VALUING LEADERSHIP

By Dr. Vinayak Rao, Founder and Chief Executive, CEL-NET

Today's environmental crises have gone far beyond a few localized oil spills or bouts of urban smog. From alarming shifts in climate to the inexorable spread of deserts, the problems are global, and often deeply entrenched. They present the kind of challenge that demands action at the top, among decision makers.

But setting this in motion is itself a huge challenge. If environmental organizations that focus on sustainable development are to do their job, they need a strong foundation - support from grassroots activists, corporations and all other groups with an interest, and working partnerships between public and private concerns. And they need to take the long view, beyond the mere compliance with environmental goals so often seen in business, and the short-term electoral concerns of politics.

The biggest need is the right kind of leadership. I suggest that there are three values that define a leader committed to sustainable development: planetary responsibility, environmental citizenship and global solidarity.

A sense of responsibility for the planet has never been more urgently needed. There's plenty of robust scientific evidence to show that Earth is an eco-system held in delicate balance, yet this knowledge has failed to halt the destruction. The relationship between human beings and nature remains one of rapacious plunder and depredation, based on an assumption that nature is a bottomless resource for our material use. Nor is our social progress very heartening: the relationship of individuals to society is largely one of egotistic individualism, competitiveness, exploitation and disrespect for human dignity. We need to rethink our relationship with Earth and each other.

The State of the World reports from the World Watch Institute and the UN Environment Programme's Global Environment Outlook series regularly point out the human dimensions of global environmental change, and repeatedly warn that we have reached or even crossed critical thresholds beyond which the environment cannot recover. Global warming, the stress on freshwater resources, deforestation, the loss of biodiversity, new forms of disease, the rise of megacities, demographic explosion and a rise in displaced persons and refugees are all a part of this distressing equation.

It is time to acknowledge our responsibility for the planet, and convert this knowledge into action. Political and corporate leaders need to give up the luxury of a shot-sighted focus on votes and profits, and demonstrate a willingness to take the long view and act for environmental integrity. To do this they need to face up to three compelling demands; making a commitment to future generations based on equity and cooperative survival strategies, switching to the sustainable use of renewable resources as soon as possible, and establishing new environmental laws to regulate the market and help curb wasteful lifestyles.

And they have to get the message out. We desperately need to identify, educate and unleash around the world environmental leaders and opinion makers who take very seriously the job of endowing the public with an environmental consciousness and a sense of planetary responsibility. Governments, corporations and banks need to hear it too.

A lot of the groundwork has been done already by environmental activists and non-governmental organizations. They have made remarkable strides in reducing pollution, protecting wildlife and defining our environmental rights to clean air and to environment, to livelihood and to life with dignity. But we need to work on the responsibilities that go hand in hand with those rights, which brings me to the seocnd of the three values that define a leader committed to sustainable development.

So when we accept that we belong to nature rather than a nation or a group, show respect for life in all its forms, and strive to put in place law, policies and ways of living that are environmentally sustainable, we can say we've gained environmental citizenship.

In essence, this means keeping the planet fit for future generations. But there's a lot more to it than that - the 6 billion-plus people who share Earth with us now, in fact. Leaders have social as well as environmental responsibilities, and this entails work on the third value of good leaderships: global solidarity.

A sense of solidarity with others means ensuring everyone has a chance to better themselves. We face the stark reality of over consumption: many of today's ecological problems can be traced back to the unsustainable patterns of consumption of the rich and middle classes round the world. And it is an irony of our age that poor nations end up subsidising those lifestyles, providing the raw materials for it by hard, underpaid labour. In this context, the ecological footprints of some nations are a matter of pressing global concern.

The World Bank estimates that one-sixth of the global population receives 78 per cent of the world's income, while three-fifths receives less than 6 per cent. More than 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty. The benefits of new technologies, international trade and other opportunities presented by globalization have spread unevenly.

And those left out must deal not just with low income, but also with illiteracy, poor healthcare and disempowered lives.

But we need to find the right way of eradicating poverty. Rather than globalize the wasteful ways of the super-rich, we should look to E.F. Schumacher's vision of "small is beautiful". Need, not greed, should be our guiding principle. Protecting the environment and alleviating poverty go hand in hand. If a nation's people are mired in the poverty trap, with no part in the decision-making process, environmental policies stand little chance. And if a country is failing to protect its natural resources, any efforts to generate wealth will deplete those resources beyond recovery and add to the problems of a beleaguered global environment. So eradicating poverty isn't just a welfare measure: I is a social and ecological necessity.

These three values make for a complex agenda but then, it is a complex world. Effective leaders for sustainable development will need to forge partnerships with influential social groups, women's organizations, scientists, corporations, governments, international organizations and ordinary people.

They will need to ensure their ideas make sense to all these groups, and broadcast them effectively, through the media, activism and contact with policy makers. They will need to accept as an article of faith that the planet is safe and productive only if the environmental cost of wars, civil strife, rising numbers of refugees, arms manufacturing, biotechnologies and other problems is confronted, and the funds rechannelled to feed sustainable development, peace and human rights. And they will need to demonstrate their social commitment, sensitivity to human life and nature, courage to be free from partisan interest, sense of history and global vision.