What Is An ECO-SOCIAL CONTRACT?
At the core of any social contract—that is, the implicit understandings and agreements between citizens and the state—lies the responsibility of the state to be competent, accountable and transparent in protecting the welfare, security, freedoms and human rights of all people.
Disparate but connected voices, from Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion to the UN Secretary General, the International Trade Union Congress and the World Economic Forum, are each in their own way championing a new social contract. Yet it is not only the social contract, but also our relationship with nature, which is broken. And there are many and diverse movements calling for the creation of a new kind of contract—an eco-social contract.
Such a contract between people and governments is urgently needed now, to fight inequalities and spur the transformation of economies and societies to halt climate change and environmental destruction. A new eco-social contract must be one that ensures human rights for all—importantly, this means bringing in those not fully benefitting from previous social contracts, such as women, indigenous peoples, informal workers and migrants; and it must ensure larger freedom for all in a fast-changing world, including security and protection as new challenges emerge.
The vision of a new eco-social contract differs fundamentally from the 20th century social contract in many ways, including the following:
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Human rights for all: A new eco-social contract must surpass the post-war welfare state settlements by ensuring human rights for all, including those excluded from previous social contracts or relegated to a secondary role, such as women; informal workers; ethnic, racial and religious minorities; migrants; and LGBTQIA+ persons. This requires a human rights-based approach that goes beyond formalemployment-dependent social benefits.
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A progressive fiscal contract: A new eco-social contract must go hand in hand with a new fiscal contract that raises sufficient resources for climate action and SDG implementation, and fairly distributes the financing burden.
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Transforming economies and societies: A new eco-social contract must be based on the common understanding that we need to transform economies and societies to halt climate change and environmental destruction and promote social inclusion and equality.
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A contract with nature: A new eco-social contract must recognize that humans are part of a global ecosystem. It must protect essential ecological processes, life support systems and the diversity of life forms, and pursue harmony with nature.
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Addressing historical injustices: A new eco-social contract must be decolonized, informed by indigenous knowledge, social values and capacities from the global South. It must remedy historical injustices, and combat the climate crisis fairly through just transitions.
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A contract for gender justice: A new eco-social contract must recognize that previous social contracts have been built upon an unequal sexual contract. It must go hand in hand with a contract for gender justice in which activities of production and reproduction are equally shared by women and men and different genders, and where sexual orientations and expressions of gender identity are granted equal respect and rights.
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New forms of solidarity: A new eco-social contract requires new bottom-up approaches to transformative change for development, bringing together social movements and progressive alliances between science, policy makers and activists. It must overcome the mindset of “us against them”, fostering instead a spirit of “all united against” global challenges such as climate change, inequalities and social fractures.