Our connection with nature, changes in the way we live. Our slow progress toward rebuilding, are not sustainable practices. WE rely upon government to take action. But government’s approach sustainability policy requires too much time. The goals set forth by the United Nations —the Sustainable Development Goals, the “SDGs”—will fail if we do not become involved as individuals. Each of us must take action. The Jena Declaration invites you to do so. It provides ways that everyone can play a meaningful role, and supports your efforts.
Background
The Jena Declaration is now a consortium of partners. It includes many UNESCO Chairs, relevant international organizations and academies of sciences, arts organizations and networks, business companies, civil societies movements, and many individuals, too. We celebrated our global launch in 2021; in the near future, we will celebrate The Declaration on every continent, eventually, many regions on earth.
We support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). This is why we are assembling a large number, and a large variety, of signatories to The Jena Declaration. As we grow, we work with NGOs, schools, and others to encourage communities and governments to actively change in favor of sustainability.
Guidelines for Action
The Jena Declaration includes six principles:
We are part of nature, every minute, every day. But the way we are part depends on our cultural background. There are many ways to life in peace with nature.
However, we all need to find and to maintain a healthy balance with our natural part – live sustainably.
Meaningful, sustainable change can only be achieved if every person on the planet changes their everyday routines, practices, and mindset. This must be true in business, government, school, and at home.
Individually and collectively, we must decide to live our lives in a deeply sustainable way.
Solutions must grow strong from the bottom up – created and acted upon by individuals and communities. The collective power of many local solutions brings a positive global change.
If we wait for change from the top-down, it will be too late.
The richness of cultural and regional diversity is the starting point for a naturally balanced way of life.
To change ways of life for sustainable futures requires creative solutions. It calls for innovation from the arts, the humanities and the minds of civil society.
We must actively design this future for the benefit of all.
The future requires learning from one another. Most people do not know or understand how sustainability operates. We all require information and training in order to learn, and to define their own individual roles in designing the future.
Young people must get a strong voice — adults cannot envision a different future nearly as skillfully as children and teenagers.
These are the six key principles of The Jena Declaration. The Jena Declaration is an invitation to make sustainable change happen at your own doorstep, to mobilize people around the planet and to enable fruitful outcomes of their engagement!