Monday, December 27, 2010

IntLawGrrls

IntLawGrrls

Imagine if 2010 hadn't been the Year of Biodiversity

Posted: 27 Dec 2010 03:00 AM PST

"Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is Our Life" That is the slogan of the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity, which draws to a close in just over a week. When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the opening of the Year of Biodiversity, he cautioned:

A failure to protect the world's natural resources is a wake-up call for people everywhere.
The U.N. General Assembly certainly ushered the International Year .of Biodiversity out with a bang-- voting on December 21 to establish the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
This new Intergovernmental Platform will be modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is intended to be a mechanism for integrating scientific knowledge about biodiversity into policy-making.
The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services was established just in time for the International Year of Forests which begins in January 2011, and the International Decade of Biodiversity, also beginning in January 2011. Let us hope it has more success in galvanizing global action targeted at stemming our losses of biodiversity than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has had in getting global agreement on actions to stem carbon emissions.
Establishment of the Intergovernmental Platform was a bright spots in a year otherwise riddled with bad news for biodiversity.
Biodiversity loss is rapid and ongoing. Over the last 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems faster and more extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history. We are losing tropical forests, wetlands, coral reefs and grasslands at a rapid clip. Species extinctions are orders of magnitude over expected rates. The causes are clear:
►over-exploitation
►habitat loss
►invasive species
►climate change
Unfortunately, these drivers of biodiversity loss show no signs of abating. As a result, we are losing species at rates three orders of magnitude greater than would otherwise be expected.
The IUCN Red List (prior IntLawGrrls posts here, here, and here) reported that 1/5 of vertebrate species, ranging from 13% of birds to 41% of amphibians, are threatened with extinction. A similar report by the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens suggests that one-fifth of plants are similarly threatened. This is terrifying! As the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment documented, biodiversity is the foundation on which human life depends.
In 2002, the Convention of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Strategic Plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Strategic Plan set what's come to be known as the 2010 Biodiversity Target -- a commitment by the 191 parties to the Convention to
achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.
This biodiversity target was subsequently endorsed by the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the United Nations General Assembly at the 2005 World Summit Meeting, and was incorporated into the Millennium Development Goals. These developments marked an official international recognition that biodiversity loss is closely associated with environmental degradation, poverty and ill-health. This prompted the General Assembly to declare 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity.
Unfortunately, the Convention of the Parties acknowledged earlier this year that it had failed to meet the 2010 Target for halting the losses of biodiversity. The European Union similarly missed its targets. The Global Biodiversity Outlook reports deforestation continues at an alarming rate, coral reefs show major declines, and abundance has plummeted for many species. This is not to say there have been no successes.
At the Cancun meeting earlier this month, delegates were cheered that Brazil announced it had reduced tropical rainforest destruction and CO2 emissions to record low levels, and that some species, mostly charismatic macrofauna, have shown signs of recovery. As the IUCN Red List reminds us, the news is not all grim. For the first time, scientists have documented that conservation can really make a difference in stemming biodiversity loss. There is still hope. But, the time for action is now!

On December 27

Posted: 27 Dec 2010 01:04 AM PST

On this day in ...
... 1945 (65 years ago today), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Articles of Agreement, drafted the previous summer at the U.N. Monetary and Financial Conference at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, took effect. The Articles established what's come to be known as the World Bank, an international organization that provides loans to developing countries. Headquartered in Washington, D.C. (left) (photo credit), it now has 187 states parties.

(Prior December 27 posts are here, here, and here.)

UN Forum: Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life

Posted: 26 Dec 2010 06:56 PM PST

UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues and IntLawGrrls contributor Gay McDougall (photo, right) organized and convened the Third Session of the Forum on Minority Issues at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 14-15 December.
This year's session focused on "minorities and effective participation in economic life"—a timely and significant topic given the ravages of the global economic crisis on minority groups throughout the world. (See coverage by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) here.)
According to Forum Chair Dr. Gita Sen, Professor, Indian Institute of Management and Adjunct Professor, Harvard School of Public Health,
Times of economic crisis can be particularly difficult for minority groups that may already be subject to societal discrimination and stigma, and who may be undocumented or migrant workers. Societal pressures to blame those who are the most vulnerable can become explosive unless governments play a moderating role and act as guarantors of protection from violence and abuse.

Draft Recommendations
Consultations centered on the associated Draft Recommendations on Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life. The draft served as a platform from which we could explore the roles of minority groups as economic actors and as participants in their own empowerment. Governments, business enterprises, international financial institutions, and other actors share the responsibility to provide the necessities and rights that sustain all groups and individuals. But they also bear affirmative responsibilities to remove barriers to minority groups' own efforts to build a sustainable and human rights-based future.
Previous sessions of the Minority Issues Forum resulted in recommendations on "Minorities and the Right to Effective Political Participation" (2009) (see also Gay McDougall's post on the session here) and recommendations on "Minorities and the Right to Education" (2008).
The Diversity of Minorities
The meetings bring together individuals from minority groups and civil society, diplomats from UN and regional organizations, and academic experts to share ideas and to make action-oriented recommendations. The Forum's mandate is to assist in the further implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Minorities
This year's session was attended by approximately 500 participants, including 300 members of minority groups or their representatives, as well as attendees from government permanent missions. The proceedings follow a participatory and inclusive approach, encouraging oral and written interventions by as many participants as time permits.
The fact that many women were represented among the key speakers and participants was perhaps not surprising given McDougall's leadership, but very welcome nevertheless. The presence of women was not merely symbolic, since minority group issues that have special impact on women were prominent on the agenda and in the draft recommendations. An intersectional perspective, in which both minority status and gender implications are taken into account, was evident throughout the program.
As noted above, the Forum was chaired by Dr. Gita Sen. UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navanethem (Navi) Pillay (photo, left) opened the proceedings along with the President of the Human Rights Council, H.E. Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketeow.
"Economic Life" in Multiple Dimensions
The Draft Recommendations and Forum addressed a wide range of issues, evidencing the fact that "the economy" implicates all aspects of life, including civil, political, social, and cultural spheres.
Key themes reflected from the Draft Recommendations included:
► Sustainable Livelihoods;
► Work and Social Security;
► Meaningful Consultation/Participation;
► Capacity-Building for Effective Participation;
► Poverty Reduction and Development Strategies;
► Minorities and the Millennium Development Goals; and
► Discrimination and Positive Measures/Affirmative Action.
The presenters highlighted barriers to the effective participation of minorities in economic life. Failure to protect and promote the language rights of minorities, for example, also prevents full participation in education, training, and employment. Gender discrimination, in combination with racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural discrimination, marginalizes or exploits women's roles in economic and social development. Religious, ethnic, or racial restrictions on land ownership, use, transfer, or title may lead to entrenched poverty among minority groups. Violence and the promotion of hatred against racial, ethnic, or national minorities may marginalize or exclude their participation in the building of society as a whole or exacerbate broader conflict. See McDougal's recent statement on links between protection of minority rights and the prevention of violence and conflict here. Unsustainable or top-down farming or land distribution practices prevent pastoralists, indigenous peoples, and other minority groups from pursuing sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. Such practices may also destroy cultural traditions and ways of living that sustained groups for generations. Policies pursued by business enterprises and international financial and trade institutions may intensify the impact of human rights violations or exclude minority groups from the benefits of human and social development efforts.
Participants also noted some positive developments and best practices. For example, a participant described recent successes in providing effective compensation for African-American farmers damaged by racial discrimination in the United States of America, although more remains to be done for Native American, Latino, and women farmers.
Side Events
Side events on the first day of the Forum included a "Panel on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Application of the Minorities Declaration" organized by the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A panel on "Minorities and Natural Resources" was co-sponsored by the Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and Minority Rights Group International.
A preparatory workshop organized on 13 December by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Minority Rights Group, included several moving presentations on national conditions for minority groups from Uganda, Iraq, Lebanon, Ireland, the United States, and Pakistan.
Formal presentations at the Forum itself were followed by a series of brief interventions by other participants.
Minority groups from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas highlighted concerns or made comments on issues to be addressed by the Draft Recommendations, including
►The status of women pastoralists in Uganda;
►Access to economic participation, land, and employment for Palestinian minority groups;
►Evictions and demolition of public housing, mortgage abuses, violations of land rights, gentrification, and unemployment disproportionately affecting African-Americans and other minority groups in the United States;
►Deportations, displacement, lack of access to employment, education, and health care among Roma peoples in Europe;
►Displacement and other abuses against Ahwazi Arabs, the Oromo and the Degar (Montagnards) (see UNPO report here).
Outcomes
As chair of the Forum, Dr. Sen is responsible for preparing a summary of the proceedings and submissions that will be made available to the participants and members of the public early in 2011. Independent Expert McDougall will present the Forum's final recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2011.
The first photo below shows 3 U.S.-based participants during a break (from left) Dr. Carol Anderson, Professor of African-American Studies and History, Emory University, Ms. Kaleema Haidera Al-Nur, Director, Kindred Afro-American Alliance (Kaleema@kindredonline.org ), and (spending too much time with her nose in her computer) yours truly, IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis , Professor of Law and Chair, Committee on Global Law Programs, Northeastern University School of Law. Pictured below (and very much involved in the consultations) is colleague Margaret Burnham, Professor of Law and Director, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, Northeastern University School of Law.
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