A Healthy Environment a Fundamental Human Right, Vallekilde-Copenhagen 15-19 october 2007

When thinking of federalism people think if at anything at all, at a form of state and often ignore the values that underlie at the core of this administrative and political form of organization. Federalism is rights: individual rights as James Madison put it, the right of the individual not to be oppressed by the tyranny of the majority, but also as seen in many federations, community rights and liberties. Since federalism is connected to rights, the right to a healthy environment and thus the right to live is only one of the many we stand for.

That is why we gathered in the countryside of Denmark to discuss how this fundamental right of ours and of the future generations is affected by egoistic behavior of states, governments and citizens. Denmark, the perfect venue to learn from good practices- the only country in Europe that meets the European Commission’s directive of ensuring 20% of it’s energy necessary from renewable sources.

50 participants from allover Europe (JEF-ers and non JEF-ers) touched upon green themes like: energy saving and consumption, transportation and energy, bio-fuels, the global warming, energy and development.

We also discussed about environment policy making and the role of Europe in stopping climate change, in the framework set by the Copenhagen Consensus Group. The world today is troubled by many problems, the environmental issue being just one of them. There is nothing like a free lunch, so governments and NGOs have to deal with a limited budget in solving these issues. Hardly quantifiable and measurable, the climate issue is often left at the bottom of priorities, organizations and governments focusing in disaster relief and food aid, solving diseases world wide etc.

A different approach to it is that world issues are thus interconnected that climate change, energetic insecurity, and the uncontrolled pursuit for alternative energetic means leads to severe violations of human rights.. The bio-fuel craze, as lead by the major energy corporations in the world produces more destruction than benefits. A DW documentary showed us how palm oil plantations in Indonesia violate property rights of locals, and how forests that historically and rightfully belong to the tribes in Papua New Guinea are cut to make place to palm oil monocultures that can produce fuel to fill the tanks of green cars in the western world. The message is clear, protecting the environment is deeply interrelated to protected the rights of the people who inhabit the earth.

The European Union wants to be the leading actor in reducing climate change, however this role imposes that policies abroad are carried with great care, so as for internal policies. A liberal energy market within the EU is the right solution, the Danish example can only prove it, filling tanks with locally produces bio-fuels and especially bio-fuels obtained from materials that are not eatable is another important step, improving public transportation is important in a context of a Europe that lies on the principle of freedom of movement. All these issues we agree to as young European federalists and wish to see implemented. Until then we should take a look at ourselves and created a series of green JEF blogs which we invite you to check out.

http://bulitalatprobs.blogspot.com/
http://jefgoesvallekilde.blogspot.com/
http://greenjef.blogspot.com/
http://biofuelsgreenhazard.blogspot.com