Blueprint explained
How can we to halt the worst excesses of material extractivism, consumption and pollution and the injustices of ecocide through a legitimate, decision-making process, in which a representative strata of stakeholders in society can engage? How can we ensure that the tenets of the Precautionary Principle – the imperative to ‘act now’, enshrined in the original UNFCCC principles, are applied? The Blueprint provides one such pragmatic approach.
The Blueprint is an evidence-based, synergistic climate-ecology-societal framework and protocol drafted in the style of a piece of potential legislation, in response to the existential threat posed to humanity, non-human species and ecosystems on land and in the oceans.
The Climate-Ecology Emergency Hub provides a platform to explain the ‘Blueprint’ in detail and to generate diverse arguments as to why such a concept would justify serious consideration as a practical tool were it adapted to be applied to a diversity of scenarios, such as in public institutions (schools, universities, civil service etc.), the private sector – i.e. businesses and in grassroots organisations.
What is key is that the Blueprint’s principles are endorsed and put into practice.
The Blueprint is a proposition that transcends all party politics and is holistic in capturing the synergy between nature restoration and protection and climate mitigation and adaptation, whilst applying social justice and exercising processes of progressive democracy, in the form of a citizens’ assembly. In other words, meaningful stakeholder engagement facilitated at all levels.
The Climate-Ecology Blueprint (‘Blueprint’) is adapted from the Climate and Nature(CAN) Bill. The latter was conceived by experts in the field of climate science, ecology, ecological economics and deliberative democracy, and drafted in the form of a UK Private Member’s Bill, which led to a UK national campaign to pass what was to become the Climate and Nature Bill – a proposed piece of UK legislation.
We hope that you will be inspired to initiate and enable change through the application, in some form, of the Blueprint principles and framework. It stands as a template for Postgrowth in civil society, the public and private sectors.
Here, below, provides a summary of the Blueprint concept in its ‘legislative’ formulation –
What are the objectives?
The ‘Blueprint’ states dual synergistic climate- ecology objectives. These targets are aligned to UN internationally agreed national commitments that include: to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to hold global temperature increase to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and to periodically assess the collective progress towards achieving the purpose of this agreement and its long-term goals (UNFCCC Paris Agreement, 2015). Equally, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss and biosphere degradation -both on land and sea- as part of the obligations made under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols, including the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (2022) and the commitments set out in the Leaders’ Pledge for Nature (2020).
A set of principles that, when applied, provide the criteria for the creation of the benchmark-standard climate-ecology strategy.
These standards ensure that the strategy adheres to evidence-based best practice – scientific, ancestral and indigenous – a strategy that applies a pluriverse of knowledge to create a climate-ecology strategy for binding implementation and evaluation.
Effectively, this part of the Blueprint informs the creation of the dual climate-ecology strategy that not only addresses climate and ecological justice but provides a set of criteria that guards against climate and ecological injustice and greenwashing.
This Blueprint calls on the respective Global North country to –
1). Limit the total emissions of carbon dioxide, including territorial emissions and emissions from international aviation and shipping, to levels committed to in its Nationally Determined Contributions made under the Paris Agreement.
2). Reduce emissions of carbon dioxide in respect of its imports (consumption emissions) at the same percentage rate each year as the annual reduction of the country’s emissions of carbon dioxide.
3). Reduce the total emissions of greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide to a level consistent with achieving its obligations under the Paris Agreement and under the Global Methane Pledge.
4). Ensure an end to the exploration, extraction, export and import of fossil fuels as rapidly as possible and an immediate ban on all new oil and gas licences.
5). Ensure that steps are taken to mitigate emissions and energy resource infrastructure and processes that damage ecosystems, food and water availability, human health and that such action does not infringe on human rights. This applies to both the respective country AND internationally, where that country has direct or indirect activity and investment in supply chains of services, trade or industry.
6). Restore and expand natural ecosystems, both land and sea, and enhance the management of cultivated ecosystems to protect and enrich biodiversity, ecological processes and ecosystem service provision, including the active safeguarding of resilient carbon sinks, both in the respective country and where its supply chain activities have polluted and/or degraded such natural or cultivated ecosystems, internationally. Supply chain activities include the extraction of raw materials, production, investment and services.
7). Support local communities, landowners, farmers, and businesses to restore and expand natural ecosystems and mitigate and minimise pollution.
8). Take every possible step to avoid- and where avoidance is not possible, limit—and where limiting is not possible under only exceptional circumstances— restore or otherwise offset/compensate for – the adverse impacts caused both within the respective country and internationally, on ecosystems and human health, as a consequence of the respective country’s –
i). generated cycles of production and consumption of all goods and services, including that to related financing, trade and transport, including, but not limited to, impacts from planned obsolescence, the extraction of raw materials, deforestation, land and water degradation, pollution and waste production.
Adherence to the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy ensures, the abundance, diversity and resilience of species, populations, and ecosystems, prioritises the avoidance of the loss of nature.
As a potential piece of legislation: a legal framework that facilitates the creation and implementation of a strategy to achieve dual, synergistic climate-ecology objectives.
How?
By whom?
By when?
The ‘ Blueprint’ -were its concept adopted, drafted accordingly and passed as law in a given country – calls on the incumbent government to commission an independent Citizens’ Assembly (CA). This CA, working in collaboration with the said government and independent expert bodies, constitutes the corpus of decision-makers who will create the climate-ecology strategy to achieve the Blueprint objectives, subject to the benchmark standards.
In order to ensure the process of deep democracy is applied, the emergent strategy will be debated in parliament where it is finally approved. The Blueprint, in law, stipulates that within 12 months of its passing, the climate-ecology strategy must be published and implementation begun. Expert bodies will be required to monitor and evaluate this implementation and ensure that the strategy is aligned to the most up-to-date scientific evidence as such evidence evolves.
Adaptibility with core principles of climate and ecological justice
The Blueprint, as a legislative template, can be adapted to align with the cultural, ethnic, social and political characteristics and sensibilities of any Global North country, provided the Blueprint’s framework that constitutes its dual objectives, criteria and deliberative processes are fully respected and implemented. Any weakening of this framework renders the Blueprint invalid. Furthermore, the Blueprint has the potential for application in industry, commerce, and the private and public sector.
Social Dimension in Climate-Ecology Policy Engagement
The ‘Blueprint’ champions the nexus of the social dimension, alongside the climate-ecology synergy, in its assertion of the central role of deliberative democracy as a vital tool of robust decision-making. Deliberative democracy applied through the formalised structure and process of a Citizens’ Assembly, transcends the debate of policy- making beyond traditional political partisanship which is subject to vested interests and short-termism.
Humanity faces an unprecedented climate-ecological existential crisis that calls for a non-partisan approach and radically cooperative systems-thinking and meaningful implementation.