understanding agenda21

8/8/2019 Understanding Agenda21

1/14

Understanding

SustainableDevelopment

(Agenda 21) A Guide for Public Officials

www.freedom21santacruz.net

Prepared by


2/14

Understanding Sustainable Development (Agenda 21)

Page 2

Introduction You may have heard people talking about Sustainable Development in public meetings,

on television and on the radio. Consultants talk about it, university professors lecture on it,and at various levels of government, it may even be mandated. But what is SustainableDevelopment?

That is precisely the question this Guide is intended to address. In the following pages, you will read of the origins of Sustainable Development, its theoretical underpinnings, itsmajor programs and the means by which it is implemented.

When you have finished reading this document, you will have the knowledge necessary to begin identifying the vast array of Sustainable Development programs that arise.

Please recognize this document for what it is: a unique opportunity to learn more aboutSustainable Development and to make a difference in your community by supportingpresent and future actions that restore and protect the rights and well-being of your family, your fellow citizens and you.

More information on the nature and consequences of Sustainable Development is avail-able from Freedom 21 Santa Cruz.


3/14


Page 3

What IsSustainableDevelopment?

The most common definition of Sustain-able Development given by its proponents isa statement found in the Bruntland Report,Our Common Future , released during the1987 United Nations World Commission onEnvironment and Development:

Development that meets

the needs of the present withoutcompromising theability of future genera-tions to meet their ownneeds.

Historical Developmentand Origins

Even the term sustainable must be de-fined, since on the surface it appears to beinherently positive. In reality, SustainableDevelopment has become a buzz term thatrefers to a political agenda, rather than anobjectively sustainable form of development.Specifically, it refers to an initiative of theUnited Nations (UN) called the UN Sustain-able Development Agenda 21, the mostcomprehensive statement of a politicalideology that is being progressively infusedinto every level of government in America.

Known around the world simply as Agenda21, this initiative is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally andlocally by organizations of the United Na-

tions System, Governments, and MajorGroups in every area in which human im-pacts (sic) on the environment. 1

Agenda 21 was unveiled in 1992 during theUnited Nations Conference on Environmentand Development (UNCED), commonly known as the Rio Earth Summit, where morethan 178 nations adopted Agenda 21 andpledged to evaluate progress made in imple-menting the plan every five years thereafter.President George H.W. Bush was the signa-

tory for the United States. Although Congress never authorized the

implementation of Agenda 21 2 (as a soft-law

1. http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/index.htm

2. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) submitted a resolution (H.J. Res. 166) to the 103rd Congress on March 29,

Image 1: The United Nations website clearly displays Agenda 21 documents


4/14


Page 4

policy recommendation 3 not a treaty itneeds no ratification), in 1993 President BillClinton established by executive order thePresidents Council on Sustainable Develop-ment (PCSD) for the purpose of implement-ing Agenda 21 in the United States. ThePCSD operated through 1999, but its actionsto promote Sustainable Development havetaken root and now exert an increasinginfluence in communities across America.

International organizations such as the UNand its accredited Non-Governmental Orga-nizations (NGOs) generally consider Sus-tainable Development and Agenda 21 to besynonymous. Therefore, in order to avoidconfusion and equivocation, SustainableDevelopment will be the term used through-out this document to refer to both. Agenda21 will only be used to refer to the actualdocument from the Rio Earth Summit.

At times, the political agenda embodied inSustainable Development is implementedunder other names for purposes of politicalexpediency. J. Gary Lawrence, a planner forthe city of Seattle and advisor to the

Presidents Council on Sustainable Develop-ment, said in 1998 that Participating in aUN advocated planning process would very

likely bring out many who would actively work to defeat any elected official under-taking Local Agenda 21. So we call our pro-cess something else, such as comprehensiveplanning, growth management or smartgrowth. 4

The AntitheticalFoundations of Libertyand SustainableDevelopment

Property must be se-cured, or liberty cannotexist.

John AdamsIt has long been known that liberty is tied

to the institution of private property. TheDecalogue codified private property in four words: Thou shalt not steal.

Private property andfreedom are inseparable.

George Washington

These intuitions were understood by those

who participated in the American experi-ment 5 and were consequently included in theDeclaration of Independence, the Constitu-

1993 urging the President and Congress to assume a strong leadership role in implementing the deci-sions made at the Earth Summit by developing a national strategy to implement Agenda 21 and otherEarth Summit agreements... Though that bill stalled in the Subcommittee on Economic Policy, Tradeand Environment, its recommendations have been implemented through various actions by the Presidentand Congress.

3. Soft law policy is not binding. This is a common procedure in the U.N.s policy development

strategy. Soft law documents are quite often followed by treaties or covenants, which are bindinginternational law; alternately, soft law can find immediate application through local legislation or policy without an internationally binding agreement.

4. Lawrence, J. Gary, The Future of Local Agenda 21 in the New Millennium, The Millennium Papers,UNED-UK, Issue 2, (1998), 3.

5. Soapes, Emily Williams. The American Experiment: Living with the Constitution. Prologue:Journal of the National Archives 19, no.3 (Fall 1987): 185-189.


5/14


Page 5

tion and the Bill of Rights. 6 The right toproperty as outlined in those documents ispremised on an owners determination of itsuse, provided that such use does not disturbthe equal rights of another.

all Menare endowed by their Creator with cer-tain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life,Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

The Declarationof Independence

In contrast to the unalienable rights found

in Americas founding documents, theUnited Nations Charter and the Declarationof Human Rights are based on a very differ-ent idea: rights are granted and rescinded by men.

The Sustainable Development politicalagenda originates in the founding docu-ments of the United Nations. This isntsurprising, since the myriad countries repre-sented in the drafting of Agenda 21 have widely divergent forms of government andmust have a point of agreement (a leastcommon denominator) to rally around and the UN Charter provides that point.However, for progress to be made in imple-menting Sustainable Development in theUnited States, unalienable rights such as theright to property must be eroded, attackedand struck down altogether. 7 8

ImplementingSustainableDevelopment

The authors of Agenda 21 have said it willaffect every area of life, grouped according tothree objectives: Equity, Economy, andEnvironment (known commonly as the 3Es). By defining these terms vaguely, alitany of abuse has resulted. Furthermore, by rubber-stamping pre-conceived plans, usingmanipulative visioning sessions to garnerthe appearance of public buy-in, and acquir-ing grants from sources with questionablemotives, the entire process of implementingSustainable Development policies is suspect.

Equity: using the law torestructure human nature

The authors of the Sustainable Develop-ment action plan recognized that their envi-ronmental and economic objectives and thecorresponding transformation of the Ameri-can system of justice are radically divergentfrom the views and objectives of the averageperson. Therefore, in order to achieve theirobjectives, they call for a shift in attitudes, which can be seen in the educational pro-grams developed by its proponents. This isthe premise of Sustainable Development:

6. See also Machan, Tibor, Private Rights & Public Illusions, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick (1995).

7. Nullification of the right to the reasonable use of ones property affects by extension the right toprivate action and the freedom of expression. Shaw, Michael, What is Private Property?, Liberty Garden(2003).

8. Heywood, V.H. (ed.). Global Biodiversity Assessment. United Nations Environment Programme.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1995): 767, 782. This document likewise condemns inappropri-ate social structures (p 763), golf courses (p 970), and the attitudes toward nature found in Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions (pp 766, 838).


6/14


Page 6

that individual human wants, needs, anddesires are to be conformed to the views anddictates of planners. Harvey Ruvin, ViceChair of the International Council on LocalEnvironmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and Clerk of the Circuit and County Court in Miami-Dade County, Florida, has said that individual rights will have to take a back seat tothe collective in the process of implement-ing Sustainable Development. 9

Economy: theinternationalredistribution of wealth

and the creation of public-privatepartnerships

...current lifestyles andconsumption patterns of the affluent middle class -involving high meat in-take, use of fossil fuels,appliances, home and

work air conditioning, andsuburban housing are notsustainable.

Maurice Strong, SecretaryGeneral, UN Conference on Environment and Develop-

ment, 1992 (also known as the Rio Earth Summit, where Agenda 21 was unveiled)

According to its preamble, The develop-mental and environmental objectives of Agenda 21 will require a substantial flow of new and additional financial resources todeveloping countries. Language throughout Agenda 21 erroneously assumes that life is azero-sum game (the wealth of the world wasmade at the expense of the poor, making

them even poorer). This critique of economicills denies the ingenuity of private action,individual determination and free marketinnovation, and leads inevitably to the con-clusion that if the conditions of the poor areto be improved, wealth must be taken fromthe rich. Sustainable Development embodiesthis unjust redistribution of wealth both intheory and in implementation, effectively lowering the standard of living in America tothat of the rest of the world. The Draft Cov-enant on Environment and Developmentstates in Article 8: equity will be achievedthrough implementation of the internationaleconomic order and through transfers of

resources to developing countriesIn addition to its appeal for the interna-

tional redistribution of wealth, SustainableDevelopment is actually restructuring theeconomy, molding it not on private enter-prise, but on public-private partnerships.

Public-private partnerships bring busi-nesses desiring the protection offered by governments legalized force together withgovernment agents that want the power that

comes with economic control. The power of economics and the force of government mustserve as a check and balance on each other;combining the two will ultimately result intyranny. Free enterprise is lost amid subsi-dies, incentives, tax-breaks, and insiderprivilege, and with it goes the notion that thecustomer is the final determiner of how resources are allocated in production. TheSustainable Development partnershipsinvolve some corporations domestic andmultinational some tax-exempt family foundations, select individuals, and collec-

9. Peros, Joan, unpublished report, UNCEDRio+10 Summit Johannesburg, South Africa(2002).


7/14


Page 7

tivist politicians and their administrations.Of these participants, only elected politiciansare accountable to the public for their ac-tions.

Environment: natureabove man

Americans support laws and regulationsthat are designated to effectively preventpollution of the air, water, or property of another. Yet it is increasingly clear thatSustainable Development uses the environ-ment simply as the means to promote apolitical agenda. For example, Al Gore saysthat Sustainable Development will bringabout a wrenching transformation of American society. 10

Sustainable Development is ostensibly concerned with the environment; it is moreconcerned with restructuring the govern-mental system of the worlds nations so thatall the people of the world will be the sub- jects of a global collective. Many of its pro-posed implementation strategies require thesurrender of unalienable rights.

This fact alone casts a serious shadow of doubt on the motives of Sustainable Devel-opment planners who would discard theunalienable rights to life, liberty and prop-erty in order to pursue dubious programs. 11 When Sustainable Development is imple-mented, ordinary people will be left unpro-tected from de facto decrees placing nature

above man while relegating man to thestatus of a biological resource. 12

Educating the Youth to

Mold the Minds of TomorrowAll who have meditated

on the art of governingmankind have been con-

vinced that the fate of empires depends on theeducation of youth.

Aristotle

One means that Sustainable Developershave to ensure continuing support of theiranti-human programs is through moldingthe minds of the next generation. Chapter 25of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda21 calls for the need to enlist and empowerchildren and youth in reaching forsustainability.

Even a cursory look at the federally-man-dated curriculum being taught in classroomsin every government school in America

would show that the doctrines of SustainableDevelopment are finding their way intoevery subject. French classes are used toteach students to save the earth; econom-ics classes feature lectures discouragingindividual initiative in the marketplace anddecrying private ownership; history classesobscure the importance of Americas found-

10. Minor shifts in policy, marginal adjustments in ongoing programs, moderate improvements in

laws and regulations, rhetoric offered in lieu of genuine change these are all forms of appeasement,designed to satisfy the publics desire to believe that sacrifice, struggle, and a wrenching transformation of society will not be necessary. Gore, Al, Earth in the Balance. Plume (1993): 274.

11. cf. Taylor, Jerry, Sustainable Development: A Dubious Solution in Search of a Problem, CatoInstitute (2002).

12. Bureau of Land Management, Internal Working Document for ecosystem management, (March1994).


8/14


Page 8

ing documents; mandatory service-learn-ing programs enlist students to work forgovernment-approved Sustainable Develop-ment partner organizations. The list goes onand on.

While taxpayers foot the bill for the in-creasing costs of government education,parents are increasingly shut out of decisionscrucial to the molding of their childs mind.Controversial programs designed for valuesclarification are being performed in govern-ment schools that employ powerful behav-ior control techniques and peer pressure tomake [a] developing child question his orher individual worth and values, and aredesigned to disrupt parental oversight in theupbringing of their children, according toProfessor of Organizational Behavior BrentDuncan. 13

Stakeholder Councils Restructuring AmericanGovernment

I believe there are moreinstances of the abridge-ment of the freedom of thepeople by gradual silentencroachments of those inpower than by violent andsudden usurpations.

James Madison

The way that Sustainable Development iscarried out in local communities around the world is particularly alarming, especially tothose who seek accountability in govern-ment. Operating within a system of stake-holder councils, organized to give commu-nity members a stake in the control overproperty in their neighborhood, proponentsof Sustainable Development systematically promote their own ideas and marginalizeany local opposition, particularly those

individuals who advocate the freedom to useand enjoy private property.

The product of a stakeholder council, oftencalled a consensus statement or a vision

statement, is typically approved by localgovernments without question, requiringcitizens to submit to the questionable con-clusions of a non-elected regional authority that is not accountable to the voters.

Stakeholder council meetings are typically arranged under the auspices of solicitinginput from community members on aproject. This project may be initiated by localpublic officials, a local non-profit organiza-

tion, a national or regional non-profit orga-nization or an NGO. 14 It is very rare forcommunity members to instigate the stake-holder visioning process.

A typical stakeholder council meeting isrun by a trained facilitator. 15 It is not thefacilitators job to make sure that all viewsare entered into the record. His job, instead,is to guide the group to arrive at a consensuson the project. The consensus process has nomechanism for recording minority views.Since he is being paid by the organizationresponsible for the project, it is in his inter-est to arrive at a consensus sympathetic tothe desired outcome of the project. Tactics vary between the facilitators, but consensusgenerally is reached by using subtle means to

13. Duncan, Brent, Watch what walls arecoming down, Letters To The Editor, Santa CruzSentinel, April 23, 2002.

14. Recall that many Non-GovernmentalOrganizations are accredited by the UN, makingthem international or multinational in theirpolitical purpose. In this sense, they might bemore appropriately called Global GovernanceOrganizations.

15. Professional facilitators are frequently paidthousands of dollars for only a few hours of work.


9/14


Page 9

marginalize opposition, such as recordingonly the good ideas and allowing criticismonly for the bad ideas.

A Sustainable Development stakeholder

meeting in Greenville, South Carolina, wasadjourned with a frank admission by thepaid facilitator that they had not reached theconsensus that he needed to support thepredetermined plans. 16

Why all the effort to gain support forprograms few citizens want? The answer tothis question lies in the origin of each spe-cific project. Sustainable Developmentprojects are often initiated at the directive of

NGOs or non-profit organizations that have or create fear over problems that areportrayed as a crisis: development near ariparian corridor, poor water managementinfrastructure, or too many cars on thefreeway are common examples.

Once a problem has been identified, every NGO, non-profit and local government body has a vast stock of Sustainable Developmentsolutions at hand, provided by the Interna-tional Council for Local EnvironmentalInitiatives (ICLEI). Indeed, ICLEI has a veritable treasure trove of boilerplate solu-tions for change agents, enabling them toidentify problems with the goal of imple-menting predetermined outcomes thatadvance Sustainable Development policies. 17

ICLEI, launched in 1990 at the WorldCongress of Local Governments for a Sus-tainable Future, is based in Toronto,

Canada, but has offices around the globe,including Berkeley, California. Its statedmission is to provide policy recommenda-tions to assist local governments in theimplementation of Sustainable Develop-ment.

ICLEI was instrumental in the develop-

ment of Agenda 21, having drafted Chapter28 in 1991 in preparation for the upcomingsummit. In a recent document, ICLEI con-firmed its dedication to the UN mandate:Local Action 21 strategies [i.e. those formu-lated at the 2002 Earth Summit inJohannesburg, South Africa] will ensure theunwavering, systematic implementation of local action plans over the next decade. 18

16. Dill, Bob, Land Use Leaders Declare Defeat; Wrong Consensus Reached, Meetings Cancelled,Times-Examiner, Greenville, South Carolina. Steven Lipe, the meeting organizer, announced that theconsensus is that we dont have enough people to make change. As far as I am concerned, our meeting isdone.

17. cf. Taylor, Jerry, op cit.

18. Otto-Zimmerman, Konrad, Local Action 21: Motto, Mandate, Movement, International Council for

Image 2: The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives 1997 report


10/14


Page 10

Essentially, Sustainable Developmentclaims knowledge of all sustainability issuesand has stock solutions that can be appliedin Stockholm, Boulder, Santa Cruz indeed,anywhere. Around the world, ICLEI is re-sponsible for communicating with localspecial interests to translate internationalpolicy objectives into local and regionallegislation. 19 Every county in America now has Sustainable Development directivesguided by federal agencies, NGOs and/orICLEI.

Funding SourcesThe list of money sources for the imple-

mentation of Sustainable Development isimpressive. American taxes fund the federalagencies present focus: implementing Sus-tainable Development. Over two thousandNGOs are accredited by the United Nationsfor the purpose of implementing SustainableDevelopment in America and are givenmassive tax advantages by the I.R.S. Some of these NGOs are the Nature Conservancy, theSierra Club, the National Audubon Society,the American Planning Association and theNational Teachers Association.

The third leg of the Sustainable Develop-ment financial insiders after governmentand non-profit funding schemes is a groupof tax-exempt family foundations. Theseinclude the Rockefeller Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts, the Turner Foundation,the David and Lucille Packard Foundation,the James Irvine Foundation, the CarnegieFoundation, the McArthur Foundation, and

Community Foundations.Political Support

When George H.W. Bush signed the Rio Accords at the Earth Summit in Rio deJaneiro in 1992, he pledged the UnitedStates support for Agenda 21. A year later,

when Bill Clinton created the PresidentsCouncil for Sustainable Development by Executive Order, he laid the foundation for aproliferation of intermediate and localstakeholder councils that would set out toreinvent the structure of United Statesgovernment.

As Sustainable Development policiespermeate every county in America, it has become apparent that the conflict is not adynamic of Republican vs. Democrat, liberal vs. conservative or left vs. right. In fact, theimplementation of Sustainable Developmentis occurring on a non-partisan basis.

Local Environmental Initiatives, Toronto (2003):2. See ICLEIs website for more information:http://www.iclei.org.

19. Note that ICLEIs objectives presuppose thenotion that the goal of improving the conditionsof the world can only be achieved throughlegislation, denigrating the intelligence andingenuity of individuals in facing their particularcircumstances and placing them under theincreasing oversight of government planners.


11/14


Page 11

SustainableDevelopmentPrograms

Sustainable Development is a plan forglobal control, using land and resourcerestriction, social transformation througheducation and other programs to accomplishthis end. The land use element of Sustain-able Development calls for the implementa-tion of two action plans designed to elimi-

nate private property: the Wildlands Projectand Smart Growth. Upon implementation of these plans, all human action is subject tocontrol.

Since all things ultimately come fromnatural resources on rural lands, the transferof the landscape from citizen control togovernment control will make it easy forgovernment and its partners NGOs, cer-tain foundations and certain corporations to control what we have, what we do and where we go. The transformation of freesocieties into collectivized societies throughSustainable Development ensures the pres-

Image 3: Simulated Map of The Wildlands Project, showing land designated off-limits to all human activity (red). Prepared by Dr. Michael Coffman, Environmental Perspectives, Inc.


12/14


Page 12

ence of a ruling elite which, by definition,ultimately excludes all but a very select few.

The Wildlands ProjectThe Wildlands Project is the plan to elimi-

nate human presence on at least 50 per-cent of the American landscape 20 and toheavily control human activity on most of the rest of American land. Examples of thepiece-by-piece implementation of the Wild-lands Project include road closings, thepolicy of breaching dams undertaken by theClinton administration, and the adoption of United Nations World Heritage Sites which are systematically being closed to

recreational use. Conservation biologistsnow agree that protecting isolated pockets of habitat isnt enough to protect our bears, jaguars, beavers, birds and other wildlife the only way to protect them is to practiceconservation on a continental scale, an-nounced Wildlands Project Executive Direc-tor Leanne Klyza Linck at the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference onSeptember 12, 2003.

The most significant tool of the WildlandsProject is the rapidly expanding impositionof habitat protection provisions of theEndangered Species Act and various con-servation easements and direct land acqui-sitions from battered willing sellers.

The Wildlands Project seeks to collectivizeall natural resources (e.g. water) and central-ize all use decisions under governmentdirection, often implemented through pub-lic-private partnerships entered into withgovernment insiders.

Smart GrowthThe rural land-use plan embodied in the

Wildlands Project is inextricably tied to itsurban counterpart, Smart Growth. As human beings are barred from rural land, there will

be a concentration of human activity inurban areas. Through Smart Growth, theinfrastructure is being created for a post-private property era in which human actionis subject to centralized government control. With the combined implementation of SmartGrowth and the Wildlands Project, humans will be caged and the animals will run free.

Sometimes called comprehensive plan-ning or growth management 21, SmartGrowth is the centralized control of every aspect of urban life: energy and water use,housing stock and allocation, populationgrowth and control, public health and di-etary regimens, resources and recycling,social justice and education, toxic technology and waste management, transportationmodes and air quality, business and eco-nomic activity.

Smart Growth policies include:

transportation plans thatreduce the freedom of mobil-ity, forcing people to live near where they work and trans-forming communities intoheavily-regulated but self-sufficient feudalistic transit villages.

20. Reed Noss, who made this assertion in1992, reiterated his commitment in a recentinterview: Fifty percent is an estimate I made

years ago of the proportion of an average regionthat would need to be managed for conservationin order to meet well-accepted conservation goals... [It] turns out I was pretty much on the mark ... (Range Magazine, Fall 2003, p42) Noss iscurrently the Science Editor for Wild Earth, thequarterly publication of the Wildlands Project.

21. ...we call our [UN advocated planning]processes something else, such as comprehensiveplanning, growth management or smart growth.Lawrence, J. Gary, op cit.


13/14


Page 13

plans to herd citizens intotax-subsidized, governmentcontrolled, mixed-use develop-ments 22 , called human settle-ments. These settlements aresometimes distinguished fromone another by how productiveor useful the citizens are forsociety. 23

heavy restrictions on devel-opment in most areas and thepromotion of extremely densedevelopment, constructed andmanaged by governmentpartners, in other selectedareas.

rations on public services,such as health care, drinking water 24 , and energy resources(and sources).

A typical day in the Orwellian society created by Smart Growth would consist of anindividual waking up in his government-provided housing unit, eating a ration of government-subsidized foods purchased at agovernment-sanctioned grocery store, walk-ing his children (if he has any) to the govern-ment-run child care center, boarding gov-ernment-subsidized public transit to go tohis government job, then returning homelater that evening.

What Can YouDo?

Once again a majority of this court has proved thatIf enough people get to-gether and act in concert,they can take somethingand not pay for it. ... Buttheft is still theft. Theft istheft even when the gov-ernment approves of thethievery... Turning a de-

mocracy into a kleptocracy does not enhance the stat-ure of the thieves; it only diminishes the legitimacy of the government.

Justice Janice Brown,dissenting opinion, San Remo

Hotel v. City and County of San Francisco 25

Sustainable Development is restructuring

our lives and is targeting our childrenthrough an educational regime that seeks todevelop collectivist attitudes, values, and beliefs. Sustainable Development documentsexpressly call for the elimination of privateproperty 26 and the freedom that privateproperty supports. It supplants long-stand-

22. The lure of paying as little as $150 per year in taxes on properties valued at $1.5 million has led tohigh occupancy in some developments in Portland, Oregon, for example.

23. The Smart Growth plan for Richland County, South Carolina, for example, distinguishes betweenemployment-based villages and non-employment-based villages, with special gated communities setaside for the wealthy individuals responsible for the plan. Most of the non-employment-based villagesare slated to be built in areas currently populated by the descendants of liberated slaves.

24. Reasonable access to water in urban areas is defined as the availability of 20 litres per capita perday at a distance no longer than 1,000 metres. Global Water Supply and Assessment Report 2000.

25. No. S091757., SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA, 27 Cal. 4th 643; 41 P.3d 87, March 8, 2002

26. Heywood, V.H. (ed.). op cit.


14/14

understanding agenda21

Documents