The Earth Council will soon be a reality. The Organizing Committee (see Development Alternatives, Januay 1993 issue, page 4) met recently at San Jose, Costa Rica, and finalized the objectives, strategies and structure of the new Council, which is expected to go into full operation in the months ahead.

The Earth Council will have its headquarters in San Jose. The Government of Costa Rica has agreed to provide generous support for its infrastructure.

The first Chairman of the Earth Council will be Maurice Strong, who was the Secretary General of the Earth Summit. The Executive Director will be Alicia Barcena of Mexico.

For the composition of the first Earth Council, the Origanizing Committee approved a short list of persons from among the nominations received as a result of widespread consultations throughout the world during the preceding six months.

Maurice Strong said that the Earth Council would seek to cooperate with the newly formed UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the scores of non-governmental organisations that are concerned with environment and development. “It will be a unique organisation that unites and reinforces the working of such other bodies and groups through processes of public dialogue and collaborative action,” he said.

The Organizing Committee was of the view that the credibility, recognition and moral standing of the Earth Council will come only from its performance, and from the qualities of its participants, the transparency of its process and the consistency, integrity and factual objectivity of its products and statements.

To become the individual, authoritative, independent voice for a sustainable future, the Council will establish close links with the scientific community and with people’s organisations to receive critical insights and analysis on environment and development issues.

Keith Benzanson, President of IDRC, strongly urged future members of the Earth Council to deliver early and definitive results, a pre-condition for building up its credibility and effectiveness for the long run.

Mximo Kalaw of the Green Forum (Philippines) pointed out the need for the Earth Council to recognize the existence and legitimacy of diverse opinions reflecting the variety of cultures and contacts that exist on our planet. In its report, the Organizing Committee stated that “where policy is in dispute facts are controversial. The evaluation of data and assessment its meaning inevitable involves judgement and such assessments may point to changes in policy not agreed to by all. The Council must be and also persuasive, if it is to be effective and can legitimacy”.

One of the primary functions of the Earth Council will be to monitor the performance of the global community in implementing the agreements made at the Earth Summit. Implementation of Agenda 21 requires an extensive commitment of resources by Governments, the corporate sector and other agencies and the sector and the introduction of new economic and social measures. Its focus will be to influence and catalyse change, to address neglected areas of concern and to empower people to promote a self management approach to problems.

Thus, the Earth Council will have an ombudsman role. In achieving this it will conduct or commission studies to assess the progress in implementing Agenda 21 and will use mechanisms such as public hearings, and electronic communications to generate wide ranging inputs from outside.

Martin Holdgate, Director General of IUCN, felt that the Earth Council must rapidly build up a network of co-operating institutions in alparts of the world. This network will be important both as the eyes and ears of Council, bringing in information on emerging issues to create widespread awareness on them.

Another member of the Organizing Committee, Ashok Khosla form Development Alternatives felt that the Earth Council should take a proactive role in encouraging citizen groups and others in preparing their own sets of principles and agendas to reflect the many issues which could not be included in the tightly negotiated outputs of an international conference like the UNCED.

Once established, the Earth Council will, naturally, set its own agenda and programme. It will be advised by a Programme Advisory Committee and their sources - including citizen groups throughout the world. Its efforts will especially be to amplify the voices of those normally excluded from national and international deliberations.

The Earth Council will promote efforts to evolve possible indicators on environment and development performance by sectors and institutions responsible for them.

The Organizing Committee strongly felt that in all of its activities, the Council will:

Maurice Strong indicated that the Earth Council has attracted considerable interest form new potential donors, particularly in the corporate sector, and would not be competing with other environment and development NGOs for money from the usual funding agencies.

Above all, the Organizing Committee felt that the Earth Council will at all times endeavour to speak out clearly in favour of local, regional and global long-term interests that allow basic problems to be addressed. It will seek always in its work, to promote the interests of the poor, under-privileged, disenfranchised and future generations. Its aim will be to foster ecologically sound practices, equity and the principles of sustainability.

“Partnershps for Change”
MANCHESTER, U.K., 2-22 September, 1993

“Partnerships for Change” has been convened by British Prime Minister John Major as a contribution by the UK Government to ensure that commitments made at Rio become a reality. The conference will bring together non-governmental organisations from all over the world to exchange practical experience of sustainable developmen solutions. It will focus on successful partnerships within and between different sectors, particularly businesses, voluntary groups, local authorities and local communities which have led to more sustainable activities and paths. To ensure that broader policy frameworks reinforce partnerships, selected governmental and international agencies will also be invited to participate at the meeting.

It is expected tha the conference will produce a “partnership in practice” guide which will set the lessons learned, the tools available and methods to overcome the obstacles to change.

The conference will concentrate on three key themes, for which participants will be expected present case studies:

-	Sustainable Communities
-	Sustainable Business
-	Sustainable Citizenship

The U.K. Government expects to invite some 350 participants from the relevant sectors worldwide. The International Advisory Group (IAG) includes key figures from NGO networking organisations in each region of the world.

To provide the starting point for the conference discussions, the UK Department of the Environment will be commissioning a small number of case studies of partnerships for sustainability-initiatives taken by voluntary organisations, businesses or local authorities working together to secure change. Some of these will be drawn from urban contexts, and others from rural contexts, reflecting the different conditions presented by these two wasy of life.

The case studie commissioned will meet three main criteria

-	The initiative or project presente must involve more than one sector;
-	It must be able to demonstrate lessons about concrete achievement or failure;
-	The lessons it yields about the key factors in success or failure must have wide applicability.