Sustainable Development, the New International Scientific Order, and UN Reform

1
Sustainable Development, the New International
Scientific Order, and UN Reform

• Roger Dittmann
• President, U.S. Federation of Scholars and
  Scientists
• U.S. Affiliate of the World Federation of
  Scientific Workers
• UN Representative of the WFSW
• Professor of Physics Emeritus
• California State University
• Fullerton, CA 92834-6866
• RDittmann_at_Fullerton.edu

2
Sustainable Development

• The Law locks up the man who steals the goose
  from the commons, but leaves the greater villian
  loose who steals the commons from the goose.

3
The Road to Rio10 WSSD

• The History
• Developing Countries Ministerial Conference
• Beijing June 1991
• ICUNP Victoria British Columbia, February 1992
• The Road to Brazil
  92
• UN Conference on Environment and Development
• UNCED Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992
• UN Conference on Population and Development
• ICPD Cairo, Egypt , 5-13 September 1994
• UN World Summit on Sustainable Development
• WSSD Rio 10 Johannesburg 26 August - 4
  September 2002

4
Sustainable Development

• Problem 1 Population Control
• No matter what your cause, its a lost cause
  without population control.Elaine Stansfield
• The rich get richthe poor get childrenPop
  song from the 30s

5
Sustainable Development

• Prognosis
• Rising global temperature and greenhouse gases.
• Shrinking amount of cropland per person.
• Decline in amount of wheat and rice/person.
• Shrinking area of tropical moist forests.
• Decreasing oceanic fish harvest per person.
• Increasing number of people dying of AIDS.
• Declining human sperm count.
• Growing gap between rich and poor
• Reduced biodiversity
• Ehrich and Schneider

6
Sustainable Development

• Prognosis
• Slowing, but continuing population growth,
  already far beyond what is estimated to be the
  earths maximum carrying capacity.
• Continuing unsustainable economic growth, e.g,
  fossil fuel agriculture.

7
Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development

• Maximum Carrying Capacity vs. Optimum Population
• The greater the population the greater the
  restrictions necessary to achieve sustainability.

8
Sustainable Development

• The Perfect Correlation
• All industrialized countries have less than
  replacement birth rates.

9
Sustainable Development

• Economic Development Low Birth Rates
• coupled with womens liberation, social
  security, and child labor laws
• Spain.
• 99 Roman Catholic
• gt44 Reduction/Generation (.55 female
  children/woman)
• Italy
• Home of the Vatican
• gt42 Reduction/Generation (.427 female
  children/woman)

10
Sustainable Development

• The Dilemma
• The habitat cannot sustain the environmental
  impact of traditional development for the
  exploding population.
• Direct birth control meets opposition.

11
Sustainable Development

• The Remedy
• Sustainable Development

12
The Three official Components of Sustainable
Development

• Components
• Economic development
• Social development
• Environmental protection

13
Definitions of Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development

• Official
• Development that meets the needs of the present
  without compromising the ability of future
  generations to meet their own needs."
• World Commission on Environment and Development
  (the Brundtland Commission), 1987 emphasis
  added.

14
Definitions of Sustainable Development

• My Definition
• Economic and other development that leads to
  reduction in population toward an optimum level
  for maximization of the quality of life, i.e.
  environmentally benign development that
• reduces the birth rate.

15
Elements of Sustainable Development

• Environmental
• The United Nations Framework Convention on
  Climate Change
• Population
• .. consistent with ...The United Nations
  International Conference on Population and
  Development population policies and
  programmes to support the objectives and actions
  agreed upon in Agenda 21 Rio 1992
• The United Nations International Conference on
  Population and Development (ICPD) 5-13 September
  1994, Cairo, Egypt.

16
One Path

• Reminders
• If one stays the course one will end up where
  one is headed Ecocatastrophe
• Things that cant last forever, wont.
• There is always a remedy Nature Bats Last
• The Big Die Off has already begun.

17
New International Scientific Order

• Elements
• Science and space exploration as common
  adventures and common heritages of the family of
  humanity to which all are allowed to contribute.
• Realize the fullness of human rational potential
  in all countries.
• Divert science from the dispatch of death and
  destruction to humanistic goals, including
  sustainable development.

18
New International Scientific Order

• The Strategy
• Since this is a global effort, it requires global
  organization, both governmental and popular.
• Corollary Not only do people require
  organization about their (multiple) identities
  (including professional, scholarly, and
  scientific), they need international, even
  supranational affiliation, facing a common
  adversary.

19
New International Scientific Order

• Organization
• World Federation of Scientific Workers
• U.S. Federation of Scholars and Scientists
• formerly American Association of Scientific
  Workers, formed in 1938 of anti-fascist
  scientists
• Southern California Federation of Scientists
• formerly LA Chapter of the FAS, formed after
  WWII to oppose nuclear war

20
New International Scientific Order

• Relevant UN GA Agencies
• UNEP
• UNDP
• UNCTAD
• UNIFEM
• Population Fund

21
New International Scientific Order

• UN GA Agencies Relevant to Sustainable
  Development
• UNEP
• UNDP
• UNCTAD
• UNIFEM
• Population Fund

22
New International Scientific Order

• ECOSOC Commissions
• Social Development
• Human Rights
• ST for Development
• Sustainable Development
• Status of Women
• Population and Development

23
New International Scientific Order

• ECOSOC Specialized Agencies
• ILO
• UNESCO
• WIPO
• FAO
• UNIDO

24
New International Scientific Order

• Proposed UN GA Agencies
• Space Agency Direct Revenue Source
• Remote sensing-environmental monitoring
• Science Foundation
• NRC Not the IAEA Safeguards Program
• Food and Drug Administration

25
UN Reform

• Structural
• Blocked by Article 108, unless
• Philadelphia II can be implemented, or
• Substantial regime change can be achieved in
  support of world rule of law.

26
UN Reform

• Functional
• Strengthen, reform, and add UN GA agencies.
• Organize NGOs, reform them into SVDOs.
• Found a UN Peoples Assembly.
• Model Reformed UNs.

27
What Can Everyone Do?

• Vote with your consumer dollar.
• Dont buy from countries with rogue
  governments.
• Study and stay informed.
• Join organizations, especially global ones.
• Be active in them. Contribute your expertise and
  talents.
• Insist that they develop international
  affiliations.