A Letter to Fellow Citizens of Earth: Towards Cooperativist-legal Perspectives

On the eve of the 1972 Stockholm conference, 2,200 scientists signed the Menton message to their fellow 3.5 billion neighbours. This was a warning, depicting the growing environmental crisis and the potential catastrophe. In 2022, with the world’s population doubling in comparison to what obtained in 1972, studies reveal the worst fears of the Menton message were never realised. However, its authors saw the future. On the occasion of Stockhom+50, 14 authors, inclusive of this lead author, identified current phenomenon. These includes a global Gross Domestic Product that has multiplied fivefold, an increased level of food production, and improved communication technology. Yet, environmental threats as identified in 1972, continue to increase. Furthermore, there are political turbulence, variants of poverty, and growing inequalities. Root causes to the aforementioned problems were classified into three: Individualistic, materialistic, and exploitative short-term thinking; Focus on economic growth and disregard for social considerations; and Institutional failures on the economic, political and social fronts. Remedial to these anomalies were identified in three folds, namely: Redefinition of societal and individual strive; Official recognition of the responsibilities of the privileged; and Prioritization of collective action towards the correction of systemic distortions. Addressing the foregoing, particularly from the purview of achieving generational equity is evaluated from the perspective of the cooperative movement, their governing laws, and governing philosophy; cooperativism. This is built on the grounds that at twenty -five percent of the world’s populations are members of cooperatives, or the larger social solidarity economy. Importantly, cooperatives under the coordination of the International Cooperative Alliance is recognised by the United Nation Development Programme as essential contributors to the implementation of Sustainability programmes. Emphasis is given to the reconciliation of cooperativism, cooperative laws and policy frameworks as integral components to defeat the root causes, and as support mechanism for the identified remedial raised in the A Letter to Fellow Citizens of Earth.