Background

The U.N. Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), commonly known as the Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro, June 1992. Government representatives from 178 countries were present. Efforts during UNCED to negotiate an Earth Charter, an environmental bill of rights delineating the principles for economic and environmental behavior of peoples and nations, and ultimately produced the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Other major documents were the Agenda 21, a statement on Forest Principles, and two conventions: one on Climate and another on Biodiversity.

The Rio Declaration is a statement of 27 principles upon which the nations have agreed to base their actions in dealing with environment and development issues. Agenda 21 is a 40 chapter action blueprint on specific issues relating to sustainable development. Chapter 28 of Agenda 21 calls on local authorities to create a local Agenda 21 by 1996.

Citizen groups from around the globe also met in Rio and produced their own conventions and agreements. While they are non-binding, these agreements do express the concern that progress on environment and development issues will not be made at the government level alone. Solutions also reside with the local communities and within citizens' groups.

Since the Earth Summitt, the United Nations has set up the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development to monitor progress of nation states relative to agreements made in Rio. National governments will do the same. The U.S. has created the Presidents' Council on Sustainable Development. States may also set up a structure to monitor sustainable development. Citizen groups will have input into the work of the U.N. Commission and the President's Council, but their role is yet to be defined.

Iowans Contributing to Sustainable Development

We, as Iowans, seek to make an effective contribution to solving the environmental problems of our communities, our state, our nation, and our world. We want the opportunity to participate in guiding our world toward sustainable development in a cooperative and inclusive way. We are convinced that what we do on the local level has ramifications nationally and internationally. When solutions are possible in our own communities, they become adaptable in communities around the globe.

Iowans have a broad-based interest in the world community. We seek to learn and understand what it means to live in that community and in that world. We understand our relationship to nature and look at our humanness in terms of that relationship when we ask these questions: What does it mean to part of this world community? What are our responsibilities to ourselves, to others around the world, and to future generations? What are the limits of our Earth's resources and how can we develop in terms of both equity and economic justice?

In the heartland, we realize that we must restore and preserve our natural environment and provide the opportunity to engage in productive work. We know that the products of our land and labor are needed not only for personal survival, but for long range survival in a global community. Because we live in an interdependent world with problems that transcend national boundaries, solutions to the problems we face today will develop out of our personal involvement in seeking those solutions here in Iowa. By participating in problem solving at the local community level, we contribute to solutions at the state, regional, national, and global levels. We also open ourselves to the solutions from other states, regions and countries.

An Earth Charter and Agenda 21 for Iowa

Beyond Rio: Earth Charter Iowa was a two-part Iowa Humanities Board grant-funded program awarded in 1992 to the Iowa Division of the United Nations Associations-USA to support bringing Earth Summit issues home to Iowa. The program was also sponsored by the Stanley Foundation, Muscatine. Over 803 individuals and 133 cosponsors, endorsers, and cooperating organizations were involved in the overall program.

Community forums were held in early 1993 in Ames, Des Moines, Davenport, Oskaloosa, Sheldon, Cedar Rapids and Burlington. The program concluded with a statewide colloquium at the University of Northern Iowa on April 17, 1993.

Funding from the Iowa Humanities Board supported the community forums and the colloquium program through the luncheon address. Recommendations from the community forums to develop strategies for improving local environment and development issues resulted in this document, An Earth Charter and Agenda 21 for Iowa. Colloquium participants refined the original draft document to the April 17 afternoon session.

This document is to be part of a process, and the issues and solutions examined here are not exhaustive. It will change to reflect new directions as new ways of meeting these challenges are explored. The ideas suggested here should generate more ideas for other solutions as individuals and communities make a concerted effort to deal with global problems at the local level. We challenge all Iowans to become involved in this process.

It is our long range objective that this document will lead to:

  1. individuals in their communities joining with others to develop an Earth Charter for Iowa and make a difference locally and around the state;
  2. communities taking responsibilities for local environmental problems and engaging citizens in helping to solve them; and
  3. the State Legislature taking action to provide educational opportunies and programmatic alternatives in which the citizens of Iowa can take part in developing solutions.

The United Nations will develop an Earth Charter by 1995, the year of its 50th Anniversary. Iowa leads the way with An Earth Charter and Agenda 21 for Iowa.