Our real estate development
industry has changed by United Nation’s Agenda 21 programs and policies being
promoted at the local level.
Learn
how Agenda 21 has impacted and changed our real estate development
industry over the past 20 years.
Highlighted in blue
are the Agenda 21 subsection titles of the UN document.
I have highlighted specific sections in red to illustrate important UN policies
I have emphasized my comments in green for your consideration.
SECTION IV. MEANS OF IMPLEMENTATION
Agenda 21 – Chapter
33 FINANCIAL
RESOURCES AND MECHANISMS
33.1. The General
Assembly, in resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989, inter alia, decided that
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development should: Identify
ways and means of providing new and additional financial resources,
33.5. For dealing
with environmental issues, special efforts will be required. Global and local environmental issues are interrelated. The
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Convention on
Biological Diversity address two of the most important global issues.
LOCAL
environmental issues are interrelated to the global environment? So we change
our environmental regulations to govern how, where, and what to build in our
communities on private land for the betterment of the earth? So a town of 2,500
people in a highly regulated state (there are many) has to follow strict
environmental regulations when countries around the world could care less. This
is not leading the world but punishing the land owner and hindering
entrepreneurs from developing real estate projects.
33.8. All countries should assess how to
translate Agenda 21 into national policies and programmes through a process
that will integrate environment and development considerations. National and
local priorities should be established by means that include public
participation and community involvement, promoting equal opportunity for
men and women.
For 20
years, local, state, and federal government agencies have been expanding
environmental regulations for existing uses i.e. manufacturing, vehicles and for
new real estate projects. Environmental regulations have been taking land off
the market and limiting its use without compensation. The real estate
development industry which includes me has not been successful in stemming the
tide of regulation. But what industry has?
The
process in which real estate development regulations become “the way it is”.
Agenda
21 policies and programs are infused into each of the administrations since
1990. Federal policies are enacted and funding sources allocated to nudge state
and local governments to follow suit.
Environmental protection has seen an avalanche of regulations for over
20 years and now, it is renewable energy.
State
and local governments accept federal funding with strings attached. Each state
prepares their own environmental protection regulations specific to their
location but are attached to the national initiative. This fragmented approach
continues to divide our industry’s effort to combat state regulations.
Local
governments then use the state regulations as a benchmark to expand (not
retract because local regulation can take precedence if more restrictive!)
their own environmental regulations.
All of
this is being done with public input by special interest groups and individual
land owners are never represented or they lack the understanding of how their
land will be impacted.
Once
regulations are imposed, staff with support of the politicians implement the
regulations and in many cases modified by their own interpretation of the
regulations. Government staffers thrive on regulations because they have job
security, power, and impunity.
So
where do government staffers get their inspiration or ideas on how a community
should grow?
Real
estate development is governed by restrictions and what you can’t do. Have you
ever wanted to rezone a property and the staff says NO?
Can you
seek the highest and best use for a property, yes but staff will only support
what they think is best.
True or
Untrue?
33.10. The
implementation of the huge sustainable development programmes of Agenda 21 will
require the provision to developing countries of substantial new and additional
financial resources. Grant or concessional financing should be provided according
to sound and equitable criteria and indicators. The
progressive implementation of Agenda 21 should be matched by the provision of
such necessary financial resources. The initial phase will be
accelerated by substantial early commitments of concessional funding.
33.13. In general, the financing for the implementation of Agenda 21
will come from a country's own public and private sectors. For
developing countries, particularly the least developed countries, ODA is a main
source of external funding, and substantial new and additional funding for
sustainable development and implementation of Agenda 21 will be required.
Developed countries reaffirm their commitments to reach the accepted United
Nations target of 0.7 per cent of GNP for ODA and, to the extent that they have not yet achieved that
target, agree to augment their aid programmes in order to reach that target as
soon as possible and to ensure prompt and effective
implementation of Agenda 21.
33.14. Funding for
Agenda 21 and other outcomes of the Conference should be provided in a way that
maximizes the availability of new and additional resources and uses all
available funding sources and mechanisms. These include, among others:
b. The relevant
specialized agencies, other United Nations bodies and other international
organizations, which have designated roles to play in supporting national
Governments in implementing Agenda 21;
34.29. The Conference
secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this chapter to be between $450
million and $600 million from the international community on grant or
concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates
only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial
terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia,
the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for
implementation.
Consider
the funding levels of the US government for UN activities which includes
changing our real estate industry and private property rights.
Agenda 21 – Chapter
36
PROMOTING
EDUCATION, PUBLIC AWARENESS AND TRAINING
36.2. Programme areas
described in the present chapter are:
a. Reorienting education towards sustainable development;
b. Increasing public
awareness;
c.
Promoting training.
36.3. Education,
including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognized
as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest
potential. Education is critical for promoting
sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address
environment and development issues.
So
where do government staffers get their inspiration or ideas on how a community
should grow? Now you know!
36.4. Recognizing
that countries, regional and international organizations will develop their own
priorities and schedules for implementation in accordance with their needs,
policies and programmes,
To achieve
environmental and development awareness in all sectors of society on a world-wide
scale as soon as possible;
o. To strive to
achieve the accessibility of environmental and development education, linked to
social education, from primary school age through adulthood to all groups of
people;
36.9. The objective is to promote broad public awareness as an
essential part of a global education effort to strengthen attitudes, values and
actions which are compatible with sustainable development.
It is important to stress the principle of
devolving authority, accountability and resources to the most appropriate level with preference given to
local responsibility and control over awareness-building activities.
Agenda
21 is not a conspiracy theory. It is a long focused document providing an
outline on how to achieve sustainability through UN guidance – implemented at the LOCAL level.
There
has been over 20 years of UN funding implementing Agenda 21 programs. This
effort is supported by the federal government allocating funding and resources
in various Departments, agencies and councils. To mention just a few:
Department
of Energy
Department
of Transportation
Department
of Housing and Urban Development
Department
of Agriculture
Department
of Environmental Protection
Department
of State
Department
of Education
Army
Corps of Engineers
The Agenda 21 plan openly targets Land Ownership.
For over thirty-five years the UN has made their stance very clear on the issue of individuals owning land;
Land… cannot be:
Treated as an ordinary asset
Controlled by individuals
Subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market.
According to the UN:
“Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of
accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social
injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and
implementation of development schemes. “
“The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the
people can only be achieved if LAND is used in the interest of society as a whole.”
Do your own Homework!
UN’s
Division for Sustainable Development --- AGENDA 21
The
following excerpts are taken directly from the UN Agenda 21 document:
Section 1, Chapter 7
9(f) All countries, especially developing
ones, should, as appropriate, formulate and implement programmes to reduce the impact
of the phenomenon of rural to urban drift by improving rural living conditions
NOTE: President Obama
signed Executive Order #13575 to create the White House Rural Council. The mission of the Council is to:
“…work across executive departments,
agencies, and offices to coordinate development of policy recommendations to promote economic prosperity and quality of
life in rural America, and shall coordinate my Administration’s
engagement with rural communities…”
In my opinion, the
White House Rural council was specifically created to comply with Agenda 21
Section 1, Chapter 7, 9 (f).
Section 1, Chapter 7
16(c) Adopting innovative city
planning strategies to address environmental and social issues by:
1.
Reducing subsidies on, and recovering the full
costs of, environmental and other services of high standard (e.g.
water supply, sanitation, waste collection, roads, telecommunications) provided to higher
income neighbourhoods;
Objective
7.28. The objective is to provide for the land requirements
of human settlement development through environmentally sound physical planning
and land use so
as to ensure access to land to all households and, where appropriate, the
encouragement of communally and collectively owned and managed land.
Particular attention should be paid to the needs of women and indigenous people
for economic and cultural reasons.
Activities
7.29. All countries should consider, as appropriate, undertaking a
comprehensive national inventory of their land resources in order to establish
a land information system in which land resources will be classified
according to their most appropriate uses and environmentally fragile or
disaster-prone areas will be identified for special protection measures.
Did
you Know: that the federal government has in place an
organization developing a “comprehensive national land inventory” data base to
be used in a variety of ways?
The
Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) consortium is a group of federal
agencies who coordinate and generate consistent and relevant land cover
information at the national scale for a wide variety of environmental, land
management, and modeling applications.
The
creation of this consortium has resulted in the mapping of the lower 48 United
States, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico into a comprehensive land cover product
termed, the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), from decadal Landsat satellite
imagery and other supplementary datasets.
The
primary objective of the MRLC NLCD is to provide the Nation with nationally
complete, current, consistent, and public domain information on the Nation's
land cover.
Land
cover information is critical for local, state, and federal managers and
officials to assist them with issues such as assessing ecosystem status and health,
modeling nutrient and pesticide runoff, understanding spatial patterns of
biodiversity, land use planning, deriving landscape pattern metrics, and
developing land management policies.
7.30. Subsequently, all countries should consider developing
national land-resource management plans to guide land-resource development and
utilization and, to that end, should:
(a) Establish, as appropriate, national
legislation to guide
the implementation of public policies for environmentally sound urban development,
land utilization, housing and for the improved management of urban expansion;
Did You Know:
S.1619 (111th): Livable communities
Act of 2009
Introduced August 6, 2009 (111th
Congress, 2009-2010)
S.1621 (112th): Livable Communities
Act of 2011
Introduced September 22, 2011 (112th
Congress, 2011-2013)
Did
you read the proposed legislation? And….
WHY
do you think similar legislation continues to be introduced?
Next Week Blog Post:
Wait to
your read about the organizations and groups promoting Agenda 21 policies and
programs throughout the US …………………….Next week! Do you own homework!
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