COUNCIL - Earth Charter Initiative

Considering that the Earth Charter is a global document which expresses an ethical/political imperative
for the preservation of the ecological integrity, elaborated with the participation of more than 100,000
people from 46 nations, including Brazil; that it took eight years to be concluded, being approved on
March 14, 2000 and adopted by UNESCO in 2003 by UICN – World Union for the Conservation of
Nature in 2004 and by various governmental and civil society organizations of the entire world;
Considering that in Brazil various organizations, among which is the Environmental Ministry – MIMA,
have promoted and disseminated this document, with the aim of stimulating discussion on new paradigms
of development and new ethics which take into consideration the solidarity, respect for biodiversity and
natural resources, aiming for interdependent relations among all living beings;
Considering that the Earth Charter establishes the necessity for the preservation of the planet and all
existing life forms within and that one of the means to reach this end is to implement Global Agenda 21,
nationally and locally, the EARTH CHARTER INTERNATIONAL being responsible for exercising the
coordination and articulation at the international level of the use and promotion of the Earth Charter;
Considering that in Brazil, from 2003 onwards, the Brazilian Agenda 21 entered the implementation
phase and adopted the same principles of the Earth Charter as theoretical reference and pedagogical basis
for its actions; and that in this same year Agenda 21 became the Pluriannual Plan Programme, PPA 2004-
2007, of the Brazilian government, whose implementation actions for local Agendas 21, continued
formulation and implementation of the Brazilian Agenda 21 as an instrument in the planning of
sustainable national and local public policies, based on the governmental environmental policy guidelines
(transverseness, sustainable development, strengthening of SISNAMA – National Environmental System
- and social participation);
Considering that the CDDH – Center for the Defense of Human Rights of Petrópolis had previously
entered into an agreement of cooperation with MIMA, being this Center responsible for the articulation
with the Brazilian civil society and city halls for the promotion of the Earth Charter, also representing its
honorary president and member of the Earth Charter drafting commitee – Leonardo Boff;
Considering that the MMA, through the Environmental Education Department, also undertakes activities
to amplify and deepen environmental education in all municipalities and sectors of the country, adopting
as a reference the values and principles of the Earth Charter; and that in this sense, through the National
Environmental Educational Programme, actions are to be implemented to ensure, in the educational
scope, the balanced integration of the multiple dimensions of sustainability - environmental, social,
ethical, cultural, economic, spatial and political – towards the development of the country, by means of
the social involvement and participation in the environmental protection and conservation and the
maintenance of these conditions in the long run;
Considering that in August, 2005, the principles of the Earth Charter were incorporated in the guidelines
of the II CNMA – National Conference on Environment – to consolidate the participative democracy as
an promoting educational tool for sustainable development, and;
Considering that there is the intention on behalf of all parties who signed this Term to articulate with
other governmental ministries and organs and civil society organizations in Brazil,
It was agreed to celebrate this Agreement of Technical Cooperation in the following terms:
FIRST CLAUSE – OBJECTIVE
The present Agreement of Technical Cooperation has as its objective the establishment of technical
cooperation among the ENVIRONMENTAL MINISTRY, the CENTER FOR THE DEFENSE OF
HUMAN RIGHTS OF PETRÓPOLIS and the EARTH CHARTER INTERNATIONAL, aiming at the
Earth Charter Initiative [113]
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