Community Sustainability

April 1, 1999 Resolutions

Number: 1999-11

 

WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has consistently promoted trade and investment agreements that work actively to enhance environmental protection and improve the lives of people and their communities (Resolutions 1994, #10; 1992, #5; 1991, #4); and

WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has also encouraged corporations to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes human and environmental well-being, and maintains the environment upon which all life depends (Resolution 1992, #11); and

WHEREAS, the National Wildlife Federation has also promoted the idea that ecologically sustainable communities require all of their citizens to respect the needs of one another, as well as the needs of species that cannot speak on behalf of themselves (Resolutions 1997, #3; 1992, #11); and

WHEREAS, efforts by communities to play a central role in promoting sustainability are directly affected by national and international investment, trade and conservation policies; and

WHEREAS, the recent Ethyl Corporation dispute at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) demonstrates that individual corporations often use international investment rules to put pressure on local communities to make decisions which are not ecologically sustainable; and

WHEREAS, the recent “Shrimp/Turtle” trade and investment dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) demonstrates that local and national governments are often forced to put trade and investment policy above conservation protection; and

WHEREAS, due to inadequate community involvement in the planning process, a great deal of time and money was wasted when a local community rose up to oppose a joint venture worked out between the State of Hawaii and Oji-Marubeni Paper Company to establish a short rotation pulpwood plantation on the Big Island of Hawaii. Even though there were many positive aspects to this project, local citizens preferred diversified agroforestry which would benefit the local economy by spurring regional investment and creating new jobs without requiring large investments in local tax dollars to support infrastructure improvement for the project; and

WHEREAS, these three cases underscore the current trend for ‘globalization’ to increase the scale of human activity without the effective local, national and international safeguards to ensure that increases in trade and investment serve the interests of the communities most directly affected; and

WHEREAS, citizens do not enjoy timely access to information, or to key decision makers involved in intergovernmental bodies like the WTO. Without information and access, important democratic procedures are sacrificed;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in its Annual Meeting assembled March 18-21, 1999, in Houston, Texas, hereby supports the concept of sustainable communities by:

  1. working to assure that all U.S. trade and investment agreements promote rather than hinder strong environmental protection;
  2. encouraging communities to provide value added processing locally instead of shipping raw products for foreign processing;
  3. promoting maximum use of renewable forms of energy and recycling, including the manufacture of products from recycled materials;
  4. encouraging people in other countries to organize themselves to better promote fair and equitable treatment;
  5. encouraging affected communities to play a central role in promoting community sustainability through effective public involvement in development projects.