PULP Book on Balancing Economic and Environmental Interests in Africa

As economic growth rates are increasing across Africa, questions and challenges around balancing ‘development’ with environmental protection are gaining significance. To consider how different nations across Africa are addressing these challenges, the Pretoria University Law Press has released a book through the World Bank-funded Rule of Law in Africa Project entitled "The Balancing of Interests in Environmental Law in Africa" edited by Michael Faure and Willemien du Plessis. The book  combines the contributions of academics from 17 African nations on the way in which environmental and economic interests are balanced in their respective nations. Each country analysis in the book is presented according to a common framework to improve the comparability of the various nations’ approaches. The book also contains a critical comparative analysis by the editors. 

Find the abstract and information on ordering a hard copy of the book here. Download the book directly here.

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Paudibhuyan Community of Odisha to Draft BCP

The traditional leaders of the Paudibhuyan community of the Khandadhar region of Sundergarh District in Odisha gathered on 24 December 2012 to prepare a strategy to protect their territory and culture. The meeting was facilitated by Jivan Vikas, a local NGO, and Sankar Pani of Natural Justice. Paudibhuyan is one of the thirteen Primarily Vulnerable Tribal Groups of Odisha, and its population is sharply declining due to various reasons. The community is concentrated in small pockets in the Sundergarh, Keounjhar, Deogaarh and Dhenkanal Districts. At the meeting, the elders of the community shared their rich cultural heritage and traditional knowledge which they have fostered for generations and encouraged their successors to preserve and protect their traditional knowledge. They also raised concerns about various threats to common resources, especially emphasising the impact of mining on local bodies of water. 

The community leaders resolved to draft a biocultural community protocol to record their traditional rights and resources. They demanded recognition of their habitat rights and community rights under Forest Rights Act. They recalled their traditional herbal medicines and recited their traditional folk songs and emphasised the need to preserve them for future generations.

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Maliasili Publication on Community Land Rights in Tanzania

Maliasili Initiatives has released a new publication entitled “Securing Community Land Rights: Experiences and insights from working to secure hunter gatherer and pastoralist land rights in northern Tanzania.” The report, published in partnership with two Maliasili partners in Tanzania, the Pastoral Women’s Council and Ujamaa Community Resource Team, seeks to answer vital questions around how marginalised communities can secure rights over land, resolve land conflicts fairly, and transform natural resource management.  

From the release, "the publication, which looks at local examples of these global challenges, combines a synopsis of the political economy of land rights in Tanzania, on-the-ground case studies by two of Maliasili Initiatives’ partners in Tanzania – the Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC) and Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT) – and insights from a one-day learning workshop. As part of its work to strengthen its partners’ capacity and to advance innovative and effective approaches to sustainable development in Africa, Maliasili Initiatives facilitated the learning event with PWC and UCRT to share and reflect upon their respective efforts to secure land rights, learn from each other in Tanzania and build on their achievements moving forward." 

Maliasili’s summary of the publication can be accessed here. The report can be downloaded directly here.

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Review of BCPs for Pastoralists in India

Via ikrweb.wordpress.com/

Natural Justice partner Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan (LPPS) recently hosted a workshop for pastoralist communities who have drafted biocultural community protocols in India, with representatives from the Raika, the Banni buffalo breeders, Kutchi camel breeders, Jaisalmer camel breeders and the Kuruba shepherds of Karnataka attending. Ilse Köhler-Rollefson (League for Pastoral Peoples) prepared a blog post on the workshop. 

Per the post, “while the pastoralists unanimously underlined the importance of BCPs, it was also quite evident that a lot of uncertainty still surrounds the concept and that undertaking the process is by no means easy or fast. It requires time, resources and commitment for it to be of value. Nevertheless, BCPs are a crucial and even essential tool – for groups of marginalised people that traditionally have not attached that much importance to land ownership and are now losing out rapidly.” 

The blog post can be accessed here.

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Guide to Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry

The Growing Forest Partnership initiative, in partnership with the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation, the International Institute for Environment and Development, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Forests Dialogue and the World Bank, has released a “Guide to Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry” authored by Dominic Elson. 

Per the press release, the guide “emerged out of 11 international dialogues that assembled more than 400 people to discuss how to make investing in locally controlled forestry (ILCF) happen. It is a primarily a tool for practical action – providing guidance on how to structure enabling investments and prepare the ground for asset investments that yield acceptable returns and reduced risk, not only for investors, but also for local forest right-holders, national governments and society at large. After providing strong justification for this approach, the guide sets out a framework for structuring investments with tactical advice for building the partnerships necessary for successful ILCF.” 

Read more about the guide here. Download the guide directly here.

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Main Outcomes of COP 18

Via unfccc.int

The Doha Climate Change Conference, the 18th Conference of Parties (COP 18) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, held at the end of 2012 resulted in the “Doha Climate Gateway” decisions. The main outcomes were: 

• A second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol. However, fewer countries are participating, and they have only agreed to reduce their overall emissions by at least 18% below 1990 levels in the eight year period (2013-2020). Participating countries represent less than 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the emissions reduction commitments are insufficient to keep global warming below the 2C limit; 
• Agreement to consider the creation of an international mechanism for loss and damage from extreme weather and slow onset climate impacts in developing countries; 
• The need for a plan for long-term finance was reiterated. However, no firm commitments on scaling up finance towards the agreed US$ 100 billion a year were forthcoming. Climate finance pledges amounting to approximately US$ 10 billion were made by some European countries; 
• Developed countries were urged to increase the ambition of their emission reduction targets and a work programme will be established to clarify pledges. 

REDD+ 

During COP 18, progress on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) was limited as a disagreement on emissions verification processes resulted in a stalemate. Papua New Guinea promoted a “REDD Committee” to house future REDD talks, the aim being to create a standardised REDD product within the UNFCCC. 

The Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) drafted conclusions to be addressed in 2013. These include: 

• Methodological guidance for national forest monitoring systems; 
• The timing and frequency of summary information on how REDD+ safeguards will be addressed and respected; 
• Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation; 
• A work programme on results-based finance with the aim to scale up and improve the effectiveness of finance for REDD+ activities; 
• Consideration of how non-market based approaches, such as joint mitigation and adaptation, could be developed. 

The SBSTA will continue to refine the REDD+ text under its remit in 2013, and it will also work on methodological issues related to non-carbon benefits and their incentivisation. The Subsidiary Body for Implementation will initiate a process to address issues of support for REDD+ activities.

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Introducing the Land Matrix Project

The International Land Coalition, together with several international research institutes and development partners, has launched a ground-breaking new database to track global land deals. The database, entitled the Land Matrix Project, tracks deals made since 2003 in ‘developing’ nations transferring rights to use, control or own land for agricultural production, timber extraction, carbon trading, mineral extraction, conservation, and tourism. 

According to the press release, the Land Matrix Project “encourages citizens, researchers, governments and companies to provide data and improve the quality of and access to data regarding global land deals. The database allows users to access summaries, or conduct in-depth exploration of individual land deals, and it includes a visualization tool. The current version of the visualization tool is in a beta form, and feedback is encouraged. It presents visuals on the dynamics of transnational land deals, allows users to visualize relationships between investors and countries, and provides detail on deals across sectors.” 

Read more about the Land Matrix Project here. Access the Project’s beta website here.

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