Enviroment Charter

Guiding Principles
For the UK government, for the government of the Falkland Islands and for the people of the Falkland Islands

1.		To recognise that all people need a healthy environment for their well-being and livelihoods and that all can help to conserve and sustain it.
2.		To use our natural resources wisely, being fair, to present and future generation.
3.		To identify environmental opportunities, costs and risks in all policies and strategies.
4.		To seek expert advice and consult openly with interested parties on decisions affecting the environment.
5.		To aim for solutions which benefit both the environment and development.
6.		To contribute towards the protection and improvement of the global environment.
7.		To safeguard and restore native species, habitats and landscape features, and control or eradicate invasive species.
8.		To encourage activities and technologies that benefit the environment.
9.		To control pollution, with the polluter paying for prevention or remedies.
10.		To study and celebrate our environmental heritage as a treasure to share with our children.

Commitments:

The government of the UK will:		The government of the Falkland Islands will:
1.	Help build capacity to support and implement integrated environmental management which is consistent with the Falkland Islands' own plans for sustainable development.	1.	Bring together government departments, representatives of local industry and commerce, environment and heritage organisations, the Governor's office, individual environmental champions and other community representatives in a forum to formulate a detailed strategy for action. (See Annex 1).
2.	Assist the Falkland Islands in reviewing and updating environmental legislation.	2.	Ensure the protection and restoration of key habitats, species and landscape features through legislation and appropriate management structures and mechanisms, including a protected areas policy, and attempt the control and eradication of invasive species.
3.	Facilitate the extension of the UKs ratification of Multilateral Environmental Agreements of benefit to the Falkland Islands and which the Falkland Islands has the capacity to implement.	3.	Ensure that environmental considerations processes; promote sustainable patterns of production and consumption within the territory.
4.	Keep the Falkland Islands informed regarding new developments in relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements and invite the Falkland Islands to participate where appropriate in the UK's delegation to international environmental negotiations and conferences.	4.	Ensure that environmental impact assessments are undertaken before approving major projects and while developing our growth management strategy.
5.	Help the Falkland Islands to ensure it has the legislation, institutional capacity and mechanisms it needs to meet international obligations.	5.	Commit to open and consultative decision-making on developments and plans which may affect the environment; ensure that environmental impact assessments include consultation with stakeholders.
6.	Promote better cooperation and the sharing of experience and expertise between the Falkland Islands, other Overseas Territories and small island states and communities which face similar environmental problems.	6.	Implement effectively obligations under the Multilateral Environmental Agreements already extended to the Falkland Islands and work towards the extension of other relevant agreements.
7.	Use UK, regional and local expertise to give advice and improve knowledge of technical and scientific issues. This includes regular consultation with interested non-governmental organisations and networks.	7.	Review the range, quality and availability of baseline data for natural resources and biodiversity.
8.	Use the existing Environment Fund for the Overseas Territories, and promote access to other sources of public funding, for projects of lasting benefit to the Falkland Islands' environment.	8.	Ensure that legislation and policies reflect the principle that the polluter should pay for prevention or remedies; establish effective monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.
9.	Help the Falkland Islands identify further funding partners for environmental projects, such as donors, the private sector or non-governmental organisations.	9.	Encourage teaching within schools to promote the value of our local environment (natural and built) and to explain its role within the regional and global environment.
10.	Recognise the diversity of the challenges facing Overseas Territories in very different socio-econmic and geographical situations.	10.	Promote publications that spread awareness of the special features of the environment in the Falkland Islands; promote within the Falkland Islands the guiding principles set out above.
11.	Abide by the principles set out in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (See Annex 2) and work towards meeting International Development Targets on the environment (See Annex 3).	11.	Abide by the principles set out in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (See Annex 2) and work towards meeting International Development Targets on the environment (See Annex 3).

Illustrative Paper: Topics for consideration by environment committees as components of environmental action strategies.

Note: The circumstances of each OT vary considerably from those with no resident population (eg. SGSSI), very small populations (eg. Pitcairn) to those with bigger populations and a wider range of local resources and skills. Some already have groupings that bring together a variety of stakeholders in the main local environmental issues. It is for each territory to establish/develop the most suitable framework to develop action plans that link the shared principles of the OTs Environment Charter to the needs of each territory. The headings just suggest some areas which each territory may wish to consider - some may be clearly applicable or more important in some territories than in others.

Reaffirrning the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, adopted at Stockholm on 16 June 1972, and seeking to build upon it,

With the goal of establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of co-operation among States, key sectors of societies and people,

Working towards international agreements which respect the interests of all and protect the integrity of the global environmental and developmental system,

Human beings, are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature

States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.

The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations.

In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.

All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world.

The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority. International actions in the field of environment and development should also address the interests and needs of all countries.

States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.

To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, States should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies.

States shall provide prior and timely notification and relevant information to potentially affected States on activities that may have a significant adverse transboundary environmental effect and shall consult with those States at an early stage and in good faith.

Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development.

The creativity, ideals and courage of the youth of the world should be mobilized to forge a global partnership in order to achieve sustainable development and ensure a better future for all.

Indigenous people and their communities, and other local communities, have a vital role in environmental management and development because their knowledge and traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interests and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development.

The environment and natural resources of people under oppression, domination and occupation shall be protected.

Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. States shall therefore respect international law providing protection for the environment in times of armed conflict and cooperate in its further development, as necessary.

Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.

States shall resolve all their environmental disputes peacefully and by appropriate means in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

States and people shall cooperate in good faith and in a spirit of partnership in the fulfilment of the principles embodied in this Declaration and in the further development of international law in the field of sustainable development.

The International Development Targets have been agreed by the entire United Nations membership, following a series of summit meetings held by the UN and its specialised agencies over the last ten years or so. The meetings discussed progress in poverty reduction and sustainable development and set targets for measuring that progress.

There should be a current national strategy for sustainable development in the process of implementation, in every country by 2005, so as to ensure that current trends in the loss of environmental resources are effectively reversed at both global and national levels by 2015.

Falklands Conservation