We agree to ensure that decision-making processes and their criteria are clearly defined, transparent, explicit, accessible and equitable. Those whose decisions or activities may affect the environment must first prove the absence of harm. Those likely to be affected, particularly populations in the South and those in subjugation within existing States, should have free access to information and effectively participate in the decision-making processes. State, institutions, corporations and peoples are unequal in their contribution to environmental harm, experience of ecological degradation and ability to respond to environmental destruction. While all are responsible for improving environmental quality, those who have expropriated or consumed the majority of Earth's resources or who continue to do so must cease such expropriation or reduce such consumption and must bear the costs of ecological restoration and protection by providing the majority of financial and technological resources.
Women constitute over half of Earth's human population.
They are a powerful source for change. They contribute more than half the effort to human welfare. Men and women agree that women's status in decision-making and social processes must equitably reflect their contribution. We must shift from a society dominated by men to one which more accurately reflects the valued contributions of men and women to human and ecological welfare. We have come to realize that the threats to the biosphere which sustains all life on Earth have increased in rate, magnitude and scale to such extent that inaction would be negligent.