without the other. Human suffering leads directly to
ecological destruction as the only option left to people deprived of access to other
resources.

So a vital element in both stabilising the biosphere and making the framework equitable
would be mechanisms to transfer funds from rich, ecological debtor nations to
developing and least-developed nations to recompense for the ecological services they
provide, and to compensate for the loss of development potential by forgoing

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commercial exploitation of their ecologies in a manner which the developed nations
have already enjoyed.
This was probably the decisive issue in leading to the failure of the Copenhagen
Summit, as well as the most divisive, and has remained highly contentious since.
While not attempting to downplay to any extent the scale of the challenge in this
respect, this framework could offer considerably more scope for redistribution within its
mechanisms than the UNFCCC does. Given that it would apply universally, if carefully
designed, the sums raised by the various disincentive measures could be substantially
larger than those available under the UNFCCC proposals - the latter being of limited
scope, and applying only to a limited range of economic activities.
Making these funds available for this purpose should help considerably in meeting all
goals: to get a binding agreement in place quickly, to stabilise the biosphere, and to
address glaring equity issues and the human suffering which results.

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CONCLUSIONS

It would seem beyond all reasonable doubt that unless the multiple ecological
catastrophes which are currently unfolding are averted, all existing gains in development
will be swept away in the foreseeable future.

In addition, billions of people currently enjoying acceptable standards of living are likely
to be thrown into a state of severe poverty, or worse.

For all policy considerations, all such ecological declines must be considered as
permanent and irreversible.

This cannot be allowed to happen. It is absolutely incumbent upon this Conference and
upon governments globally to act to avert such an outcome.

This requires that they do so immediately, with absolute decisiveness, and with the
maximum of their powers.

The time for words, mere resolutions, further negotiations, or bureaucratic delay is long
past. This crisis has merely been allowed to escalate to a level at which, even with all
the combined resources at our disposal - intellectual, physical and economic - the
prospect of averting it now hangs precariously in the balance.

Further delay or prevarication is likely to result in critical thresholds being passed which
will render the possibility of a benign outcome increasingly unlikely, if not impossible.

This crisis cannot be averted merely by further words or further pieces of paper. It is
entirely the result of concrete actions taken by human beings at every level, primarily as
individuals, or on their behalf by organisations.

Therefore only concrete actions can avert it. Only in acting differently, and consistently
so, is their the slightest chance of averting terrible catastrophe.

For many, and for developed world consumers in particular, the changes which are an
absolute prerequisite for successfully traversing this crisis represent a major change in
values and behaviour.

For this reason it is imperative that governments take a strong and unequivocal lead
and stand united on this, globally. Now is the time when petty national interests must be
abandoned forever in the interests of the common good.

This is only likely to result from decisive leadership at the top, crucially by the United
Nations, and by heads of state acting united in concert. If this does not happen now,
the prospects for us all are very bleak indeed.

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