What is Agenda 21? Why is it important to property owners?
Over the years, I’ve frequently been amazed at the disregard for private property rights expressed by some planning bureaucrats and some local elected city and county commissioners. Not all, mind you, but some. It was as if they have never heard of the principles of private property rights contained in the Florida and U.S. Constitutions.
After reading recent e-mails from Dan Peterson at Coalition for Property Rights, it seems that there might be another explanation.
It turns out that Agenda 21 is a comprehensive blueprint of action produced by the UN in 1992 and related, in part, to local government action. The “21” in Agenda 21 refers to the 21st century. It has been described as a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalism, social engineering, global political control and an effort to deprive individuals of private property rights. With little notice, this Agenda has been implemented at local levels by the International Council of Local Environmental Institutes (ICLEI), also known as Local Governments for Sustainability and by the American Planning Council. In the US alone, ICLEI claims 550 member cities and counties, including Tallahassee, Orlando, Key West, Alachua, Dade and Orange Counties.
Supporters of Agenda 21 within the US government have advocated “calling our process something else, such as comprehensive planning, growth management or smart growth” to avoid the label of a UN conspiracy.
This agenda has been pressed for the last 20 years and has undoubtedly been taught in universities. Its intent can be understood clearly from the conference preamble from the 1976 United Nations Habitat 1 Conference held in Vancouver, Canada:
“Land…cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice.”
In the last 20 years, Agenda 21’s implementation has permeated American life and the institutions of government. Where it is advocated, it’s dangerous. The effect of Agenda 21 is to put as much land as possible under public control, even if that land is not publicly owned.
Since the establishment of our nation, private property has given Americans the freedom to enjoy all other rights recognized by our Constitution. John Adams once warned, “Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist.”
If you are concerned about the potential threat of Agenda 21, I urge you to investigate it and read what has been said by and about its advocates. Learn more at http://proprights.com.