CIEL comments on the revised Chairman’s Paper to be negotiated at the fourth preparatory meeting for the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development

May 2002   Comments on the Revised Chairman’s Paper (Sections I – IX) dated 9 May 2002. Comments on the Paper on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development dated 8 May 2002 Comments on the Chairman’s Paper dated 12 February 2002 (for PrepCom3) For more information on the World Summit on Sustaianble Development: www.johannesburgsummit.org  

Intervention by World Conservation Union and the Center for International Environmental Law with Respect to Contractual Clauses on the Access to Genetic Resources and Traditional knowledge

February 2002   Thank you Mr. Chairman for allowing IUCN – the World Conservation Union and CIEL, the Center for International Environmental Law, Europe (CIEL) to take the floor. Regardless of the form and reach that norms and principles that guide the establishment of contracts on the access to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge … Read More.

Intervention by the World Conservation Union and the Center for International Environmental Law on the Agenda item on Traditional Knowledge as Prior Art

February, 2002   Thank you Mr. Chairman; IUCN – the World Conservation Union and CIEL, the Center for International Environmental Law, Europe (CIEL) consider: That existing patent systems and the recognition of intellectual property rights are not sufficient to guarantee the conservation of biological diversity nor the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and … Read More.

International Anti-toxics Groups Urge Canadian Government to Resist Industry’s Challenge of Pesticide Ban (A U.S. press release prepared by the Pesticide Action Network is also available)

International Anti-toxics Groups Urge Canadian Government to Resist Industry’s Challenge of Pesticide Ban   The Hon. Pierre Pettigrew, P.C., M.P Minister for International Trade Lester B. Pearson Building 5th Floor, Tower B., 125 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A OG2   The Hon. David Anderson, P.C., M.P Minister of Environment Terrasses de la Chaudiere 28th … Read More.

Police arrest Environmental Activist, Opposition Leader in Tanzania

Environmental Organizations Blast Tanzanian Government for Attempts to Cover-up Allegations of Killings and Forced Evictions at Bulyanhulu Mine November 27, 2001 UPDATE! – November 29 – We have just learned that the Dar es salaam Police Commander has apparently decided that Mr. Mrema be release on police bail to” enable him recuperate from his diabetes.” … Read More.

International Court Rules in Favor of Indigenous Community Land Rights

October, 2001 The Inter-American Court on Human Rights, in a precedent-setting ruling, recognized the property rights of indigenous community traditional lands. The international court, located in San José Costa Rica and the American hemisphere’s most important human right tribunal, declared that the state of Nicaragua violated the human rights of the Mayagna Sumo Indigenous Community … Read More.

Understanding Fast Track: Key Environmental Problems with the Thomas Bill

October 2001   Our organizations support trade agreements that encourage environmental progress and guard against direct attacks by trade rules on environmental laws. HR 3005, the Thomas fast track bill, falls far short on both counts — in a number of cases making n improvements upon the Crane fast track bill, and in others regressing … Read More.

Environmental and human rights NGOs call for independent review of Forced Displacement and Alleged Massacre at Bulyanhulu, Tanzania

September 27, 2001   Washington, D.C., September 27, 2001– Friends of the Earth-US (FoE), the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), Mineral Policy Center (MPC) and other environmental and human rights groups in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Tanzania, call today for an independent review of accusations that thousands of … Read More.

Green Groups Call on USA to Ratify International Toxic Waste Dumping Ban as Part of Basel Treaty

For Immediate Release August 9, 2001 Washington D.C. — Environmentalists expressed strong disagreement today with the U.S. Administration’s stated intention of ratifying only the original 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal without ratifying a 1995 amendment to that treaty that effectively bans the dumping of hazardous … Read More.

Bonn Agreement: A Milestone for Climate Protection

August 30, 2001   The Parties to the Kyoto Protocol achieved a victory for the earth’s climate by adopting a landmark Ministerial agreement at the resumed session of COP6 in Bonn in July, 2001. This agreement demonstrated the political will of the rest of the world to move this issue forward. It puts the Kyoto … Read More.

CIEL’s Summary of the Compliance Mechanism at the Bonn Climate Change Conference

Report to CAN on Compliance Section of Political Agreement (FCCC/CP/20001/L.7) Prepared by Glenn Wiser, CIEL July 25, 2001   Compliance was the last area that kept Parties apart throughout the marathon negotiating session of July 22-23. Japan, Canada and Australia were the final holdouts. Nevertheless, when agreement was eventually reached, we achieved a compliance system … Read More.

CIEL Attends Signing of Persistent Organic Pollutants Treaty in Stockholm

United States and over 120 Countries Agree to Reduce and Eliminate Twelve of the World’s Most Dangerous Chemicals June 2001   Representatives of over 120 countries gathered in Stockholm on May 22 to adopt a new global treaty on persistent organic pollutants (POPs).  The treaty commits states to work individually and collectively to reduce and … Read More.

Europe: A Committment to Kyoto (Op-Ed article in the Washington Post)

Washington Post, June 29, 2001; page A36 David Ignatius’s commentary “Parallel Fears for the Planet Earth” [op-ed, June 17] buys into one of the Bush administration’s big lies: that Europeans are hypocrites because they have not yet ratified the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Here are the facts: When the United States, Europe, Japan and … Read More.

Developing Country Commitments? Ask George Bush (Senior)

June, 2001 One of President Bush’s principle objections to the Kyoto Protocol is that it exempts developing countries from emissions reduction obligations. To understand why it does so, it is instructive to examine the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed and ratified with the advice and consent of the Senate by George Bush senior … Read More.

Bush Energy Plan Violates International Law

May 2001 When President Bush reneged on his promise to regulate CO2 emissions from power plants and turned his back on the Kyoto Protocol, he promised that the US would remain committed to fighting global warming. Today, it is clear he did not mean it. The Bush energy plan, if implemented, would send U.S greenhouse … Read More.

Congressman Menendez Achieves Global Warming Victory in the House of Representatives

May 2001   CIEL worked with the Sierra Club, NRDC and other Climate Action Network members to advise Congressman Menendez as he drafted a House Resolution outlining the need for action to combat global warming. The resolution, co-sponsored by Representatives Lee, Hastings and Faleomaevaga, references findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and … Read More.

Stop the World Bank’s efforts to help Shell drill for oil in the politically volatile and environmentally sensitive Niger Delta

Stop the International Finance Corporation’s Proposed Niger Delta Credit Facility Project May 2001 Last year, over 200 groups from around the world called on the World Bank Group and its International Finance Corporation component to stop financing oil, gas and mining projects because of the negative environmental and human rights impacts that these projects tend … Read More.

Attorney Glenn Wiser discusses the disconnect between the IPCC reports concerning the impacts of global warming on future generations, and proposed budget surplus fixes.

March 2001   Recently the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change a panel made up of hundreds of the world’s top climate scientists updated its assessment of the impacts global warming could have on future generations. The report predicts devastating droughts, floods and violent storms over the coming years caused by air pollution that is … Read More.

CIEL sues the United States Trade Representative for hiding documents, hampering protection of domestic environment and health laws

Withholding Could Hamper Protection of Domestic Environment & Health Laws March 7, 2001 WASHINGTON, DC—At the same moment the new U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Zoellick, was urging Congress to grant President Bush new international trade powers, a lawsuit was filed against him down the street in U.S. District Court. The suit challenges Zoellick’s decision to … Read More.

Read the open letter to the President of the World Bank Concerning the International Advisory Group

February 28, 2001 Dear President Wolfensohn, We, the undersigned, representatives of Human Rights Groups, Unions, Environmental Protection and Development NGOs and Peasant Organisations in Chad and Cameroon, have been actively following the Chad/Cameroon pipeline project since its initiation. Meeting in Mbalmayo for a planning workshop for the monitoring of the pipeline project, we  wish to … Read More.

Environmentalists Express Concern Regarding World Bank Resettlement Policy Draft

CIEL/International Rivers Network Letter to James Wolfensohn February 22, 2001 Mr. James Wolfensohn, President The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Dear President Wolfensohn: We are writing to express serious reservations with the ongoing revisions to the World Bank’s resettlement policy. While World Bank staff have stated that this process will not … Read More.

Environmentalists Express Concern as World Bank Announces Watchdog for Chad-Cameroon Pipeline

February 22, 2001   The World Bank Group’s announcement that it has appointed a special committee to oversee the controversial Chad-Cameroon oil pipeline project was met today with a lukewarm response from international environment and human rights groups, who expressed concern over potentially harmful loopholes and omissions in the committee’s charter. The Bank-appointed International Advisory … Read More.

CIEL Helps Score Major Victory for Indigenous Rights in Philippine Supreme Court

For Immediate Release 29 January, 2001 Washington, D.C. —The Philippine Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) of 1997. Dr. Owen J. Lynch, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), helped lay the theoretical foundation for the case and attended the hearing before the Philippine Supreme … Read More.

CIEL and Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (Tanzania), in coordination with WRI and IASCP hosted a workshop on African Public Interest Law and Community-Based Property Rights

April 2004   CIEL and the Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team (Tanzania), in coordination with the World Resources Institute and the International Association for the Study of Common Property, hosted a successful workshop on Public Interest Law and Community-Based Property Rights in Usa River (near Arusha), Tanzania from August 1 – 4, 2000. Financial support came … Read More.

World Bank Board Approves Controversial Proposal To Change Inspection Panel

April 21, 1999   After a protracted and highly contentious internal review, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a proposal to revamp its independent Inspection Panel, a forum created to respond to citizen complaints about Bank-financed projects that harm people and the environment. The review was undertaken in an effort to resolve … Read More.

Environmentalists Welcome New Environmental Watchdog At IFC And MIGA

April 21, 1999   After several years of campaigning for more public accountability of the World Bank’s private sector side, US environmental groups today applauded the World Bank Group’s decision to appoint Meg Taylor of Papua New Guinea as the Ombudsperson for IFC and MIGA. This position was designed in part to address the concerns … Read More.

Yacyreta and Singrauli Update: Action Needed Now

May 13, 1998   The Board of Executive Directors is expected to discuss the Yacyreta and Singrauli claims during May, although no date has yet been set. Both claims are at the point where the Board must make a decision about the remedies it will implement to address the Bank’s policy violations and to act … Read More.

Claimants Address World Bank Board of Executive Directors

For Immediate Release February 3, 1998   Several claimants to the Inspection Panel from around the world gathered in Washington, DC to meet with the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. In an unprecedented meeting between the Board and people directly affected by World Bank projects, five claimants who filed a Request for Investigation to … Read More.

International Lawyers Worldwide Call For Strengthening of the Inspection Panel

January 9, 1998   Over one hundred and sixty lawyers from forty countries sent a strong message to World Bank President James Wolfensohn, calling for the Bank to protect the integrity and independence of the World Bank Inspection Panel. The letter highlighted the importance of the Inspection Panel from an international law and international development … Read More.

World Bank Board of Executive Directors Votes on Singrauli and Itaparica Claims

World Bank Board of Executive Directors Authorize Panel Inspection for Singrauli, Deny Inspection for Itaparica September 1997 The World Bank Board of Executive Directors recently considered the Inspection Panel’s recommendation for full investigations into Bank-financed projects in Itaparica, Brazil and Singrauli, India. In both cases, the independent Inspection Panel had conducted initial reviews and felt … Read More.