LAWRENCE CLIVE BLOOM, UK Chairman, UNEP, Green Economy Initiative, Green Cities, Buildings and Transport Council, Former Chair, Global Agenda Council on Urban Management, World Economic Forum. Davos Global Strategic initiative of the World Civil Society: NOOSPHERE ETHICAL-ECOLOGICAL CONSTITUTION FOR MANKIND The Chair of this gathering Dr. Liubov Gordina has said the Noo-Constitution is a sort of ethical code compatible with the term “Collective conscience of mankind” i.e. in reality it is expression of life in compliance with unitary laws of Universe. The principal postulate of the Noosphere Constitution is not punishment of the guilty, but promotion of justice.
At the business summit of APEC in Brunei on the 15th November, 2000 President Putin said: “Mr. Vernadsky, our compatriot developed in the beginning of the 20th century a theory for the NOOSPHERE – the environment that unifies the mankind. It combines interests of the peoples and countries, the nature and society, scientific knowledge and state policy. The concept of sustainable development is currently being built on the base of this theory”.
To reach such goal Russian scientists are attempting to establish a new type of legislative base in the form of the Noosphere Spiritual-Ecological Constitution for Mankind where for the first time in the world’s legislative practice the definitions would be given to MAN and MANKIND in the meaning of their three principal components: cosmophysical (spiritual), biological and social. Practically speaking, all existing laws only recognize the social components of Man and Mankind’s role on Earth, virtually ignoring the spiritual and biological components of this role that appear to be essentially the main ones. Jose Arguelles, a doctor of philosophy, and an NSEWA acting member, says that the “Noosphere Constitution defines new vector of development of civilization in the 21st century”.
It is interesting that recently Sonoma State University, USA reported that in September 2008 Ecuador became the first country in the world to declare constitutional rights to nature, thus codifying a new system of environmental protection and recognizing the biosphere constitutionally.
Reflecting the beliefs and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador, the constitution declares that nature “has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”. This right, the constitution states, “is independent of the obligation on natural and juridical persons or the State to indemnify the people that depend on the natural systems”. The new constitution redefines people’s relationship with nature by asserting that nature is not just an object to be appropriated and exploited by people, but is rather a rights-bearing entity that should be treated with parity under the law.
In the same way as Ecuador has enshrined the biosphere into its constitution so we need every country to recognize the noosphere in their constitution. The enshrinement of this process would result in human rights and responsibilities being proscribed within a moral/ethical framework describing the interconnectedness of all things.
Such a constitution would redefine the education system having a view of the world that reflected the interconnectedness of all life, animate and inanimate, conscious and unconscious.
So, apart from Ecuador recognizing the rights of the biosphere, is there already a constitution that has accepted human rights and responsibilities and where is it? In 1995 my very good friend Julia Hausermann who runs a charitable initiative called “Rights and Humanity” was invited to South Africa to advise the South African Government as to how to enshrine human rights and responsibilities into their constitution. The South African Government did not include economic and social rights in the first drafts of the Constitution, as it feared that inclusion of these rights would lead to unrealistic expectations and/or would lead the country into bankruptcy.
Economic and social rights had been included in the ANC’s earlier Freedom Charter and Professor Ben Turok MP, who had been involved in the drafting of the Freedom Charter, was concerned by the absence of these rights in the draft Constitution. In July 1995, Professor Turok invited “Rights and Humanity” to provide briefing materials for the Government on the international protection of economic and social rights. Their staff put together a number of briefings on this branch of rights. They also prepared a compilation and review of the constitutional protection of human rights around the world.
Professor Turok subsequently persuaded the Constitutional Assembly to hold a Special Hearing so that Julia Hausermann, the President of “Rights and Humanity”, could explain the obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and help allay the fears of the Government.
The hearing was held on 1st August, 1995 in the Parliament, Cape Town. Ms. Hausermann emphasized that international law does not require states to provide free food and housing to every citizen. Rather it requires states “to take steps … to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realisation” of these rights and to create the non-discriminatory environments in which everyone is enabled to provide for themselves.
So that “Rights and Humanity” played a key role in ensuring the inclusion of economic and social rights in the Constitution and has now been invited by several stakeholders in South Africa to help clarify how best these might be realised. In a keynote speech to the South African Constitutional Assembly on 1st August, 1996 Ms. Hausermann urged the Government to include economic and social rights in the post-apartheid constitution. Her speech marked a turning point in the Constitutional debates, and soon afterwards the Government agreed to include provisions modelled on the international law provisions.
As a result, people in South Africa can now take cases to the Constitutional Court to defend their rights, for example, if they are denied healthcare or have their water disconnected. Over the last 10 years there have been a number of cases in the Constitutional Court that have further refined the obligations of the state.
We know today that the Universe (the environment) is nothing but constant process of exchange and mutually penetrating transformations of information, mass-matter and energy. Information and energy give birth to mass-matter. It is not the stars that create light but light that creates the stars. In our interpretation as applied to man, definition of the spirituality and spirit of man are related to the information component, (potential energy), soul is related to the external energy shell of spirit (kinetic energy) and the body is related to the material component of this inseparable triple unity
We now need to build on these previous examples of Ecuador and South Africa in our ongoing constitutional debate, and find a champion country for our endeavours!