reprinted with permission from
Poison Fire, Sacred Earth,
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS,
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
pages 298-300
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THE DECLARATION OF SALZBURG (DRAFT)
read by Sharon Venne
THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING
Having met in Salzburg, Austria, from 13 September to 18 September
1992;
Having heard testimony concerning the environmental, cultural,
spiritual, physiological, and economic impact of the use of
radioactive substances from all regions of the world;
Convinced of the inherently destructive nature of all phases of
the nuclear chain and that nuclear contamination is a threat to
all peoples and environments irrespective of political boundaries;
Acutely aware that indigenous peoples have suffered particularly
devastating consequences from the extraction and utilization of
nuclear substances;
Reaffirming that the survival of indigenous peoples requires
respect for their rights of self-determination and to territorial
and environmental integrity;
Observing that the spiritual and cultural values of indigenous
peoples in their relationship with the natural world offer a
perspective capable of transforming prevailing destructive
materialistic attitudes and practices;
Recalling the disastrous impact of nuclear weapons testing on
indigenous and other land-based peoples in such places as Nevada,
Bikini and Eniwetok, Tahiti, Maralinga, and Central Asia;
Deeply moved by the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which marked
the opening of the nuclear era;
Alarmed by the experience of Chernobyl and Three-Mile Island;
Convinced that there is no completely safe technology for the
containment of radioactive substances;
Dismayed by distorted economic values and priorities, including
inappropriate consumption patterns, which threaten a sustainable
future;
Apprehensive of the fate of future generations confronted with the
intractable consequences of nuclear development;
Determined to end the danger posed by the entire nuclear chain and
to ensure an enduring harmonious relationship with the natural
world;
Solemnly declares:
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. The natural world, in its richness and complexity, is the
foundation of all life.
2. All peoples and individuals have the fundamental right to a
safe and healthy environment and the corresponding duty to
maintain the integrity of the natural world.
3. Each generation bears the obligation of effective stewardship
for the benefit of future generations of all living beings.
II. THE PROCESS OF NUCLEAR DEVELOPMENT
Exploitation, Mining and Processing
4. The mining and processing of uranium and other radioactive
minerals result in the contamination and degradation of large
ecosystems.
5. Radioactivity and chemical pollutants contained in tailings
are spread by the flow of ground and surface waters and by
wind currents.
6. Inhabitants of affected areas risk immediate and lasting
health and genetic consequences from exposure to radioactive
substances. Miners are exposed to particularly intensified
levels of radiation.
Military Uses
7. Over time, nuclear weapons testing has produced atmospheric
fallout, contamination of land and sea areas, forced removal
of peoples, cultural disintegration, and a range of adverse
health consequences, in particular, cancer and threats to
genetic inheritance.
8. The development of thermonuclear weapons involves the
production of large quantities of fission products and
plutonium, the most toxic substance known; plutonium persists
in the environment for up to hundreds of thousands of years.
Nuclear Power Generation
9. Nuclear power facilities, whether civilian or military,
produce emissions of radiation and inevitably pose serious
and unacceptable risks, including transportation spills,
theft of radioactive materials, accidents that spread
contamination over vast regions, and the catastrophic effects
of a reactor core meltdown.
10. No nuclear power plant has ever been safely and completely
decommissioned. The ultimate environmental and economic costs
of decommissioning remain incalculable.
Nuclear Waste
11. No safe method for the disposal of medium and high-level
nuclear wastes has been devised. Solutions offered can only
provide for storage or dumping, which carry an ever-present
risk of lethal contamination. The problem is simply thrust
onto future generations.
12. The territories of indigenous peoples, impoverished
developing countries, and the global commons are frequently
targeted for storage or dumping of waste, thus compounding
international injustice.
III. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
13. Vast quantities of the world's uranium resources are located
and extracted in the territories of indigenous peoples; these
territories are often exploited for weapons testing and the
storage or dumping of nuclear substances. In violation of
their right to self-determination, indigenous peoples have
been victimized by dispossession and forced removals, direct
contamination, and the desecration of sacred sites.
14. The dispossession of peoples and the destruction of the
natural ecology that result from the nuclear chain imperil
the social cohesion and cultural, material, and spiritual
relationship with the natural world upon which indigenous
survival depends.
15. In order to defend themselves against the physical and
cultural genocide that results from nuclear development,
indigenous peoples must be able to freely exercise their
right to determine and control, without external
interference, all matters relating to their societies and
territories.
IV. ECONOMIC POLICY
16. The monetary price of nuclear energy does not reflect the
cost of damage to the biosphere and the profound risks to
present and future generations.
17. Governments, communities, organizations, and individuals have
a duty to ensure that energy is produced and used in a clean,
safe, and efficient manner; the global ecology cannot support
inappropriate energy consumption patterns.
18. The view that unlimited economic growth can be sustained on a
habitable planet is fallacious and constitutes a significant
threat to future generations.
19. Current international policies perpetuate unjust economic
disparities which cause developing countries to adopt
destructive environmental practices such as uranium mining,
nuclear power generation, and the provision of dumping sites
for radioactive waste. Sharing safe and efficient energy
technologies is essential for equitable and environmentally
sound economies in those countries.
20. The Precautionary Principle, as recognized by the
international community, requires that the safety of
potentially dangerous activities must be conclusively
established prior to taking any measures towards their
implementation. In the case of the nuclear chain, any
reasonable application of the Precautionary Principle would
require that uranium and other radioactive minerals remain
undisturbed in their natural location.
V. RECOMMENDATIONS
The WORLD URANIUM HEARING calls upon governments and, within their
respective spheres of responsibility and competence, transnational
and other corporations, organizations, communities and individuals
1. To recognize and respect the inherent right to
self-determination of indigenous peoples, including their
right to determine and control, without external
interference, the nuclear process as it affects their
societies and territories;
2. To provide reparations for peoples, communities, and
individuals victimized by the mining of radioactive minerals,
the use of nuclear weapons, or the storage or dumping of
nuclear waste. To make every conceivable effort to alleviate
risks and damage caused by past and existing uses of
radioactive materials;
3. To ensure that liability for social and environmental damage
resulting from the nuclear chain is jointly born by those
controlling all its phases;
4. The lands of indigenous and other land-based peoples,
contaminated by nuclear development, must immediately be
rehabilitated to as near as practicable to their
precontaminate state;
5. To fundamentally alter existing economic policies to ensure
ecological sustainability; energy development must shift to
the use of safe and renewable resources;
6. To provide assistance, including financial resources where
necessary, for the development of alternative energy programs
in countries which utilize nuclear power;
7. To ensure that any economic analyses of the nuclear chain
fully account for the entire ecological and social impact of
radioactivity;
8. To provide peoples, communities, and individuals with
complete information about the dangers of radioactive
substances in all phases of the nuclear chain;
9. To support and promote community activities aimed at ending
the use of radioactive substances;
10. To promote international and national standards, policies,
and practices designed to ensure that:
a) radioactive minerals are no longer exploited; and
b) existing radioactive products of the nuclear chain
are dealt with according to the safest available
technology irrespective of monetary cost;
11. To immediately cease production and testing of nuclear
weapons; the process of global nuclear disarmament must
continue to completion.
URANIUM AND OTHER RADIOACTIVE MINERALS
MUST REMAIN IN THEIR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT !
[This version of the Declaration of Salzburg is a draft. Following
the request of the indigenous witnesses, the preliminary version
was taken home by all participants of The World Uranium Hearing,
to be discussed in their communities and circles, and to make
changes if necessary. In summer 1993, in Salzburg, Austria, the
Declaration will be presented to the public as well as distributed
to the governments of the world and the various institutions of
the United Nations.]