Spotlight on Biodiversity: New Protections for More Than 150 Species of Trees at CITES Trade Summit
Momentum is building towards stronger protections for forests to address illegal logging and timber trade.
The Future of Forests: Turning Lofty Goals into Lasting Legal Protections
CIEL Senior Attorney Melissa Blue Sky reflects on her recent experience in Korea at the World Forestry Congress and considers legal approaches to protecting forests.
Panama’s Supreme Court recognizes Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and role as guardians of the environment
(Español abajo) In a key decision paving the way for the creation of the long-awaited Naso Tjër Di Comarca, Panama’s highest court confirmed the State’s obligation to secure Indigenous collective rights to land and emphasized the critical role of Indigenous Peoples in protecting biodiversity, natural resources, and the climate. The decision joins a growing chorus … Read More.
Under Threat, Land Has a Critical Role to Play in Addressing Climate Crisis
“Land provides the principal basis for human livelihoods.” With this statement the IPCC begins the Summary for Policy Makers of its new Special Report on Climate Change and Land. In the report, the IPCC sends a clear message that we need urgent action to combat the climate crisis. Only by achieving “compatibility between specific land … Read More.
Rights for Ambition: Talanoa Dialogue presents opportunity to increase climate ambition while respecting rights
When countries adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015, they agreed to convene a “facilitative dialogue,” which would allow countries to come together to evaluate the world’s progress toward the goals of the Agreement. At last year’s climate talks, countries adopted the Talanoa Dialogue as the concept for this facilitative dialogue. The Talanoa Dialogue platform provides … Read More.
Share Your Work: Early Warning System Survey Offers Opportunity to Collaborate
The Early Warning System Survey aims to minimize the existing knowledge gap by ensuring that communities have the information they need to understand proposed projects and their impacts early in the development process, to identify the banks and corporations involved in financing these projects, and to learn about advocacy strategies they can incorporate into their … Read More.
A heavy burden to bear: REDD+ is “complete” but now the work begins
In one of my last posts, I noted that for years, Parties, civil society, and indigenous groups have been working out how to simultaneously protect forests and combat climate change, and that the June 2015 climate negotiations would provide a great opportunity to ensure that rights and ecological integrity were at the forefront of this … Read More.
A key tool for your toolkit: International law can advance women’s land tenure rights in REDD+
How can REDD+ be implemented without intensifying existing inequalities for women? Given that REDD+ is an international climate initiative with required social, environmental safeguards, how can advocates and community members use international law to advance women’s tenure rights in REDD+? Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was designed to use forests to address … Read More.
Incorporating social and environmental protections in issues related to land, land use, and forests
Let’s seize the opportunities to advance rights related to forests and land in Bonn! Here’s how. Forests play a vital role in supporting the lives and livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities, protecting biodiversity, and, yes, mitigating climate change. For years, Parties, civil society and indigenous groups have been working out how to address … Read More.
So you want to include land in the new climate agreement? Then take a rights-based approach.
The land sector accounts for almost one-third of global carbon emissions. Including agriculture, forests, and other land uses, the land sector acts as both a creator and a remover of emissions. Land is central to food production, livelihoods, cultural integrity, and biodiversity. Thus, the sector is unique and plays an important role in both mitigating … Read More.
Mexico as a Model? The Value of International Guidance on REDD+
Mexico is on a roll in demonstrating its commitment to address climate change. This week, it was the first developing country to submit its official contribution to the United Nations to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new international climate agreement. This contribution pledge is also the first and only one to … Read More.
Green Climate Fund Dos and Don’ts: The Case of REDD+
Last month, the Board of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) met in Barbados for its 8th session. What’s the GCF? It’s a financial institution that is expected to channel billions of dollars to developing countries to help them in their efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change. (Check out some of our blogs for … Read More.
Dear Tri-Caucus: Introducing the Tri-Caucus (Part II)
Dearest Friends, Colleagues, It is hard to believe that a year has passed since we formed the Tri-Caucus to improve coordination between those who focus specifically on rights related to REDD+. As we finalize last-minute logistics for the upcoming UN climate negotiations – the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) in Lima, Peru – I … Read More.
Introducing the Tri-Caucus: “It takes a village”
In the world of UN climate negotiations, in which 194 official parties, as well as hundreds of observers and representatives from civil society and indigenous groups, have different and complex agendas and priorities, meaningful progress to reduce emissions is a challenging feat. Ensuring that progress respects human rights and environmental integrity is even more so. … Read More.
Great Rainforest or the Greatest Rainforest?
On Thursday, January 12th, 2012 CIEL scientist Matt Finer presented as part of Amazon Watch’s GreenBag Lunch series with this auspicious title, riffing off Stephen Colbert’s rhetorical question he poses to anyone that might not agree with his hyperbolic categorization. However, even Colbert would find few, if any, who would call the region of Loreto, … Read More.
What’s hot in climate change
By the CIEL Climate Team Climate negotiations resume in Bonn, Germany this week with a full agenda and against a backdrop of reports that last year’s global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were at record levels despite the global economic downturn. While the meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Cancun, Mexico last December … Read More.
US Clears Test of Genetically Modified Trees in Southern US
The test is meant to see if the trees, eucalyptuses with a foreign gene meant to help them withstand cold weather, can become a new source of wood for pulp and paper, and for biofuels, in the Southern timber belt. Eucalyptus trees generally cannot now be grown north of Florida because of occasional freezing spells. … Read More.