OnlyOnePlanet's Values
While OnlyOnePlanet is primarily concerned with
the protection of the planet's aquatic ecosystems, we endorse the following values and
principles (not in order of priority):
- 1
Respect for human rights
- Equality
is an essential human right. All
people should be treated
fairly, with natural justice, irrespective of their wealth, age,
gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or marital
status . This
principle includes a special responsibility for disadvantaged people,
including attempts to right historic wrongs.
-
- The
Charter of the United Nations, and the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights set out seven groups of human rights:
security, liberty, political, due process, equality, welfare, and
group rights. Importantly, these include freedom of speech, freedom of
association, and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
-
-
- 2
Accountability
- Transparency
and accountability especially within government, and more generally
within private organizations impacting public life, including for
example a commitment to freedom of information. In general, citizens
should be provided with, or able to access, information to explain
decisions which affect them. Public decision-makers must be
accountable for decisions they make. Specific controls to counter or
discourage corruption must be put in place. Processes providing
accountability should demonstrate, rather than assume, the honesty and competence
of decision-makers.
-
-
- 3
Commitment to democracy
- According
to the political scientist Larry Diamond1 democracy consists of four key
elements: (a) a political system for choosing and replacing the
government through free and fair elections; (b) the active
participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life;
(c) protection of the human rights of all citizens; and (d) a rule of
law in which laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.
In practical terms democracies need the following cornerstones:
- informed
voters: universal access to education; a free and independent
national broadcaster; freedom of speech; a ban on the deliberate publication of
false or misleading information by political parties;
- free
and fair elections, one vote one value, with multi-party electoral
alternatives;
- fully
transparent electoral funding and political donations (including
effective limits on large donations);
- public
agency provision of services relating to: revenue collection, public
infrastructure (transport, water, sewerage, energy), health, welfare, education, the management of
natural resources, policing, and national defence;
- a
regulated market economy operating only where effective markets exist, noting that
even where effective markets do exist, major problems will arise where significant
externalities are present, or natural resources are involved needing
long-term planning frameworks;
- a
free and independent press and judiciary, beyond the reach of the
tentacles of the rich and/or powerful;
- a
rule of law including both statutory and legal precedent;
- separation
of church and state; and
- an
outright prohibition of the use of police and defence forces for
political purposes.
-
- 4
Long term planetary responsibility
- The
size and activities of the human population of Planet Earth are now
altering the functioning of climate and essential ecosystems. For
the sake of all the occupants of our planet, planning must move from
the time frameworks of electoral cycles to the timeframes of the
natural systems of the planet. Action must be taken to protect natural
ecosystems, including, importantly, the use of the precautionary
principle.
-
-
- 5
Speaking up for those without voices, including the planet's
animals and plants. This includes but is not restricted to animal
welfare, oppressed peoples around the world, and future generations of
humans. The planet is home to a huge variety of organisms. Humans must
accept a responsibility for the welfare of all the planet's
inhabitants, irrespective of their commercial or utilitarian value.
-
6 Commitment to effective global
frameworks for decision-making
Many global issues cannot be effectively addressed within the
decision-making frameworks of individual nations. Many aspects of our
world pay no respect to national boundaries, for example natural features like
ocean currents, winds and weather patterns, the distribution of special
natural resources or organisms (like the movement of fish and birds),
contagious disease, expanding deserts, and vital
freshwater flows. Smuggling drugs,
arms and people are international cross-boundary problems, as are issues like
cross-national pollution and illegal fishing. Over the last century, the
United Nations has provided a forum at which cross-national issues can be
explored, debated, and decision-making frameworks created through
international conventions and other agreements. However a major problem is
that these frameworks usually come with no incentives or punitive
repercussions. Nations such as Australia can sign up to agreements, then
simply ignore their responsibilities. OnlyOnePlanet.com contains
extensive material documenting failures in regard to the protection of
freshwater and marine ecosystems. The Australian Government, at the time of writing, is
flagrantly violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (with
respect to refugees held in detention). Global
decision-making frameworks are not only important but essential to the
well-being of the planet and its inhabitants, and must be taken seriously.
8 September 2019
Footnotes:
1. Diamond,
L. and Morlino, L., The quality of democracy; in Diamond, L.,
(2016) In Search of Democracy. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-78128-2
Recommended
video: Rick Steves on Fascism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU1VW6uqM0
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