The ‘Charter for Ecological Justice’ provides a quantifiable objective for us to globally work together with concerted efforts to stabilise the degraded state of Earth's ecosystems and climate.  This Charter to be endorsed by humanity, adopted by governments and the UN as a foundation document for our future relationship with the living planet Earth. The Charter is intended to inspire us to recognise that we urgently need to reduce our environmental impact in order to protect as much as possible of the collapsing ecosystems and climatic conditions. This concept, with suggestions of how to steer humanity in this direction, are embellished in the science paper 'Scientists Warning proposes a Roadmap to Ecological Justice'. A brief overview is available at this link. 

The Charter addresses the flaws in our human rights and our prevailing economic model.  It raises awareness and evolves our emotions to inspire a wiser and more responsible behaviour towards our environment, these transitions of mindset are explored here. It amplifies the legal case against GDP growth economics, learn more here.  

It is proposed that the United Nations should consider seeking consensus to ratify a 'Charter for Ecological Justice'.   This concept will go beyond traditional politics and religion to collectively aspire to behaviour which puts collective wellbeing above personal wellbeing, and therefore respects the need to operate collectively within the biophysical capacity of the Earth to sustain us. The Ubuntu philosophy offers an example of the emotional maturity required to achieve this objective.  There is a separate document which covers the scientific justification behind the proposed wording for the declaration shown below:

"This ‘Charter for Ecological Justice’ seeks to inspire a new emotional maturity within the human race. This new era will be characterised by increasingly selfless behaviour both individually and collectively in the face of escalating existential threats. To this end it recognises that our environmental impact is a product of our population size and the way that we utilise our affluence and technology. Henceforth we shall collectively and individually aspire to combine our free-choice, affluence and technology to redress the ecological imbalance, which is escalating the sixth mass extinction. All nations will collectively aspire to reduce their ecological footprint to less than half of the biocapacity available within their borders, as determined by the Global Footprint Network data. Globally, education and empowerment goals will prioritise the symbiotic relationships between ecological footprint, ecological balance, and the urgent need to release more than half of the biocapacity of the planet to sustain the needs of wildlife and biodiversity. Human intervention in wildlife populations will be discouraged unless an invasive species is deemed to be a serious threat to either local or global eco-systems. The Charter recommends that communities work towards living within the biocapacity of their borders. The ecological footprint of 2.14 global hectares per capita is a guide for a fulfilled life within a healthy ecosystem. Local targets for average footprint will need regular reviews to equitably reflect changing global and local circumstances."

The idea of introducing 2.14 global hectares as a desirable average ecological footprint comes from this research paper Reconciling human demands with planetary boundaries, this research enables us to identify whether a country needs to raise or decrease its consumption per capita, and identifies which countries will still be unsustainable after the redistribution has been achieved.  The research uses the data compiled by the Global Footprint Network.

This proposed Charter will raise awareness throughout the globe about the concept of ecological overshoot. This phenomenon indicates that we are exceeding the carrying capacity of Earth. This in turn will raise awareness that the economic growth paradigm is unsustainable and consequently some of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) need to be altered to reflect the limitations of our planet.  In particular the SDG8 which concerns ‘Decent Work and Economic Growth’, the latter is clearly unsustainable with the current advanced state of global overshoot.  Therefore we are suggesting that this goal be replaced by one that aspires to ‘Awareness and Empowerment’.   The draft suggestion for this replacement goal can be accessed here.

The architect of the Charter for Ecological Justice published a book in March 2021, it is free to download from this link 'Saving Us From Ourselves - Can we repair 50 years of ecological overshoot? '.  The book is intended to raise awareness within the affluent public.  The book includes an ambitious vision of how affluent society might successfully transition from the growth mindset, by seeking to use only the minimum resources which are necessary from our collapsing eco-system.  It envisages emotional resilience and collective courage adequate to face the consequences of the misjudgements that have been made by all affluent societies in recent decades.  More information is available from this website:  Poems For Parliament

It is hoped that the concept of a Charter for Eco-justice together with the 'Awareness and Empowerment' goal suggested to replace SDG8 will inspire a global change in human behaviours and aspirations to relieve the pressures on our environment.  The urgency of our predicament cannot be overstated. Pandemics, resources wars and monetary inflation are all symptoms of ecological collapse.