[Earth Charter+5 Progress Report] Planetary Ethics and Global Governance

Abstract

The Earth Charter states: “We urgently need a shared vision of basic values to provide an ethical foundation for the emerging world community.” The Earth Charter was drafted in an effort to address this need. This chapter considers the importance of a new planetary ethics for good global governance and international cooperation. Further, it describes the contributions the Earth Charter is making to the formation of a global ethics and to international law, and it describes some of the ways Earth Charter principles are being implemented worldwide. This chapter builds on the discussion of the dissemination and endorsement of the Earth Charter in the previous chapter. Each endorsement represents an affirmation of the values and principles in the Earth Charter and its concept of universal responsibility and global citizenship. Special attention is given in what follows to the relationship of the Earth Charter to international law and UN declarations since one major goal of the Initiative has been “to seek endorsement of the Earth Charter by the United Nations,” which would greatly enhance the Earth Charter’s status as a soft-law document