Date: Thursday, 29 June
Time: 9:00am Costa Rica time (English – Spanish interpretation)
Join us in commemorating 23 years since the launch of the Earth Charter!
After nearly a decade of consultation and a drafting process, The Earth Charter was launched on 29 June 2000 in a special ceremony at the Peace Palace, in The Hague, The Netherlands. Following that, the aim was to widely disseminate it and promote its use as an ethical framework and reference, as well as an educational instrument to guide societies towards a more just, sustainable and peaceful world. We take this opportunity to look back, and forward, and specially to consider the purpose of the Earth Charter to the current times and to explore ways to accelerate the much-needed transition to a more caring and responsible global society.
Moreover, 2023 marks the mid-point of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The United Nations will be organizing the 2023 SDG Summit in September this year. Last year, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) called for this Summit to “mark the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In this context, in the middle of the road towards the intention to achieve the SDGs, questions arise regarding the extent to which these global efforts have had an impact in contributing to planetary well-being and setting us on the path towards ecological civilizations. Some questions and perspectives we would like to contribute to the discussion include:
- What do we mean by ecological civilizations?
- What are some of the good practices in the effort of using and implementing the Earth Charter and implementing the SDGs? Particularly, what are some examples of emerging efforts towards planetary well-being and of building ecological civilizations?
- What are the relationships between the SDGs and the Earth Charter?
- What are the necessary actions we need to take to significantly accelerate our response to address the pressing challenges and build ecological civilizations? How can the Earth Charter be used in the context of a possible planetary system collapse and the possibilities to a great transition towards an ecological civilization?
For the 23rd anniversary of the Earth Charter, on 29 June, we would like to invite you to reflect on these questions and renew our resolve to turn conscience into action.
Speakers
Jeremy Lent (UK-USA)
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Jeremy Lent, described by Guardian journalist George Monbiot as “one of the greatest thinkers of our age,” is an author and speaker whose work investigates the underlying causes of our civilization’s existential crisis, and explores pathways toward a life-affirming future. His award-winning book, The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning, examines the way humans have made meaning from the cosmos from hunter-gatherer times to the present day. His new book, The Web of Meaning: Integrating Science and Traditional Wisdom to Find Our Place in the Universe, offers a solid foundation for an integrative worldview that could lead humanity to a sustainable, flourishing future. He is founder of the nonprofit Liology Institute and writes topical articles exploring the deeper patterns of political and cultural developments at Patterns of Meaning. Author website: jeremylent.com
Laura Restrepo (Colombia)
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Coordinator of special projects in Climate Reality Latin America, co-founder and co-facilitator of the Colombian National Platform for Children and Youth. Community manager of the Latin American Political Innovation Network, communication liaison and regional co-coordinator of the Earth Charter International Youth Network, National Co-coordinator of the International Network of SDG promoters Colombia, Vice President of Strategic Development in SPEED (Student Platform for Engineering Education) and member of the board of directors of the Green Chamber of Commerce for the period 2023-2025.
Ambassador of the Institute for Economics and Peace and of En-ROADS Simulator (MIT + Climate Interactive).
Ricardo Young (Brazil)
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A businessperson and entrepreneur. Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility (a major association of companies in Brazil committed to sustainability) and former president of the Brazilian Association of Franchising. Co-Founder and Council Member of several organizations such as Sustainable São Paulo Movement; Sustainable Amazon Forum; World Business Academy in Brazil, Member, Sustainability Council, Real Bank and Santander Bank. Council Member, Global Reporting Initiative and Corporate Sustainability Index. He was also a member of congress of the city of Sao Paulo and a founding member of a new Brazilian political party Sustainability Network. In the last 90s, when Ricardo was Chairman of Yazigi (a language school located all over Brazil through franchising), he incorporated the Earth Charter as an educational instrument in this school system. Since then, he has incorporated the Earth Charter in many of his activities and talks. Ricardo has a postgraduate degree in General Management, PDG-EXEC; fellow ELIAS programme, MIT. 2002-06.
Akpezi Ogbuigwe (Nigeria)
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Dr. Akpezi Ogbuigwe is a respected and high-profile expert in transformational change in higher education in Africa, environmental law, environmental education, and climate change education. She leads the Star Advantage Network. Her International Career saw her in various leadership positions with the United Nations where she was opportune to initiate and promote several initiatives on environment and sustainable development issues. She has a passion for equity, freedom and transparency in the promotion and execution of sustainable development policies and goals. She believes we can all in the context of respect for all peoples and the environment, achieve the sustainable development goals for a more peaceful and prosperous future for all. She is a Board Member of the Earth Charter International where she helps promote the Earth Charter Principles of respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, and democracy, nonviolence and peace.
Partners
We are happy to partner with The Club of Rome with this activity, especially in connection with their Emerging New Civilization(s) Initiative (ENCI). Earth Charter International hosted the Club of Rome Annual Conference in 2022, and since then, we are looking to collaborate in opening dialogue spaces for the transition to new ecological civilizations.
Soka Gakkai International is partnering with Earth Charter International to offer this webinar. For more than 20 years, SGI has been a close partner for ECI, developing materials, organizing events and offering spaces to reflect and cultivate values and ethical principles associated with sustainability.
