“Verbania Declaration 2005”   Peace Environment for your Health

The Participants of the III World Congress, Verbania 2005 Italy – Peace Environment for your Health assembled from all over the world affirm the aims of the Congress by:

1. Recognizing the need to raise human awareness to the fact that our bodies, minds and spirits depend on the kind of environment we live in: the air we breathe as a source of life energy, the earth to grow our food, and the water to drink; all are essential sources from which we take our energies. We thereby also recognize that our natural and human systems are one, and that separating them in the name of economic and other forms of development and progress, has been the principal cause of much suffering and instability in the world. Human interdependence and linking the roots of human wellness to the laws of nature is imperative.

2. Understanding the fact that protecting, preserving and living in harmony with nature and our surrounding environment will save the future of our communities, our health, own energy and the integrity of our environment we hereby support the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

3. Embracing the Congress’ objectives of creating the needed conditions for a holistic debate on environmental and human betterment and alternative ways to live in this Planet, of focusing on the role that nature and its laws play in human transformation and the more subtle and sacred dimensions of human existence going beyond just material welfare; and of experiencing the interdependence and interconnectedness between our outer and inner environments and of making peace with the environment for inner and outer harmony.

4. Recalling the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that “everyone has the right to clean and green environment” and "adequate health facilities will be accessible to all under a cleaner and greener environment". Therefore we must all make an investment in taking care of our sacred mountains, oceans, rivers, and lakes (such as the beautiful Lake Maggiore and surrounding lakes), our plants, trees and all the beings which depend on them for their lives. With globalization we now need to foster friendship even more: from Lake to Lake, Mountain to Mountain, City to City, Village to Village, East to West, reflecting and exchanging our respective capacities and embrace one another. Doing this is making an investment in our futures by improving the health and well-being of our communities and the people that live in them, as well as boosting the economy of our community through tourism. Pure beautiful environments are desirable to many and attract visitors whose energy, health and peace is often restored in these areas. Health, environment and world peace shall therefore become accessible to all throughout life.

5. Convinced that health, environment and world peace are fundamental pillars of human rights, democracy and sustainable development and that we need to ensure co-ordination and co-operation across and between the various sectors including science, economy, media, sustainable development, human rights, education and spirituality.

6. Believing that the solution to problems related to health, inner and outer environments, physical, mental and spiritual life will be conditioned by a shared vision of the future society and the role assigned to education, in general, and to media education, science education, economic education and spiritual education in particular.

7. Aware that it is the duty of all the world citizenry to ensure that the values and ideals of a culture of peace prevail and that all communities should be mobilized to that end we support the United Nations International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World.

8. Considering the necessity of enhancing the quality of health and environmental education requires the full involvement of governments, and all stakeholders (e.g., students, families, teachers, business and industry, public and private sectors, legislatures, media, community, professional associations) and to take greater responsibility and accountability in the use of public/private, national/international resources;

9. Emphasizing that educational systems should aim to educate highly qualified and responsible citizens with a worldview of love and compassion so that they can reach their highest potential as global citizens.

10. Believing that international co-operation and exchange are major avenues for advancing education for inner and self-healing throughout the world we support UNESCO’s campaign of A Dialogue Among Civilizations as well as their goal to preserve sacred sites for the well being of all.
 

We must:

11. Help others to understand, interpret, preserve, enhance, promote and disseminate national and regional, international and indigenous cultures and the world’s spiritual traditions, in a context of cultural and spiritual pluralism and diversity. Contribute to the development and improvement of education at all levels, including through the training of teachers in the areas of peace, science, economics, environment, health, values, ethics, happiness, and human betterment.

12. Exercise intellectual capacity and moral standing to defend and actively disseminate universally accepted values such as the ones in the Charter of the United Nations, including peace, justice, freedom, equality, (including gender equality) and solidarity. And play a role in identifying and addressing issues that affect the well being of communities, nations and global society.

13. Support the goals in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals aimed at eliminating poverty, intolerance, violence, illiteracy, hunger, environmental degradation and disease.

14. Continue to develop special education and training in the areas of peace, health and environment that enhance the contribution to the development of the whole education system, notably through improved teacher education, curriculum development and educational research. Ultimately, health, environment and peace education should aim at the creation of a new society - non-violent and non-exploitative - consisting of integrated individuals inspired by love for humanity and guided by wisdom.

15. We call for the United Nations to establish a United Nations Spiritual Forum for World Peace (UNSFWP) to form a road map for utilizing the spiritual dimension to create inner and outer world peace now and forever.
 

We hereby honor United Nations World Environment Day on June 5 by recognizing that we are at a crossroads and are fully aware that change will only come from a new, higher level of human consciousness, compassion, determination and spiritual power so that principles and practices of environmental, economic and social sustainability are utilized to their fullest potential. We must create a society that cares about future generations, human beings, sentient beings, and all forms of life on this planet or face dire consequences. We the participants of the Verbania Congress ask our private and public policy makers, spiritual leaders and fellow concerned citizens of the world to assume their responsibilities and to make a commitment for a better future for all beings and sentient beings.