The Earth Charter is a set of fundamental values and principles indispensable for the peaceful survival and sustainable development of all forms of life on the earth.

Since the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972, ecological security has been brought into the major concerns of the nations, and the Brundtland Commission Report, "Our Common Future" recognized the need for a new charter with universal principles to guide people toward the sustainable development. In 1992, the Earth Summit in Rio was expected to draft the Earth Charter, but the Summit only adopted "Rio Declaration", which lacks respect for all life and nature.

It was in this respect that the director of Earth Council and managing director of Rio Summit, Mr. Maurice Strong, and the director of Green Cross International and former President of Soviet Union, Mr. Mikhail Gorbachev, decided to launch a task of drafting an Earth Charter to set universal values necessary for sustainable development in this inter-connected global community.

The Earth Charter Commission representing various countries and groups was formed and it proposed a "Benchmark Draft Earth Charter" of 18 principles at the Rio+5 Forum in 1997. It is expected that the values of the Benchmark Draft will be broadly introduced among people and that the Benchmark Draft will see further consultations before finally drafted.

The Earth Charter will be presented at UN General Assembly in 2000. As a member of Earth Charter Commission, I strongly hope that all the nations will adopt this Earth Charter and integrate the values of the Charter in the legislation and policy of the respective country.

I welcome any comments or suggestions regarding the Earth Charter. Thank you.

Contact: Office of Wakako Hironaka,

Fax 03-3502-8817
Email hironaka@st.rim.or.jp