September 2002
The World Summit on Sustainable Development was held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 26 to September 4, 2002. The Law and Communities program participated in several ways during the WSSD.
1) CBPR Panel: The L&C program organized a panel on Community-Based Property Rights held at the WSSD Civil Society Forum on August 26. Speakers on the panel included partners from India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. A CIEL brief on CBPRs was also launched at the panel.
2) Human Rights Workshop: The Law and Communities Program participated in a daylong workshop on Human Rights, the Environment, and Sustainable Development held on September 1 at Nasrec – the Civil Society Forum. Over 200 participants attended the workshop. Mary Robinson – outgoing UN Commissioner on Human Rights gave the keynote speech, which can be accessed at: http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/A551686D4B5905D0C1256C28002BF3D6?opendocument.
The afternoon consisted of breakout sessions on: community-based property rights; corporate accountability; environmental justice, food and agriculture, globalization, trade and investment; indigenous peoples and minorities; procedural human rights and governance; toxic wastes and chemicals; water; and women. The CIEL paper “One Species, One Planet: Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development” was launched during the workshop.
3) Human Rights Caucus: The L&C Program also participated in the Human Rights, Environment and Sustainable Development Caucus that worked on including human rights concerns and language within the Plan of Implementation.