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| TREATY ON CONSUMPTION AND LIFESTYLE |
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| Preamble: This treaty is meant to promote reflection and debate among social movements and NGOs leading to commitments for action within different local and regional contexts. |
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| I. Introduction |
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| The most serious global environment and development problems facing the world arise from a world economic order characterized by ever expanding consumption and production, which exhausts and contaminates our natural resources and creates and perpetuates gross inequalities between and within nations. We can no longer tolerate a situation which has brought us beyond the limits of the earth's carrying capacity and where twenty percent of the people consume eighty percent of the world's resources. We must act to balance ecological sustainability with equity between and within countries. It will be necessary to develop new cultural and ethical values, transform economic structures, and reorient our lifestyles. |
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| II. Principles |
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| Consumption and production patterns which are equitable and ecologically sustainable are consistent with six basic principles which apply to consumers and producers: |
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| • Revalue |
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| We must rewaken to the reality that quality of life is based on the development of human relationships, creativity, cultural and artistic expression, spirituality, reverence for the natural world and celebration of life, and is not dependent upon increased consumption of non-basic material goods. |
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| • Restructure |
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The economic system should be restructured away from production and consumption of non-basic goods for a few to focus on production of goods to meet basic human needs (e.g. water, food, clothing, shelter, education, health care) for all persons. |
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Macro-economic systems should be restructured to include ecological and social costs in the prices for all goods and services, including work in the unpaid and informal sector. |
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Local communities must have full participation in the control and decision-making power over the management of the use of natural resources on which their economy depends to assure that these resources are used and consumed in an equitable and environmentally sustainable way. |
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Continuation of the current economic order carries with it the threat of serious or irreversible environmental damage and associated social disruption. Therefore, lack of full scientific certainty regarding potential impacts of conversion should not be used as a reason to avoid immediate action. |
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Because the industrialized countries consume the vast proportion of the world's natural resources and create the majority of the global pollution, they must bear the primary responsibility for restoring the natural environment and compensating the victims of environmental degradation. |
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| • Redistribute |
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The concept of environmental space, whereby all people have the right to equitable shares of water, food, air, land, and other resources within the carrying capacity of the earth, should be the basis for equitable production and consumption. |
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While overall population growth is a danger to the health of the planet, it must be recognized that population growth in the North, due to extremely high levels of per capita consumption, is a far greater immediate environmental threat than population growth in the South. Meeting basic needs is a prerequisite for stabilizing population growth. |
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| • Reduce |
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Overall consumption and production must be eased back to fit within the regenerative carrying capacity of the earth.Given the ecological and development crisis, this transition must be completed within a few decades in order to avoid irreversible damage to life on earth. |
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The use of energy, especially fossil fuels, must be reduced significantly. Renewable sources which are less environmentally damaging should be promoted. |
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Due to their destructive social and environmental impacts, production and use of military goods and weapons are not an acceptable part of an equitable and environmentally sustainable society. |
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Production and consumption of products with built-in obsolescence should be stopped; consumption of products which are transported over long distances should be reduced; and production processes which create toxic, hazardous, or radioactive wastes should be halted. |
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Reduction in consumption should have priority over reuse or recycling of products. |
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• Reuse |
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Goods should be produced in closed cycles, whereby substances are continually reused to the greatest extent. |
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Goods should be produced to have the least impact on the environment, with long durability, high efficiency, and simple repairability. |
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After reduction, reuse of goods should have priority over recycling. |
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| • Recycle |
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Industries and government must take full responsibility for proper treatment throughout the life cycle of the production process. If there are waste products, they should be treated where they are produced and not transported across national boundaries. |
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Local decentralized recycling units should be a priority over large-scale centralized recycling units due to their greater employment creation and lower use in general of energy and transport. |
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Incineration of waste should not be considered as an alternative to recycling. |
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