Draft Resolution n. 23 /XI

Letter from the Earth

The celebrations of the International Year of Planet Earth (AIPT), according to the one proclaimed by the United Nations Assembly, abounded the triennium 2007-2009, and to be inked in the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), currently the elapse. This is a timely date to assert these principles and values. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, we must recognize that, in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and ways of life, we are a human family, and one community on earth, with a common destiny. We should combine forces to generate a sustainable global society, based on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. To achieve this purpose, it is imperative that we, the peoples of the Earth, declare our responsibility to each other, to the great community of life, and to the future generations.

This affirms the Earth's Charter, which has emerged precisely as a declaration of fundamental principles for the construction of a global society in the twenty-first century that is fair, sustainable and peaceful. The idea of drafting the Charter came about in 1987, through an appeal by the UN World Commission for Environment and Development and was one of the uncompleted subjects of the ECO 92. In 1994, the Secretary-General of the ECO 92 and Chairman of the Earth Council and the President of the International Green Cross launched new initiative of the Earth Charter and in 1997 was formed the Commission of the Earth Charter. The process of drafting the Earth Charter has been considered the most open consultation process and has ever participated in the framework of an international declaration. The document was completed in 2000 at a meeting held at the UNESCO premises.

Among the approximately 2500 organizations that support / subscribe to the letter are, in addition to the UNESCO, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the WWF International, the Millenium NGO Forum, the ICLEI-International Council of Local Governments for Sustainability, the European Environmental Bureau, the Paulo Freire Institute, the Club of Budapest, the Green Belt Movement, World Resources Institute.

Among the supporters / underwriters are also, above all, since 2007, parliaments, ministers and governments of some countries. The Brazilian Minister of the Environment has taken up a formal agreement with the secretariat of Earth Charter International and a Brazilian human rights NGO, for the promotion of the Earth Charter in the various sectors of Brazilian society and at the international level. The senate of Australia and the government of Mexico are among the adherents.

More than 400 villages and cities have passed resolutions of underwriting the Earth Charter. From Oslo, to Munich, passing through Calgary.

In Portugal the supporters / underwriters who gave the go-ahead to the Earth Charter include, notably and so far, the National Council for the Environment and Sustainable Development, the ASPEA-Portuguese Association for Environmental Education, the Portuguese Institute of Ecology, the city of Almada and the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon.

The endorsal of the Earth Charter means a commitment to the vision and to the objectives of the document, as well as a commitment to work towards the implementation of the values and principle of the Charter and the readiness to cooperate with others in this endeavour.

Thus, under the applicable constitutional and regimental provisions, the Assembly of the Republic, brought together in plenary session, deliberates: (a) to express its adherence to the principles of the Earth Charter; (b) Appeal to the General Assembly of the United Nations, to make this assume a position of

formal support for the Earth Charter, as a unifying international instrument as to the environment and sustainable development.

And Recommends the Government to : (a) Concretize its endorguarantee to the principles of the Earth Charter b) The policy decisions to be taken, constitute a vehicle of implementation of the Charter of the

Land, conforming to them with their principles. Assembly of the Republic, November 27, 2009 The Deputies of the ENP