Natural Justice attends the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba

Stephanie Booker of Natural Justice attended the 2nd Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI) in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 10th -11th September 2013.

Hosted by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA), the Environmental Justice Network (EJN), the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) and the Chiadzwa Community Development Trust (CCDT), the theme of the ZAMI was "Community Rights, the key to Empowerment". Held parallel to the annual Zimbabwe Mining Indaba, the ZAMI was attended by over 100 participants of civil society organisations, non-government organisations, community-based organisations including the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Women in Law Southern Africa, as well as and chiefs and members of communities affected by mining from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia.

Participants discussed key issues such as:

• Ongoing and envisaged reforms in the mining sector;
• The impacts of mining on women;
• The impacts of mining on communities and strategies being used to advance community interests;
• The Kimberly Certification Scheme;
• Opportunities and challenges under the new Constitution;
• The African Mining Vision;
• Mining taxation and illicit financial flows.

Participants were also privileged to hear direct experiences from community members themselves, including the impacts of mining on families, general health, the health of pregnant women and water sources.

The Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba featured in Zimbabwean Daily News here.  In it, ZELA Programme Officer, Shamiso Mtisi notes that whilst the extractives sector is one of the most important sources of a nation’s income with great potential to contribute to economic development, the costs of extractive industries have been socialised, with a huge impact on communities.

The Declaration formulated by the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba 2013 can be found here.

For more information and for regular updates on mining issues in Zimbabwe, like ZELA’s facebook page.

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Self-evaluation workshop of civil society actors and indigenous peoples on REDD+ in DRC

From 2nd to 7th September 2013, Cath Traynor and Lassana Koné from Natural Justice attended as observers, a self evaluation workshop in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The objective of the workshop, sponsored by UNDP and Rainforest Foundation Norway and facilitated by Samuel Nnah Ndobe, consisted in developing a strategy for civil society actors and indigenous peoples in the REDD+ process in DRC.

 The REDD+ mechanism was launched in DRC in January 2009, with the first joint mission carried out by the United Nations for REDD + (UN-REDD) and the Forest Carbon Partnership Funds (FCPF) of the World Bank. With funding from these partners ($7.3 million from UN-REDD and $3.4 million from FCPF), DRC spent three years in the preparation phase for REDD+ after producing a very ambitious Readiness plan (R-PP), which was adopted in March 2010 by the UN-REDD board and the FCPF Participants Committee. The UN-REDD Programme pays special attention to the informed and constructive participation of all stakeholders, including indigenous peoples and other forest-dependent communities, and support them in the implementation of REDD + at the national and international level. 

The implementation of the R-PP was made through a large consultative and participatory process with key stakeholders, including civil society. The Working Group on Climate and REDD (GTCR), is a platform for consultation of NGOs working in the DRC in the Environment sector.

During 6 days, the GTCR was able to engage positively and make a self assessment of their involvement in the REDD+ process in DRC. They also drafted an internal strategic roadmap to move from the preparation phase to the investment phase.  Entering the investment phase, the GTCR will therefore need to prioritise, and take robust internal measures and actions, because the context and the issues are the subject of a new reality. The GTCR must adapt itself to these new terms and engagement approaches to effectively meet the new opportunities offered by the process.

A report on the lessons learned of the civil society engagement in the REDD+ process in DRC is expected by end of October.

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Block Level Training Programme on Community Forest Rights in Keounjhar District

A Series of workshops on community forest rights (CFR) was organized in Harichadanpur, Banspal & Telkoi Block of Keounjhar district on 22nd, 23rd and 24th August 2013 respectively. The programme was organized by Natural Justice's local partner organization KIRDTI with co-operation from the district administration and Block officials. Sankar Pani of Natural Justice facilitated the workshop.

The workshops in Harichandanpurl and Telkoi Block were conducted at Block Headquarters and the Banspal workshop at Kuanar Panchayat office premises.

The Welfare Extension Officer (WEO) of Harichandanpur Block stated that approx 10,000 individual forest rights claims have been filed in the block while around 6,400 of those claims have been recognized and titles issued. He further stated that around 2,900 claims have been rejected at Gramsabha level. Approximately 99 villages have been covered in terms of distribution of title and few more villages are pending as of now.   He has sought help of the local NGO to identify villages and expedite the process of community rights recognition.

Similarly the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Telkoi Block declared that approximately 3,360 individual titles have been distributed while 4 community claims are under process for recognition.

In Banspal Block the Special Officer of Juang Development Agency (JDA) has requested villagers to co-operate in implementation of CFR rights in their respective villages and has prioritized the implementation at 35 micro project villages in the first wave.

Further, a target has been set by the Block officials to identify at least 10 villages every month with help from local organizations and to then expedite CFR processes at these villages.

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Theatre and the Law with the Borana Community

Natural Justice has been working with its Kenyan partner, Kivulini Trust, to support the Borana Pastoralist community assert their traditional land and resource rights. Through this process the Borana have been developing a bio-cultural community protocol (BCP) to highlight their community vision, traditional land and resource use based on their customary laws. During the week of the 19th of August, members of the Borana community, including elders, women and youth met in Isiolo town, Kenyato continue their BCP development through the use of theatre techniques. These interactive techniques facilitated discussion on issues facing the community and proposed positive solutions for change.

The visioning experience included setting out where the community is now, where it plans to be in the future and concrete steps on how it wishes to get there. The process was facilitated by community theater expert, Hjalmar Joffre-Eichhorn, who has also been working with Natural Justice and the National Khoi-San Council in South Africa.

This group of the Borana community then travelled to Marsabit County to attend the Kalacha Festival, a gathering of over 600 pastoralists from northern Kenya. During the festival the group performed a short play they had written during the week of training, which highlighted real issues affecting the Borana and other pastoralist communities. The audience included approximately 400 pastoralists and members of the Marsabit County Government, including the Governor. Using forum theatre techniques, the audience was invited to participate by proposing solutions to address the issues they had just witnessed in the play.

During the festival, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) and Hassan Roba (Kivulini Trust) also held a panel session on pastoralism in Kenya, focusing on community land rights.


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Significant Victory for Lamu

Kenyan national newspaper, The Daily Nation, reported on a recent legal victory for the community of Lamu, as a result of application by Lamu Resident and the Vice Chairman of Save Lamu, Mr Mohamed Mbwana.  Mr Mbwana sought judicial review to quash directions of the Lamu County Commissioner who, in August 2012, directed that community land in Mvundeni be subdivided and given to private individuals, effectively depriving communities in Mvundeni rights over their traditionally held, occupied and utilised lands.

In his judgement, Justice Angote of the High Court of Kenya, sitting in Malindi, noted that such unalienated government land could only be dealt with as provided for by the Constitution of Kenya – by the National Lands Commission.

This is a significant judgement in favour of the community of Lamu.  You can read the article here.

Land allocation and large-scale population migrations are just some of the flow-on effects of the impending LAPSSET (Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport corridor) project.  Other consequences of the planned multi-billion dollar port, transport hub, pipeline, oil-refinery, industrial complex and resort city were set out to selected members of the Lamu community in a recent workshop by the Kenyan Physical Planning Office in July.  Member of Save Lamu, Hadija Bwanaadi, set out some of the concerns arising from the “Envisioning Lamu Metropolis” workshop in her article in the East African on 27 July 2013, located here.

In it, Hadija describes the new information the Lamu community received about the sheer size and scale of the LAPSSET project – not previously set out to the community and not even envisaged in the Environment and Social Impact Assessment.  Given revised upward estimates of the project, it is likely to have an even greater impact on the Lamu community – including its environment (relied upon for livelihoods), society and culture.

To learn more of the work of Save Lamu, visit their website or follow them on facebook.

 

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Natural Justice attends Fracking Lecture at University of Western Cape

On 26 August 2013, Stephanie Booker and Lesle Jansen of Natural Justice attending a lecture entitled: “Fracking: Towards a Promised Land or a Broken Promise” presented by Ralhus, a project of the Faculty of Law of the University of Western Cape.

A Fracking billboard at the lecture

Three guest lecturers, Professor Jan Glazewski of the Institute of Marine and Environmental Law at the University of Cape Town, Jonathon Deal from Treasure the Karoo Action Group and Matt Ash of Norton Rose Fulbright, presented on various topics within the current fracking debate in South Africa.  Presentations included taking a precautionary and principled approach towards fracking within the South African legal framework, whether the efficacy of shale gas mining for South Africa has been sufficiently proven to permit exploration and an analysis of facts on shale gas and hydraulic fracturing.

Presentations were followed by a lively panel discussion of the different viewpoints within the fracking debate in South Africa, considering South Africa’s current energy requirements, the need for a strategic environmental assessment and actual potential for community inclusion in future employment and benefit sharing.

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Natural Justice legally supports the National Khoi-San Council in historic benefit sharing agreement

On 19 August 2013, the indigenous San and Khoikhoi groups signed a historic benefit sharing agreement with Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals Pty under South Africa’s Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004. Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals is a pharmaceutical company that processes Buchu, a small shrub endemic to the Western Cape used for its essential oils. Buchu’s medicinal qualities are associated with the traditional knowledge (TK) of the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The agreement acknowledges that the Khoikhoi and San’s medicinal plant knowledge predates that of subsequent South African inhabitants and that the Khoikhoi and San are “legally entitled to a fair and equitable share of the benefits that result from the commercial development of the Buchu plant.” Although the San Council was previously involved in entering into similar agreements, this marks the first time the Khoikhoi represented by the National Khoi-San Council (NKC), entered into such an agreement where their TK is recognized as such.

During November 2012 Natural Justice entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Khoi-San Council. Under this agreement, Natural Justice offers legal support to the NKC in its ongoing struggle for legal recognition of its collective rights which includes amongst others, legal processes relating to benefit sharing.  Natural Justice was also able to assist the NKC in forming a negotiating team with the San council represented by Roger Chennels.  In terms of this historic partnership,the NKC and the San council act as a representative structure for the Khoikhoi and San peoples to protect their rights around associated traditional knowledge for related plants. 

It is all too rare for a private company to recognize, especially financially, traditional knowledge and the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples. Under the benefit sharing agreement with Cape Kingdom, the Khoikhoi and San communities will receive 3 percent of the profits related to Buchu products. Cape Kingdom also commits to share its knowledge of the commercial use of the plant with the indigenous communities in exchange for the San and Khoikhoi endorsing the products. In response to the agreement, NKC Chairperson Cecil LeFleur stated: “We are very proud and excited to be part of this process. Today we share the benefits of our historical knowledge with Cape Kingdom Nutraceuticals. We feel that this partnership will be to the benefit of the Khoikhoi and San people in South Africa, and will contribute to our development and empowerment.”

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2013 Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA)

In early August, Natural Justice participated in the 2013 Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA) on socio-ecological interactions that brought together eighteen young environmental change-makers from around the world and from a myriad of sectors, professions and disciplines. Most participants have extensive experience in working with indigenous and local communities.

Marie Wilke from Natural Justice and a GESA alumni lead a three-day workshop on “Law, Policy & Advocacy”. The aim of the course was to equip the participants with the tools needed to proactively engage with international, regional and domestic law-making and shaping processes. Through interactive group work, case studies and moot courts the course aimed at making law available to non-lawyers and to introduce useful approaches for engaging in legislative and adjudicative processes.

During the first day the participants produced small universes of international law by ordering different international organizations, laws, courts and actors that they were familiar with according to themes, legal subjects and hierarchies.

These systems informed the group work on day two, when the participants developed legal strategies for three fictional indigenous and local communities that were confronted with challenging policy changes such as large-scale infrastructure projects, prohibitions of customary practices for conservation and animal welfare reasons, and land right reforms and competing land claims. Some groups opted for court action in the light of recent jurisprudential developments, in particular in regional human right courts, while others preferred negotiated settlements. Importantly, using Natural Justice’s Toolkit, all groups found that bio-cultural community protocols were useful tools for jointly developing legal strategies with the communities. 

On day three the GESA participants argued a fictional case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Moot Court case developed by the International Law Student Association (ILSA) concerned a small island nation that lost it’s homeland due to rising sea levels and that now struggles to find a new land and appropriate shelter for it’s climate refugees. The participants developed important legal arguments on the status of climate refugees, the collective responsibility for climate change, and on responsible developing lending. The diverse backgrounds of the participants were definitely of great help as all suggested approaches were informed by the perspectives of non-lawyers.

In a final discussion the participants agreed that international law yields many (unforeseen) opportunities for disadvantaged groups and that there is ample space for engagement, but that the biggest challenge remains the inaccessibility of law for non-lawyers.

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UN Secretary General Calls on States to Honor Treaties With Indigenous Peoples on International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

Friday, 9 August 2013, was the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. This important day was recognized at United Nations headquarters in New York, where Indigenous peoples from around the world gathered for a special event with the theme "Indigenous peoples building alliances: Honouring treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements." Prior to the start of the special event, hundreds of indigenous and non-indigenous rowers arrived several blocks north of UN Headquarters in Manhattan, after having collectively travelled thousands of miles on rivers and horseback to honour the first treaty -– the Two Row Wampum -– concluded between Dutch immigrants and the Haudenosaunee (a confederacy of six nations, with capital in the Onondaga nation, in NY State) 400 years ago, in 1613.

The special event was chaired by Paul Kanyinke Sena, Chair of the UNPFII, who moderated a panel made up of Mary Morgan Moss, Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative of Panama to the UN; Ivan Šimonović  UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human RIghts, and Chief Oren Lyons of the Onandaga people. Also attending was UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who spoke of the importance of honoring treaties between States and Indigenous peoples. He noted that while Indigenous people had made it clear that they want development, such development must "take into account culture, and identity and the right to define their own priorities." He stated that "the post-2015 development agenda needs, therefore, to incorporate the rights, perspectives and needs of Indigenous peoples" and "urged member states to take concrete steps to address the challenges facing Indigenous peoples, especially their marginalization and exclusion, by honoring all commitments and examining what more can be done."

Mr. Šimonović highlighted four key messages that should help narrow the gap between the promises made in treaties and the realities on the ground: first, we must ensure that there are effective remedies available in cases of violations of treaties, in particular when they involve human rights issues; second, UN and regional mechanisms should pay increasing attention to treaty observance, and those involved in the implementation of treaties should engage with human rights bodies when human rights issues are at stake; third, while it is crucial that we monitor and address violations, we should also identify and learn from situations where compliance with treaty obligations has been achieved; and fourth, as the need for compliance with existing treaties is stressed, we should also pay attention to the ongoing work in many states to draw up new treaties in order to ensure that their eventual content is fully in line with the rights of Indigenous peoples. He noted that we should start by ensuring a process that is fully in line with the principle of free, prior and informed consent and other human rights principles. (Note: all uses of the pronoun "we" by Mr. Šimonović.)

J. Eli Makagon from Natural Justice attended this event.
More information on the International Day can be found here.
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Natural Justice partner works to alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity

Natural Justice attended the Annual General Meeting of Phyto-Trade Africa from the 29th to the 31st of July. During the 3-day meeting, Gino Cocchiaro (Natural Justice) met with Phyto-Trade members to discuss their strategies on collaborations with communities in the bio-trade industry.

Natural Justice has previously presented on its work with communities, particularly on biocultural community protocols and biocultural dialogues, which has assisted communities set out terms for engagement with biotrade companies. Natural Justice will also be collaborating with Phyto-Trade Africa and the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Initiative on a programme of work that will identify best practice examples of ABS in southern Africa.

Phyto-Trade Africa is a trade association of the natural product industry in Southern Africa with an aim to alleviate poverty and protect biodiversity in the region by developing an industry that is not only economically successful but also ethical and sustainable.