"Let me emphatically state that global
governance is not global government, but a
set of interacting guidance and control
mechanisms [Treaties, Executive Agreements,
and "soft-law" policy documents such as
Agenda 21] that include both state and
non-state actors, actors both public and
private, both national and multilateral. As
such, global governance is a powerful and growing reality. Global governance is here, here to
stay, and, driven by economic and environmental globalization, global governance will inevitably
expand. Global challenges and global needs -- whether economic, environmental or otherwise --
require global solutions and global action. Economic and environmental integration lead to
political integration. That is global governance.
"International arrangements, such as the Rhine and Danube Commissions existed since the early years of the nineteenth century to oversee transport on major rivers. They were joined in the second part of the nineteenth century by such agencies as the International Telecommunications Union (1865), the World Meteorological Organization (1873), the Universal Postal Union (1875) -- a precursor to the International Organization for Standardization -- the World Intellectual Property Organization (1883), the International Rail Transport Organization in 1880.
"In the early years of the twentieth century, the World Health Organiztion (1907), the International Air Commission (1919) -- precursor of the International Civil Aviation Organization -- and the International Labor Organization (1919) were created. Each of these institutional innovations and the resulting international regulation reflect that economic and other needs spur global governance.
"In the wake of the Second World War, new institutions such as the Bretton Woods Institutions and the United Nations came into existence to allow States to manage an increasingly complex world system, where the costs of instability had been dramatically demonstrated. During the years of the Cold War, when United Nations action was often blocked by Security Council vetoes, the United Nations flourished in another area: a UN heavily engaged in operational activities with refugees, with the poor and hungry, with child survival, with population and environmental initiatives, and with programs to promote human rights came into prominence.
"Development and humanitarian assistance, UN and otherwise, should be seen as aspects of global governance, just as assistance to communities and to the needy at home are seen as aspects of national governance. With development assistance, the international community is recognizing that none of the great goals it has pursued -- not peace; not an end to hunger and poverty; not the stabilization of population or the protection of the environment; not democratization and human rights; not the control of disease, illegal migration, drugs or terrorism -- none of these is possible, none is secure, except in the context of successful development -- sustainable, people-centered development -- and that type of development has no real chance in much of today's world without extensive development assistance.
"Today, the system of global governance is undergoing a profound transformation. In many ways, a critical event in this transformation was the Earth Summit of 1992. This transformation is both quantitative, in the number of mechanisms of governance that have emerged, actually threatening the manageability of the system, and qualitative, in the broadening of participation in these mechanisms to non-State actors.
"At the quantitative level, many of the issues raised in Agenda 21 have since been discussed more fully at United Nations conferences on population, social development, women, habitat, and the sustainable development of small island states. Programs of action and reporting and monitoring arrangements have been agreed. Meanwhile, more formal conventions and agreements on the environment, such as climate change, biodiversity, desertification and toxic chemicals have their own institutional arrangements. Like economic integration, environmental trends have and will inevitably be powerful factors spurring global governance.
"Perhaps the most far-reaching, powerful development in the area of global governance is the emergence of the World Trade Organization (WTO), though it may be that, over time, the global climate convention will actually become even more influential.
"At the qualitative level, non-State actors, mainly NGOs and businesses, have seen their influence increase in global governance. It was here, at the Rio Conference, the NGOs were first truly recognized as important partners of global governance. NGOs had long been present at international conferences, indeed, NGOs were active at San Francisco in 1945, during the Conference leading to the creation of the United Nations. But, since Rio, as Jessica Mathews states in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs, NGOs moved "out of the hallway, around the table."
"Nor are NGOs the only non-State actors to participate in the evolution of global governance mechanisms. The phenomenal growth of multinational enterprise is a potent force in global governance. The presence here of Klaus Schwab (of the World Economic Forum) and Stephan Schmidheiny and his colleagues with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development is ample evidence of this.
"UNDP firmly believes that building capacity for good governance at the national level, and
facilitating global governance internationally are central to our sustainable development mission.
We have an important role to play in legitimizing this new, expanded definition of governance to
our traditional government partners, and in bringing civil society organizations, NGOs and
business, fully into the development process. We are pleased with the rapid growth of the
UNDP program to support Agenda 21, both through our regular program and through special
initiatives such as Capacity 21, the GEF, the Sustainable Development Networking Program, the
Global Water partnership, our new Sustainable Energy Initiative, and our work on forests
partnerships and desertification control. We must strengthen our presence, and we must
continually demonstrate our relevance and enhance the services we provide. For it is only
through international development cooperation that globalization will lead to a more humane, a
more prosperous and a more just world."
Among his 21 fellow commissioners are: Jessica T. Mathews, former aide to Al Gore, presently with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, member of the Council on Foreign Relations and regular contributor to Foreign Affairs; Robert McNamara, former Secretary of State and member of the Council on Foreign Relations; Gordon Conway of the Rockefeller Foundation; Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Chairman of the Global Environment Facility; and Yolanda Kakabadse, President of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The new Commission evolved from a series of 8 meetings of the World Water Council and was
created to develop a "vision" for global water policy for the next century. Its first report is
scheduled to be released on World Water Day, May 22, in the year 2000.
Brundtland was chosen for the position with the backing of the United States. The organization she now heads has 3,700 employees, regional offices in six countries and an annual budget of more than $840 million. The WHO does not directly provide health services to individuals. Instead, it offers training, guidelines, research, funding and expertise to national health ministries, mainly in poor countries.
Brundtland, 59, grew up in Norway, the United States and Egypt, where her father did a stint
with the U.N. After graduating from medical school at the University of Oslo and receiving a
master's from the Harvard School of Public Health, Brundtland combined a career in public
health with a passion for politics. Her first Cabinet job was Minister of the Environment in 1974.
She became her country's first woman prime minister in 1981, a post she held for 10 of the next
15 years. In 1987, she chaired the UN Commission on Environment and Development which
produced the concept of "sustainable development.".
For example, the first snipit says "Climate models predict that the global temperature will rise by about 1 - 3.5 degrees C by the year 2100. This projected change is larger than any climate change experienced over the last 10,000 years." The "climate models" have been revised three times -- downward -- with the earliest predictions of 8 degrees C in 50 years, to the current projections of as little as 1 degree C in 100 years, according to atmospheric scientist, Dr. Fred Singer.
Even if the 3.5 degree increase should occur, it would not come close the largest "climate change experienced over the last 10,000 years. Aldo Shemesh of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, recently reported evidence of a 7 degree F increase in lake water temperature from a lake on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa, that occurred between 350 B.C. and 450 A.D. Other scientists have found evidence in Sweden and Alaska of similar warming at about the same time. Both Dr. Sallie Baliunas, and Dr. Hugh Ellseasser, among other scientists, have published studies that reveal global mean temperatures significantly higher than the present, which occurred about 1,000 years ago, and another even warmer period about 3,000 years ago. None of the previous periods of global warming could have been the result of human activity, and certainly not the result of using fossil fuel.
These facts, of course, are not included in the UN's press kit.
The UN requires military emissions to be included in the emissions report of developed nations. Military emissions that occur as the result of UN-approved operations, however, are exempt from the reporting requirement.
The United Nations Foundation deposited a hefty $1.423 million into the
global warming propaganda campaign. Rockefeller Brothers Fund; W.
Alton Jones Foundation; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; the Public
Welfare Foundation; and Barbara Streisand are all major funders of a
campaign to convince the world that humans are causing global warming,
according to an article by Daniel McKivergan in the July/August edition
of Philanthrophy. Not to be outdone, The Pew Charitable Trusts funneled
$5.25 million through Denis Hayes' (Earth Day founder) Energy
Foundation to create a new "Pew Center on Global Climate Change."
Eileen Claussen resigned her State Department position to head the new
Pew center. Claussen was Undersecretary Timothy Wirth's point-woman on climate change
until he resigned to become the administrator of Ted Turner's $1 billion gift to the UN.
The promotion of global warming has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Literally thousands of NGO observers swarm over every UN meeting, brow-beating delegates and feeding the press. Plane tickets and exorbitant hotel rates mean that someone is paying approximately $5,000 for each of these NGO observers to observe. The UN itself, provides grants to many "accredited" NGOs; foundations provide much of the funding, and national governments also provide a substantial share in the form of grants to NGOs.
More staggering sums go to research -- providing the research produces the right result. As early as 1992, Dr. Richard Lindzen of MIT was speaking out against the bias demonstrated against scientists whose results challenged the global warming hypothesis. Lindzen told Philanthrophy that for some scientists, "it's easier to go along" than to fight the rising tide of propaganda. Dr. Frederick Seitz, a former President of the National Academy of Sciences, agrees that many scientists won't speak out publicly for fear of losing their grants.
The scientists who get the money are following the advice of global warming advocate, Dr.
Stephen Schneider, who said, as reported in Discover magazine: "...we need to get some broad-based support to capture the public's imagination. That, of course, entails getting lots of media
coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and
make little mention of any doubts we may have...each of us has to decide what the right balance
is between being effective and being honest."
Sovereignty International has provided this service from every UN Climate Change meeting for more than two years, from Geneva, Bonn, Kyoto, and now from Buenos Aires. We also provided these services from the UN meeting of the International Criminal Court in Rome in July. Additionally, our web site www.freedom.org, will have updates from Buenos Aires, and a wealth of information about Climate Change and other issues in which the UN is exerting undue influence over domestic policy.
Sovereignty International is a not-for-profit organization, funded entirely by individuals and organizations, and is operated by dedicated volunteers. No government money has ever ben applied for, nor will it be accepted. Our work is dependent entirely upon public support.
Sovereignty International also provides speakers to hundreds of organizations across the Nation. Dr. Michael Coffman, President of Environmental Perspectives, Inc.; Floy Lilley, J.D., Program Director of the Murchison Chair of Free Enterprise, University of Texas at Austin; Tom McDonnell, Natural Resource Director for the American Sheep Industry Association; Bob Voight, Chair of the Maine Conservation Rights Institute, and Henry Lamb, Executive Vice President of the Environmental Conservation Organization (ECO), all Directors of Sovereignty International, criss-cross the country speaking to more than 200 audiences each year.
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