scholarly journals Assessing the Convergence of International Standards on Corporate Environmental Accountability

2020 ◽  
pp. 140-180
Author(s):  
Elisa Morgera
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Corporate Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Accountability Standards ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Private Sector Involvement

This chapter critically analyses the international standards on corporate environmental accountability and responsibility by relying on the normative advances made under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). A brief explanation of the developments related to the private sector involvement under the CBD precedes the standard-by-standard discussion. The degree of normative convergence is assessed across standards of corporate environmental accountability discussed in the previous chapter by comparing and contrasting them. Substantive dimensions of these standards are also identified on the basis of the advice elaborated by UN Special Rapporteurs relying on the CBD inter-governmentally approved guidance. The chapter thus shows that principles of international environmental law (environmental integration, prevention, precaution) have been initially translated as corporate environmental accountability standards, but over time have also been specified more substantively into corporate environmental responsibility standards. It also analyses standards based on procedural environmental principles (access to environmental information, participation in decision-making, access to justice).

scholarly journals Assessing the Convergence of International Standards on Corporate Environmental Responsibility

2020 ◽  
pp. 181-226
Author(s):  
Elisa Morgera
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Sustainable Use ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Environmental Responsibility ◽  
Prior Informed Consent ◽  
Recent Emergence

This chapter carries out a critical analysis of the international standards on corporate environmental responsibility by relying on the normative advances made under the Convention on Biological Diversity. It focuses on the more recent emergence of these substantive standards that relate to the human rights of indigenous peoples to their territories, lands, natural resources, and traditional knowledge (environmental and socio-cultural impact assessments, free prior informed consent, fair and equitable benefit-sharing). The chapter also discusses other international standards of corporate environmental responsibility with regard to protected areas, and the sustainable use of natural resources, including in relation to ecosystem services, invasive alien species, threatened species, sustainable agri-business, and sustainable production more generally.

scholarly journals ACCESS AND BENEFIT SHARING UNDER NAGOYA PROTOCOL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-45
Author(s):  
STELLINA JOLLY
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Genetic Resources ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Nagoya Protocol ◽  
Equitable Sharing

The debate over control and ownership of natural and bio genetic resources has a chequered history in International environmental law. Historically genetic resources were considered and acknowledged as part of common heritage of mankind. But with the development of technologies and the heightened north south divide over the issue of sovereign right over natural resources the developing nations became extremely concerned with the exploitation of biological and Genetic resources. Access to benefit sharing (ABS) was considered as an answer to balance the interests of developed and developing nations and to conserve and protect bio diversity. Adopted on October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1992, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (NP) has come into force after its 50th ratification on 2013. Nagoya protocol details on procedure for access and benefit sharing, disclosure mechanism, principles of transparency and democracy. The paper analyses the protection of access and benefit sharing envisaged under Nagoya protocol and its possible role in promoting sustainable development in the develoing nations. 

Balancing Environmental Protection and Offshore Petroleum Developments in Guyana

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Alicia Elias-Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Effective Area ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
State Development ◽  
Green State ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Right ◽  
Offshore Petroleum

This paper reviews Guyana's challenge to regulate the new petroleum sector. The need to amend several pieces of legislation to be aligned with the Aichi targets for 2020 under the Convention on Biological Diversity are examined. Aichi Target 11 provides that ‘by 2020, at least 17 per cent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscape and seascape.’ The Government of Guyana's Green State Development Strategy which has sustainable development at its core is also examined along with several environmental law principles. The Green State Development Strategy and several environmental law principles are discussed to highlight their relevance to the protection of the marine environment and biodiversity conservation. Several recommendations are made to highlight relevant laws which should be updated for the State to achieve the right balance regarding protection of the environment and sustainable management of offshore petroleum projects in line with the obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The EU and Environmental Multilateralism: The Case of Access and Benefit-Sharing and the Need for a Good-Faith Test

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 109-142
Author(s):  
Elisa Morgera
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Good Faith ◽  
Benefit Sharing ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Access And Benefit Sharing ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Legal Principle ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis chapter discusses the need for a good-faith test for assessing the legitimacy of ongoing and future EU initiatives aimed at contributing to the development and implementation of international environmental law. A test that is based on the international legal principle of good faith may serve to better understand when the EU is effectively supporting environmental multilateralism to the benefit of the international community, rather than seeking to unduly influence it purely for its own advantage. The test is developed mostly on the basis of EU efforts of contributing to climate change multilateralism, and is applied to a much less studied case: the adoption and implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-sharing under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

scholarly journals Conceptual Graphs and Terminological Idiosyncrasy in UNCLOS and CBD

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Mazzega
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Conceptual Graphs ◽  
Language Semantics ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Conceptual Graph ◽  
United Nations Convention ◽  
Interpretative Flexibility

Do two conventions of international environmental law necessarily endow the same word with the same meaning? A single counterexample is enough to answer in the negative: this is the case of the term “resource” in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Beyond this result, we tackle the questions, raised by the method of analysis implemented, about the semantics of legal texts, a source of interpretative flexibility but also of cognitive amalgamations and confusions of various types. A conceptual graph is associated with each proposition or sentence comprising the term “resource.” Some expressions, especially those of a deontic nature and noun phrases naming a group of interrelated entities or a fact, are encoded in nested graphs. The scope of a term is revealed by the neighbourhood of its uses. Neighbouring expressions, positioned along the paths of conceptual graphs, are ranked owing to their distance from the target expression. Then the neighbours the most contributing to the distributional meaning of the targets are classified in a coarse taxonomy, providing basic ontological traits to “resource” and related expressions in each convention. Although the two conventions rely on the same language, the weak overlap of their respective neighbourhoods of the term “resource” and associated expressions and their contrasted ontological anchorages highlight idiosyncratic meanings and, consequently, divergent orientations and understandings regarding the protection and conservation of resources, especially of living resources. Thus, the complexity of legal texts operates both in the gap between language semantics and cognitive understanding of the concepts used, and in the interpretative flexibility and opportunities for confusion that the texts offer but that the elementary operations of formalisation allow to deconstruct and clarify.

Part II Analytical Approaches, Ch.12 Feminist Approaches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maguire Rowena
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Gender Mainstreaming ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Action Plans ◽  
Social Constructs ◽  
Analytical Approaches

This chapter provides a brief overview of ecofeminist theory. It charts its rise due to the perception of women having a closer relationship with nature, the retreat of ecofeminism when essentialist notions of women's connections to nature were challenged, followed by the subsequent re-framing of ecofeminism, in light of material and power relationships. More recently, scholars have defended ecofeminism, arguing that it provides a lens to examine the exploitation of nature and women, through analyses of power, social constructs, and inter-species relationships. The chapter then examines the contribution of women in shaping international environmental law (IEL) in pre- and post-UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) periods. It also explores recent efforts to embed gender within IEL processes, through the adoption of Gender Action Plans in the 1994 UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification), the 1992 UNCBD (Convention on Biological Diversity), and UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). While IEL is generally gender-blind, it is transitioning through a period of gender mainstreaming and the future of IEL is likely to be increasingly gender-literate.

Application of precautionary principle in international trade law and international environmental law

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Haseeb Ansari ◽  
Sri Wartini
Keyword(s):  
Precautionary Principle ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
International Trade Law ◽  
Human Animal

Purpose – The purpose of writing this paper is to present a comparative but critical assessment of the applicability of the precautionary principle (PP) under the SPS Agreement, which is a part of the WTO regime by implication, and under the Cartagena Protocol, which has been made under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an analytical exposition of both the sets of laws, trade law and environmental law. The methodology adopted is library based. The approach is to bring about an amicable co-existence of both the laws so that they could serve the dual purpose, i.e. promotion of trade and protection of “human, animal and plant life and health” and conservation of the environment. Findings – The DSB of the WTO should give due importance to the PP and should apply it liberally, keeping also in view the environmental aspects, so that along with free trade human, animal and plant health and life, and conservation of the environment are also protected. Practical implications – It will change the present paradigm and will bring both the sets of laws together. Originality/value – It focuses on the life and heath of poor people around the world. It, thus, pleads for application of strong PP.

scholarly journals Marine protected areas: Just for show?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
RAFAEL Almeida MAGRIS ◽  
Robert L. Pressey
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Protected Areas ◽  
Marine Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Conservation Strategy ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
The Core ◽  
Historical Progress ◽  
Spatial Dependencies ◽  
Over Time

Several countries, including Brazil, are making compelling case for historical progress towards achieving the targets for marine protection under the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, this can be done through the establishment of large marine protected areas (MPAs) in the open ocean, a conservation strategy that might be only tangential to the core ecological goal of MPA designation, i.e. biodiversity conservation. By using two newly-designated large MPAs in Brazil as an example, we outline three ways in which they indicate poor adherence to best practices in MPA planning: placing no-take MPAs in areas with limited potential for extractive uses, neglecting the need to account for spatial dependencies among areas to maintain populations over time, and the inadequacy of the MPAs to regulate fishing of mobile pelagic species.

scholarly journals NOVO TRATAMENTO LEGAL DOS CONHECIMENTOS TRADICIONAIS ASSOCIADOS - DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5216/rfd.v41i3.46690

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
Marcelo Tadeu Nascimento ◽  
Marco Antonio Barbosa ◽  
José Luiz Parra Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Knowledge ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Convention On Biological Diversity ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Brazilian Legislation ◽  
Over Time

Resumo: Aborda-se a nova legislação brasileira relativa à proteção dos conhecimentos tradicionais associados, no contexto da sociedade da informação, na qual as tecnologias da informação alteraram a posição dos fatores de produção levando os setores produtivos a demandar maior quantidade de insumos informacionais visando à competitividade, dentre os quais estão os Recursos Bioculturais Imateriais (RBIs), compreendidos como conhecimentos, inovações e práticas, criados e conservados por comunidades culturalmente diferenciadas, relevantes ou não, à diversidade biológica. O objetivo é discutir as alterações legais introduzidas sobre a matéria no Brasil, por meio da Lei nº 13.123 de 2015 e do Decreto regulamentador de nº 8.772 de 2016. O método adotado é o da revisão crítica bibliográfica e legal, bem como da repercussão midiática. Conclui-se que a nova legislação nacional, apesar de acompanhada de discurso oficial no sentido de ser mais protetora dos conhecimentos tradicionais associados, tal entendimento não é pacífico, sobretudo por parte dos detentores dos próprios conhecimentos tradicionais associados, que sustentam que o espírito da Convenção sobre a Diversidade Biológica não foi respeitado e que a nova legislação visou antes favorecer a exploração econômica por parte do mercado. Assim, apenas o acompanhamento de sua implementação ao longo do tempo poderá confirmar ou infirmar a expectativa dos detentores dos conhecimentos tradicionais associados, carecendo, portanto, de maturação e de outras reformas com vistas a tornar-se mais efetiva em favor dos conhecimentos tradicionais associados.Abstract: It is an approach of the new Brazilian legislation regarding the protection of associated traditional knowledge in the information society setting, in which information technologies changed the position of production issues, taking the productive sectors to demand a greater amount of raw material informational in order to competitiveness, among which are the Intangible Biocultural Resources, understood as knowledge, innovations and practices, created and preserved by culturally differentiated communities, relevant or otherwise, to biological diversity. The objective is to discuss the legal changes introduced in this matter in Brazil, through Law 13,123 of 2015 and the Decree No. 8.772 of 2016. The method adopted is bibliographical and legal critical review, as well as media repercussion. It is concluded that the new national legislation, although following by an official speech in order to be more protective of the associated traditional knowledge, is not clear, especially on the part of holders of the associated traditional knowledge, who alleged that the spirit of the Convention on Biological Diversity was not respected and that the aim of new legislation was encourage the economic exploitation by the market. Thus, only the monitoring of its implementation over time can confirm or disprove the expectations of the holders of associated traditional knowledge, thus requiring maturation and other reforms in order to become more effective in favor of associated traditional knowledge.

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