Agenda 21 and the Threat in Your Backyard
“Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing, and being crammed into a denser neighborhood? You can have all this and more if radical environmentalists and “smart growth” advocates have their way and local, state, and the federal government impose the policies set forth in the United Nations’ Agenda 21.
“You might have heard of this nefarious-sounding policy in a recent Republican presidential debate, but even if you haven’t, here’s some background information: Agenda 21 is a voluntary plan adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. It calls on governments to intervene and regulate nearly every potential impact that human activity could have on the environment. The end goal? Getting governments to “rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet.”
The immediate danger here is NOT in what the Federal government might do, but in what local governments might do with or without understanding the far-reaching tentacles of this agenda.
“Nothing about Agenda 21 is binding, and it’s not a threat in and of itself. Instead, the threat Americans need to be concerned about is the one that lies in their own backyard.
Focus on Agenda 21 Should Not Divert Attention from Homegrown Anti-Growth Policies
“Abstract: Agenda 21, a voluntary plan adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, unabashedly calls on governments to intervene and regulate nearly every potential impact that human activity could have on the environment. However, Agenda 21 is non-binding; it depends on local governments for implementation. If opponents focus excessively on Agenda 21, it is much more likely that homegrown smart-growth policies that undermine the quality of life, personal choice, and property rights in American communities will be implemented by local, state, and federal authorities at the behest of environmental groups and other vested interests. Preventing American implementation of Agenda 21 should therefore be viewed as only one part of a broader effort to convince U.S. government officials to repeal destructive smart-growth programs and prevent the enactment of new ones.
- Among other priorities, smart-growth policies impose land use regulations that suppress housing supply and drive up home prices, in turn imposing unnecessary costs, especially on middle- and lower-income households. These policies contributed to and aggravate the real estate bubble by putting inflationary pressures on housing prices.
- Agenda 21, a voluntary action plan adopted by various nations after the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, advocates changes similar to those of smart-growth advocates.
- Agenda 21 and similar-smart growth policies greatly extend the government’s regulatory reach and impede economic growth, construction, consumer choice, homeownership, job creation, and flexible community development strategies.
- Agenda 21 represents just one part of the broader fight. The entire spectrum of crippling smart-growth policies, many of which predate the United Nations and Agenda 21, have already been implemented or are being proposed in American communities and should be opposed.
Principles Outlined in Agenda 21 Are Smart-Growth Principles
“Agenda 21 is a remarkably broad, ambitious action plan that was presented at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and adopted by the attending nations as “a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.”[2] At well over 300 pages, Agenda 21 sets forth hundreds of specific goals and strategies that national and local governments are encouraged to adopt.[3] These policies are presented in four sections:
“Social and economic dimensions (e.g., international cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries, combating poverty, changing consumption patterns, promoting sustainable human settlement development);
Conservation and management of resources for development (e.g., protection of the atmosphere, planning and management of land resources, promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development);
Strengthening the role of major groups (e.g., women, children, indigenous people, workers and trade unions); and
Means of implementation (e.g., financing, technology transfer, promoting education and public awareness, international legal instruments) CONTINUE READING
I fear the POTUS is spinning out of control …
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