UNPO Declares Focus on Environment
11 February has been named the UNPO International Day of Action, and has this year declared an intention to focus on the impact of environmental damage and degradation, a theme central to the principles of UNPO and a central challenge to many UNPO members. Below is the Declaration issued by UNPO on the occasion of the International Day of Action, outlining the way in which the day will be marked by Members, as well as intentions for the year ahead;
Declaration
11 February 2007
On the occasion of the UNPO International Day of Action, declared by the UNPO VIII General Assembly General Resolution as 11 February, the date of UNPO’s founding;
And following the decision of the UNPO Presidency, which met from 01 to 03 February at the European Parliament in
UNPO Declares 11 February 2007 as a Day of Action, and the beginning of a year-long focus, on issues relating to the Environment.
The Environment is a theme linked closely to one of UNPO’s five guiding principles, and the loss of traditional lands and resources represents one of the key obstacles faced by UNPO Members today.
Accessing and protecting their environmental resources is a key right of all nations and peoples – a prerequisite means for preserving and developing their culture and communities in an independent and sustainable manner.
Recent decades have witnessed a rapid increase in environmental degradation and exploitation, in many cases most severely in areas where local populations already suffer from the effects of oppression, discrimination and isolation. This wilful destruction of their environments is a profoundly unjust means of prolonging the unsustainable demand for resources elsewhere.
UNPO resolves therefore to make this a year in which the true human costs of environmental degradation are heard. Costs associated not simply with rising global temperatures, but also with the pollution of drinking water, farm lands and fisheries upon which nations and peoples everywhere depend, as well as the excessive commercial exploitation of resources communities have harnessed in a responsible and sustainable manner for centuries.
UNPO acknowledges however that the Environment is a broad and complex topic, and that the ways in which its Members are affected vary widely.
UNPO therefore calls upon its Members to;
- Use the 11 February 2007, the UNPO International Day of Action, as an opportunity to mark locally the ways in which environmental damage is affecting your nation or people; and
- Ensure 2007 is a year in which unrepresented nations and peoples everywhere are promoted to full and equal partners in any discussions relevant to their environment, by writing to the United Nations General Secretary, as well as related international bodies, informing them of the local impact of environmental change and degradation.
