Themes

Sustainability must be a central goal of governments

Sustainability must be a central goal of governments

There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed
(Mahatma Gandhi)

Money is only the oil that lubricates the machinery of human society. The motive power, the fuel, is not money, it is called ‘the human will’

We must live more simply, that others may simply live

 

People and their representatives everywhere need to commit to a democratic process of transformation with sustainability at its heart.

Today, the outcomes of democracy and the success of politicians are too often measured by indicators that value only economic growth, regardless of its environmental or social cost. Through unsustainable production and consumption the earth’s natural wealth has been plundered.

Economic development and income can change peoples’ lives for the better. But today’s dominant economic growth models too often bring unfairness and misery and interfere with the earth’s natural processes. The practice of democracy needs to drive the economy, not the other way around.

Around the world, people are engaging in alternative models of economic exchange and experimenting with new ideas that can put sustainability at the heart of public decision-making and institutions. Many of these practices can help to build nurture strong communities, fairness and a healthy environment at the same time as strengthening the foundations of a thriving democracy through participation, engagement, and deliberation. They are seedbeds for innovation in democracy so that it can deliver sustainability.

The Manifesto responds to these issues in Principle 3.

Manifesto for Democracy and Sustainability Principle 3: Sustainability must be a central goal of governments everywhere

Democracy needs to drive the economy, not the other way round. To ensure that this happens, governments at all levels must make sustainability a central goal. Sustainability demands transformation of economic models that lead to environmental destruction and open up huge gaps between the richest and the poorest. All sectors of society need to commit to this process of change.

Commitments

We encourage governments and public bodies to adopt measures of progress that value fairness, wellbeing and the environment.

We encourage governments and international bodies to make sustainability a central organising principle of policy.

We support social enterprises and innovations which prioritize solving environmental and social problems over profit.

We support full transparency in the funding of political parties and candidates and the elimination of dependence on commercial and corporate interests.

We commit to lifestyles that demonstrate our will to prioritise action for a healthy environment and fairness for all, now and in the future.