Energy Training Workshop Held in Cape Town

On 12 June, Cath Traynor (Natural Justice Associate) attended an Energy Training Workshop organised by Project 90x2030 and the Alternative Information Development Centre in Cape Town, South Africa. The workshop started with an overview of energy governance in South Africa, including current policies and possible alternatives. Local governance was then discussed, including challenges for local governments to respond to community needs, and the importance of the Batho Pele “People First” principles. Group discussions focused upon the challenges for energy access in low-income communities and possible solutions. Practical actions were considered and a variety of low-cost and do-it-yourself energy options recently tested by local communities demonstrated. The meeting concluded by brainstorming how best to address community needs and how to enhance and extend partnerships for SMART energy actions.

Relevant resources for those in South Africa interested in learning more about these issues include Making Local Government Work: An Activist's Guide and Smart Electricity Planning, a civil society response to the South African Government’s Integrated Resource Plan.

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Call for Applications for the Natural Justice Legal Researcher Fellowship in India

Natural Justice (Lawyers for Communities and the Environment) is a pioneering international team of legal practitioners. We do cutting edge work on environmental and human rights law, support communities and provide technical advice to governments to secure environmental and social justice. Natural Justice currently works in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has offices in South Africa, Ivory Coast, United States, India and Malaysia.

Natural Justice has been working with communities, civil society organizations and the government in India since 2009. It has its India office in Bangalore and a field office in Bhubaneswar.

Natural Justice is calling for applications for a one-year Legal Researcher Fellowship. The Fellowship offers an exciting opportunity to lawyers who are passionate about legal research in the area of environmental law with a focus on facilitating communities to assert their rights over resources. The Fellowship will allow the legal researcher to work in a multidisciplinary environment with an opportunity to integrate design thinking and visualization of the law as an integral part of his/her approach. The Fellowship will give the legal researcher an opportunity to provide teaching assistance to an interdisciplinary course in environmental law and policy to be taught at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. Over the year the Fellowship will also facilitate learning networks for the Legal Researcher that will include community based organizations, non-governmental organizations, legal practitioners, academics, designers, activists, interdisciplinary research centres, intergovernmental and international organizations.

Applicants would be required to have:

• Good writing and research skills with the ability to critically analyse environmental law and policy issues;
• Willingness to innovate and experiment with the creative use of different disciplines, methodologies and mediums in the research process and outcomes;
• A keen interest in advancing the rights of communities to their territories, and natural resources;
• A passion for learning, networking with partners, initiating new work and innovating on existing research work;
• Good communication skills that can be used to effectively collaborate, share and exchange information with the extended Natural Justice team and its partners;
• A degree in law, humanities or other allied discipline with an interest in the law and a basic understanding of the Indian legal system;
• A willingness to travel on a regular basis as well as an ability to work for extended periods with communities and CBOs/NGOs in remote areas;
• Fluency in English with the ability to engage in research, draft reports and legal documents; and
• Fluency in Hindi and any other Indian language with an ability to engage in discussions with communities and run workshops where necessary.

Natural Justice is a close knit and nurturing collective that places a high premium in facilitating opportunities for the professional and personal growth of its fellows. Besides this, joining Natural Justice will offer the individual a chance to work with a passionate and highly professional global team and gain valuable international experience.

Duration of Fellowship: One year

Honorarium: The Legal Researcher will be provided with an honorarium of fifteen thousand rupees a month along with a sufficient travel, activity and communications budget.

Job location: Bangalore

The selection process would involve two stages. At the first stage applicants are required to send a letter of interest, a resume with two referees and a writing sample. A Natural Justice panel will interview shortlisted applicants at the second stage before a final decision is made.

Interested candidates are invited to send their applications to arpitha (at) naturaljustice.org before the 28th of June 2013. For more information on Natural Justice see:

www.naturaljustice.org

http://natural-justice.blogspot.com

www.community-protocols.org

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Associate Lawyer Fellowship- India

Natural Justice (Lawyers for Communities and the Environment) is a pioneering international team of legal practitioners. We do cutting edge work on environmental and human rights law, support communities and provide technical advice to governments to secure environmental and social justice. Natural Justice currently works in Africa, Asia and Latin America and has offices in South Africa, Ivory Coast, United States, India and Malaysia.

Natural Justice has been working with communities, civil society organizations and the government in India since 2009. It has its India office in Bangalore and a field office in Bhubaneswar.

Natural Justice is calling for applications for a one-year Associate Lawyer Fellowship. The Fellowship offers an exciting opportunity to lawyers who are passionate about learning to use domestic and international environmental law to secure the rights of communities to their lands and waters.  The Fellowship will expose the Associate Lawyer to a range of innovative ways of effectively doing environmental law ranging from community based legal support and training to litigation and advocacy. Over the year the Fellowship will also facilitate learning networks for the Associate Lawyer that will include community based organizations, non-governmental organizations, legal practitioners, academics, designers, activists, intergovernmental and international organizations.

Applicants would be required to have:

• A keen interest in advancing the rights of communities to their territories, and natural resources;
• A passion for learning, networking with partners, initiating new work and innovating on existing work;
• Good communication skills that can be used to effectively collaborate, share and exchange information with the extended Natural Justice team and its partners;
• A law degree with an interest in the law and a basic understanding of the Indian legal system;
• A willingness to travel on a regular basis as well as an ability to work for extended periods with communities and CBOs/NGOs in remote areas;
• Fluency in English with the ability to engage in research, draft reports and legal documents; and
• Fluency in Hindi and any other Indian language with an ability to engage in discussions with communities and run workshops where necessary.

Natural Justice is a close knit and nurturing collective that places a high premium in facilitating opportunities for the professional and personal growth of its fellows. Besides this, joining Natural Justice will offer the individual a chance to work with a passionate and highly professional global team and gain valuable international experience.

Duration of Fellowship: One year

Honorarium: The Associate Lawyer will be provided with an honorarium of twenty thousand rupees a month along with a sufficient travel, activity and communications budget.

Job location: Bhubaneswar and Bangalore

The selection process would involve two stages. At the first stage applicants are required to send a letter of interest, a resume with two referees and a writing sample. A Natural Justice panel will interview shortlisted applicants at the second stage before a final decision is made.

Interested candidates are invited to send their applications to arpitha (at) naturaljustice.org before the 28th of June 2013. For more information on Natural Justice see:

www.naturaljustice.org

http://natural-justice.blogspot.com

www.community-protocols.org

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ICCA Toolkit Now Available

The UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) has recently released a new resource entitled "A Toolkit to Support Conservation by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities: Building capacity and sharing knowledge for Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs)". The toolkit documents sixteen case studies and a diverse set of innovative tools and approaches developed to help Indigenous peoples and local communities address critical challenges that affect their natural and cultural resources. The resources are organised around five key themes: documentation, management planning, monitoring and evaluation, communication, and finance and values. It also sets out tools to support the effectiveness and viability of ICCAs as governance structures for the protection of biodiversity and ecosystems. Our review of international law and jurisprudence, the Convention on Biological Diversity's Technical Series No. 64 on recognising and supporting ICCAs, and the toolkit and website on biocultural community protocols are highlighted as tools for legal empowerment and securing legal recognition.

In addition to UNEP-WCMC, the toolkit was developed with the support of and in collaboration with the UN Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility Small Grants Programme, the Government of Norway, the German Agency for International Cooperation, and the ICCA Consortium. It is available for download in English here.

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Staff Meeting 11.06.13

Today is staff meeting day!

We started off with updating the writing scenarios.  Some of us were able to edit directly onto the blog.

These conversations are valuable as we can each relate to each scenario at different levels of the curriculum.

Digital Citizenship

Timely when last night on TV there were news articles about the bullying using askfm - Warning over bullying (click to watch)

Think carefully about what defines privacy.  What is private when there is so much of your life online?  Photos on Facebook?  Twitter?  Respect yourself and others.

This not a new issue.  It's a case of the cyber world enabling the immediacy of information to be passed between people you know to people you do not in a much faster way.  Back in the day it was word of mouth and could be forgotten.  Now it can't go away.

Research is telling us that "bullying" online is more dangerous and potentially could lead to places we can'tor don't want to  imagine.  NZ has the highest Teen Suicide rate.  Why?  So what?  Now what?

What you or we find tolerable is not the same as other.

Are we showing due diligence by naming our sources of information?  Are we using creative commons pictures?  Are we installing these values in students?  Are we respecting the artist? Ethics?

There are huge links with the Key Competencies.  Where does digital citizenship fit in these?  Where do the virtues fit in?
The communications we have with our friends, families and our community has not changed.  It is the vehicle in which we are doing it.  We still have arguements, we just do it online.  We till have poor choices and make bad choices, those are just online for all to see.  We still write letters and pour our hearts out in a letter to a loved one, we just do it on skype, or facebook etc.  There is not longer time taken to write it and the knowledge of physical evidence of what we say.  It is online and immediate.  Therefore our students don't see it or take the time to craft it.  We have to instill those virtues.

Where computers are located in the home has changed.  It's not longer the family computer in the lounge.  Its on your phone in your bedroom, its on the bus home and its 2am in the morning when you think they are asleep.  How do you monitor what we can no longer see?  There is a lot of trust being given and taken.

Digitaldossier Video.

Digital Resources


Here is a Prezi with some of the video watched today.  View Prezi

A huge thank you to Mary-Anne Murphy and Tessa Gray for presenting and sharing your ideas with us.

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Ashoka Summit on "Nutrients for All"

From 2-4 June 2013, Harry Jonas (Natural Justice and Ashoka Fellow) attended an Ashoka-hosted Globalizer Summit in Frankfurt, Germany. This year's Globalizer focused on the concept of 'nutrients for all'. On 4 June, over 100 leading experts convened to discuss the issues and to develop a strategic way forwards. Harry presented on Natural Justice's work in relation to the 'right to nutrients'. More information is available here. 

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Natural Justice Participates in Workshop hosted by International Council on Mining and Metals

Sankar Pani of Natural Justice has participated in a workshop organized by International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) on human rights issues on 27 May 2013 and on indigenous peoples issues on 29 May 2013, held at the University of Western Australia, Perth. 

The multi-stakeholder workshop was attended by industry practitioners from ICMM member companies, civil society organizations, academia and experts from international organizations and research institutions from the entire Asia-Pacific region. The event was co-facilitated by the Institute of Business and Human Rights. 

The multi-stakeholder day on Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples has discussed the following aspects: 

• ICMM’s guidance in the area of Human Rights and Indigenous people
• Sharing of perspectives and to explore challenges and opportunities around implementing the UN Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework and Guiding Principles (including the due diligence and grievance mechanisms elements) 
• Sharing of perspectives and to explore challenges and opportunities around implementing effective engagement and decision-making processes with Indigenous Peoples (including Free, Prior and Informed Consent) 
• Facilitate peer-learning and exchange which contributes to the creation of regional networks around the key issues discussed 

The following points emerged from the discussion:

• Local communities consent for the project is more important and need to be prioritized at the very early stage of beginning of a project. There are ample of examples where the projects could not move ahead even they have obtained all necessary statutory clearances with active support from respective government. 
• There has been an increase in conflicts in existing and proposed mining areas across the globe and mostly local people are resisting to such projects out of their bad experiences with earlier such projects. So it is extremely important to establish good practices and responsible mining so as to remove the blots and scars the community had in past. 
• Cultural rights of indigenous community have to be respected before any kind of developmental activity started in their territory.
• There should be enough measures taken so that community can play a vital role in terms of decision making in the operation of the project and by this way community can start owning the process and conflicts can be minimized

In the context of effective participation and decision making, Natural Justice has suggested to experiment with the idea of bio-cultural community protocol. Since this idea is of more broad based and participatory approach and can able to sort out the issues and suggest some remedy emerged from the community consultation process.

The ideas that emerged from the consultation process of this regional workshop will be taken forward by ICMM in consultation with its members. The relevant points will be incorporated in ICMM policy document on Human Rights and Indigenous People.

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