INTRODUCTION
Background
The Project for the Planetary Interest was started in May 1996 on the
basis of a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. In
1996-97 it was located in Cambridge, United Kingdom, as part of the Global
Security Programme, University of Cambridge (GSP). In 1998, it has
been located in Stockholm, Sweden.
Objective
The principal objective of the Project is “to further define and develop
the planetary interest and to promote it among policy-makers worldwide”.
Terms of Reference
The terms of reference for the Project are:
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to develop a definition of the ‘planetary interest’.
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to identify and analyse global problems which confront the planet and humanity.
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to develop criteria for applying the ‘planetary interest’ as a complement
to the ‘national interest’.
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to promote the concept of the ‘planetary interest’ among policy-makers
world-wide.
In pursuit of the terms of reference, the “planetary interest” has been
developed as a concept designed to facilitate understanding of, and policy-making
for, issues of global security that threaten the nations and citizenry
of the world. It is aimed at two principal objectives:
1. To assist policy-makers, such as politicians, legislators and government
officials, to understand global problems of the early 21st century and
develop sound national policies towards such problems that can be accepted
as legitimate by other countries;
2. To assist citizens of all countries understand these problems, to
enable them to act as an informed populace, judging the legitimacy of national
policy of their countries, and to develop individual lifestyles more in
harmony with the global solutions required in the modern age.
The concept and ideas surrounding it are explored in a new book
released in October 1998, titled “The Planetary Interest”.
Edited by Dr. Kennedy Graham and with a foreword
by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the book contains contributions by
eminent politicians from 20 countries. Preparation of the book was
supported by a research grant from The Rockefeller Foundation, New York.
It is published by UCL Press, part of the Taylor
and Francis group, London, United Kingdom, and is available in
the United States and Canada through Rutgers University Press.
Initial work on the concept was undertaken by the editor at Cambridge’s
Global Security Programme in 1995, culminating in an Occasional
Paper entitled “The Planetary Interest”.
Address
Project for the Planetary Interest
Tel. 46-8-747 05 06
Boo Strandväg 7
Fax: 48-8-747 78 41
132 36 Saltsjö Boo
e-mail: graham@tpi.pp.se
Sweden
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