Earth Charter Initiative Handbook

e faithful to the words and spirit of the original text, and link the Charter only with organizations,products and events that are consistent with its values and vision.Earth Charter Initiative Task Forces – A Brief OverviewAt its third annual meeting in May 2008, the Earth Charter International (ECI) Council approved thecreation of six Task Forces as part of a new long range plan that is based on the principle of decentralizedempowerment and is designed to rapidly expand Earth Charter activities around the world. Each Task Forceare focused on developing a network and promoting activities in one of the following areas:BusinessEducationthe MediaReligionthe United NationsYouthThese six areas were chosen because they provide significant opportunities for using the Earth Charterstrategically to advance the transition to sustainable ways of living. In most of these six areas, there are alreadya number of promising activities and projects on which the Task Forces can build. In all these areas there isalso the potential for interest in the Earth Charter to spread quite spontaneously or organically beyond theinitial catalyzing effect of the Task Forces.The Task Forces have been designed to operate as volunteer networks that will lead to independentinitiatives. They have been conceptualized by the ECI Council and launched by various ECI Councilmembers acting as “seed” team members. The ECI Council executive committee will approve appointmentof the leadership team for each Task Force. The ECI Council will also periodically review the progress andwork of each Task Force. However, the ECI Council and the ECI Secretariat will not direct nor manage thework of the Task Forces. The Secretariat will provide some basic services in support of the Task Forces. TheSecretariat may also play a role in advancing the work of some Task Forces when it has the expertise andresources to be helpful as in the case, for example, of education. It is expected that the Task Force leadershipteams will include many individuals who are not members of the ECI Council, and that other organizationswill provide services for the Task Forces, thereby giving further effect to the concept of an “extendedsecretariat”.The rationale behind the decentralized empowerment strategy and the establishment of the Task Forcesis based on the reality that the Earth Charter Initiative is a network and not a formally incorporated nongovernmentalorganization (NGO). It is not possible for the Earth Charter Initiative to expand its influencearound the world and realize its mission if it is conceived as a conventional organization where all activities aredirected and controlled by one organization, the ECI Secretariat. Given the Earth Charter’s mission it wouldbe impossible for even a large NGO to oversee the activities of the global Earth Charter Initiative and the costand complexity of attempting such an undertaking would be extraordinary. It would be an impossible taskand an unwise plan.In actuality the Earth Charter Initiative has developed as a network of thousands of individuals andorganizations that sometimes collaborate and often act independently. The ECI Council establishes policiesand strategies for the ECI Secretariat and these policies and strategies also provide some guidance for the largerEarth Charter InitiativeHANDBOOK |23|