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"The greatest challenge facing the world community as it mobilises to implement Agenda 21 is to release the enormous financial, technical, human and moral resources required for sustainable development. These resources will be freed up only as the peoples of the world develop a profound sense of responsibility for the fate of the planet and for the well-being of the entire human family.
This sense of responsibility can only emerge from the acceptance of the oneness of humanity and will only be sustained by a unifying vision of a peaceful, prosperous world society. Without such a global ethic, people will be unable to become active, constructive participants in the world-wide process of sustainable development.
People need to think of themselves as world citizens and understand their personal responsibility to promote sustainable development ... to see themselves as citizens of one world, the builders of a just and prosperous world civilisation."
The Bahá'í International Community: Statement on "World Citizenship"
"We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions."
Shoghi Effendi - February 1933
"Neither a fallen creature nor merely the product of socio-economic forces, the rational soul .... is a phenomenon with limitless potentialities: intellectual, spiritual, emotional and moral; It is primarily service to humanity that unlocks individual capacity. Service to the ideal of a global society -above all, sacrifice for that ideal - will open as yet unimagined possibilities for the development of human nature."
Bahá'í International Community "Perspective on Social and Economic Development"
"In the final analysis, this is what it amounts to; furthering the common understanding and common spirit of responsibility so clearly needed in a divided world. ... We became convinced that major changes were needed, both in attitudes and in the way our societies are organised.
We call for a common endeavour and for new norms of behaviour at all levels and in the interests of all. The changes in attitude, in social values, and in aspirations that the report urges will depend on vast campaigns of education, debate, and public participation."
Brundtland Commission Report "Our Common Future"
"The environment does not exist as a sphere separate from human activities, ambitions, and needs, and attempts to defend it in isolation from human concerns have given the very word 'environment' a connotation of naivete in some political circles.
... the 'environment' is where we all live: and 'development' is what we all do in attempting to improve our lot within that abode. The two are inseparable."
"... first and foremost our message is directed towards people, whose well being is the ultimate goal of all environment and development policies."
"Our Common Future"
"If we do not succeed in putting our message of urgency through to today's parents and decision makers, we risk undermining our children's' fundamental right to a healthy, life-enhancing environment. Unless we are able to translate our words into a language that can reach the minds and hearts of people, young and old, we shall not be able to undertake the extensive social changes needed to correct the course of development."
"Our Common Future"
"In particular, the Commission is addressing the young. The world's teachers will have a crucial role to play in bringing this report to them."
"Our Common Future"
"The present condition of the world - its economic instability, social dissensions, political dissatisfaction and international distrust - should awaken the youth from their slumber and make them inquire what the future is going to bring. It is surely they who will suffer most if some calamity sweep over the world. They should therefore open their eyes to the existing conditions, study the forces that are at play and then with a concerted effort arise and bring about the necessary reforms - reforms that shall contain within their scope the spiritual as well as social and political phases of human life."
Shoghi Effendi - March 1932
"And let it be known once more that until woman and man recognise and realise equality, social and political progress here or anywhere will not be possible.
The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities, both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilisation will be more evenly balanced."
'Abdu'l-Bahá quoted in compilation on "Women"
"Indigenous people, who represent a significant part of the world's population, depend on renewable resources and ecosystems to maintain their well-being. Over many generations they have evolved a holistic, traditional scientific knowledge of their land, natural resources and environment.
The ability of indigenous people to practise sustainable development on their lands has been limited by economic, social and historical factors. Indigenous people should be allowed to actively participate in shaping national laws and policies on the management of resources or other development processes that affect them."
Agenda 21
"Environmental degradation ... has become a survival issue for developing nations. It is part of the downward spiral of linked ecological and economic decline in which many of the poorest nations are trapped. Despite official hope expressed on all sides, no trends identifiable today, no programmes or policies, offer any real hope of narrowing the growing gap between rich and poor nations."
"Our Common Future"
"All too many of these ideologies ... callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forbears. ... The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war. ... The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. "
The Universal House of Justice "The Promise of World Peace" 1985
"The Commission has taken guidance from people in all walks of life. It is to these people - to all the peoples of the world -that the Commission now addresses itself.
The fact that we all became wiser, learnt to look across cultural and historical barriers, was essential. There were moments of deep concern and potential crises, moments of gratitude and achievement, moments of success in building a common analysis and perspective.
The result is clearly more global, more realistic, more forward-looking than any one of us alone could have created. We joined the Commission with different values and beliefs, and very different experiences and insights. After these three years of working together, travelling, listening and discussing, we present a unanimous report."
"Our Common Future"
"The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail."
"The Promise of World Peace"
"World order can be founded only on an unshakable consciousness of the oneness of humankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognise only one human species, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life. Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice - prejudice of every kind - race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilisation, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others."
"The Promise of World Peace"
"Banning nuclear weapons, prohibiting the use of poison gases, or outlawing germ warfare will not remove the root causes of war. However important such practical measures obviously are as elements of the peace process, they are in themselves too superficial to exert enduring influence. Peoples are ingenious enough to invent other forms of warfare, and to use food, raw materials, finance, industrial power, ideology, and terrorism to subvert one another in an endless quest for supremacy and dominion. Nor can the present massive dislocation in the affairs of humanity be resolved through the settlement of specific conflicts or disagreements among nations. A genuine universal framework must be adopted.
.... a new order in which (we) can live in peace, harmony and prosperity with all humanity. An urge towards unity, like a spiritual springtime, struggles to express itself through countless international congresses that bring together people from a vast array of disciplines ... the drive towards world unity is one of the dominant, pervasive features of life on the planet during the closing years of the twentieth century."
"The Promise of World Peace"
"As Commissioners, however, we were acting not in our national roles but as individuals; and as we worked, nationalism and the artificial divides between 'industrialised' and 'developing', between East and West, receded. In their place emerged a common concern for the planet and the interlocked ecological and economic threats with which its people, institutions, and governments now grapple.
The process that produced this unanimous report proves that it is possible to join forces, to identify common goals and to agree on common action.
Each one of the Commissioners would have chosen different words if writing the report alone. Still, we managed to agree on the analysis, the broad remedies, and the recommendations for a sustainable course of development."
"Our Common Future"
"I am deeply grateful to all the Commissioners for their dedication, their foresight and personal commitment to our common endeavour. It has been a truly wonderful team. The spirit of friendship and open communication, the meeting of minds and the process of learning and sharing, have provided an experience of optimism, something of great value to all of us, and I believe, to the report and its message.
We hope to share with others our learning process, and all that we have experienced together. It is something that many others will have to experience if global sustainable development is to be achieved."
"Our Common Future"
"Over two thirds of the statements in Agenda 21 which have been adopted by national governments cannot be delivered without the commitment and co-operation of local government. ... Women and youth should be involved in decision-taking. ... Non-governmental organisations play a vital role in the shaping and implementation of participatory democracy. ... By 1996 most local authorities should produce a 'local Agenda 21' through consultation and consensus with local people, businesses and other organisations."
United Kingdom Local Government Management Board "Earth Summit" Supplement No. 2.
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