QEW'S INVOLVEMENT in the United Nations goes back to its participation as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCED or "Earth Summit") in Rio de Janierio in 1992. Since then some QEW supporters have attended NGO briefings at the UN in New York and have reported on important environmental developments, such as treaties involving intellectual property rights (which have raised alarms about commodification of the world's seed stocks, a threat to small-scale farming and biodiversity.) We are part of the UN's Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), and we are currently applying to the UN for Department of Public Information (DPI) status, which would give us further access to programs and activities in the UN.

The QEW Steering Committee and Quaker Earthcare Witness for National Legislation (QNL) have addressed concerns raised by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) as part of an economic globalization movement that seems to be indifferent, even hostile, to issues of human justice and ecological integrity. Several QEW supporters are active in other groups that are monitoring and/or opposing such trends as the privatization of water and bioengineering of seeds and other life forms that currently are allowed under international trade agreements.

The QEW Steering Committee also has minuted its support for the principles of the Earth Charter, joining tens of thousands of individuals and organizations (including many Quaker monthly and Yearly meetings) who have registered with the Earth Charter Secretariat in Costa Rica.