Climate Justice Alliance

Pan African Climate Justice Alliance committee member and friend of Natural Justice, Augustine Njamnshi (Cameroon), today reacted to the "blindness" of developed countries to the need for strong social and environmental guarantees in the COPs outcome. He accuses developed countries of marginalizing IPLCs and NGOs voices in the COP and argues that developing countries are not fighting hard enough to guarantee climate justice, i.e. an agreement that promotes equity, especially for those most vulnerable to climate change. To read more about the Alliance, click here.

Indigenous Voices

On the day indigenous peoples, local community and NGO representatives describe the REDD negotiations as "butchering their rights", a film festival highlights their individual concerns. The films focus on the threats to IPLCs ways of life by climate change, TK for adaptation,local resilience, and local mitigation strategies. Visit their website to watch the films.

Weak Draft Decision on REDD

The first week of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties concluded with a weak outcome for forest-dependent communities. The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice reported back to the COP on, among other things, a draft decision on REDD. Indigenous peoples, local community groups (IPLCs) and NGOs are angry at the removal of safeguards for IPLCs. Operational text recognizing the "need for full and effective engagement of indigenous peoples and local communities in, and the potential contribution of their knowledge to, monitoring and reporting of activities relating to ..." climate change is now only preambular language, lessening the provision's legal weight. The COP will now review the decision and may respond to growing pressure to reopen the issue. For the latest on the negotiations see:
www.iisd.ca/climate/cop15/

WIPO: 15th Session of the IGC

Natural Justices seem to be everywhere this week. Not only are they in Copenhagen for COP 15 and Cairo for the Pan African Regional on ABS but also Geneva, Switzerland for WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). Gino Cocchiaro, an associate of Natural Justice, has attended the week long negotiations, which will be the first since the IGC’s new mandate that includes a call to submit to the WIPO General Assembly text (or texts) of an international instrument (or instruments) to ensure the effective protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions by 2011, has come into force. Natural Justice is eager to see whether this historically protracted process will gather pace given the new mandate and spur parties to fruitful text-based negotiations on the proposed international instrument.

COP 15, REDD and Community Guidelines

On the day Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize, a report entitled "Building Confidence in REDD" formed the basis of one of the side events in Copenhagen. At the event on REDD, Rosalind Reeve, Global Witness, voiced concern about the low levels of forest governance in many countries that will host REDD projects. In response, she set out a proposal to establish minimum standards for independent forest monitoring. While Natural Justice agrees with the need for guidelines, together with indigenous groups present at the COP, we argue that voluntary guidelines are weak without legal recognition of customary laws, community level procedures and community protocols. The REDD negotiations continue.
For more information see: www.iisd.ca/climate/cop15

UNFCCC COP 15

The 15th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC opened yesterday in Copenhagen, Denmark. Natural Justice's Peter Wood and Harry Jonas are in attendance to follow the REDD negotiations and to discuss with ILCs and NGOs the application of community protocols to the incumbent legal regime. Peter's early prediction is that the COP will decide to postpone the elaboration of a REDD regime for SBSTTA in June (Bonn) to be agreed at COP 16 that will be held in Mexico in late 2010. More broadly, with over 100 heads of state confirmed to attend the meeting, there is an palpable sense that an historic agreement is in the offing. For information on the negotiations, see the ENB website