The sidelining of indigenous peoples and local communities in CITES media coverage DISCLAIMER: This article has been commissioned by Polar Research and Policy Initiative as part of a series of fact-checked articles about the Arctic, climate and the environment, and Indigenous issues, supported by the EMIF managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Its original version can …
Undelivered intervention on Agenda item 15, Participatory mechanisms for rural communities in CITES As the meeting drags on, Committee II has reached the night session (19:00-22:00) of 16 November, discussing CITES, and indigenous peoples and rural communities. Given the split view on the matter amongst Parties, the three agenda items (13-15) triggered long discussions. Respecting …
CITES Parties opt for national inclusion of indigenous peoples and not for international inclusion Committee II of the 19th Conference of the Parties (CoP19) discussed the renewal of decisions that concerned the sharing of experiences of engaging indigenous peoples and local communities in the CITES decision-making and implementation processes. While, in principle, the Committee accepted …
Violence against the Batwa of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Introduction In April 2022 a report by the Minority Rights Group International (MRG) on violence against the indigenous Batwa of the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was released. The report is entitled "To Purge the Forest by Force: Organized violence against Batwa …
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Introduction On 28 January I had the honour of being invited to an online screening of the short movie Nyama. The event was organised by Survival International and was followed by a Q&A session with the directors and the actors. Nyama is somewhat of a teaser of a larger film project called Small Gods, both …
Mine and Otava Ojanperä's peer-reviewed article "Indigenous youth and international conservation law: Five case studies" has been published open access in Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL). Please click here to read the whole piece or click here to read a summary.
Introduction In a forthcoming peer-reviewed study in the Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law (RECIEL) entitled “Indigenous youth and international conservation law: Five case studies”, myself and Otava Ojanperä (University of Helsinki) examine five agreements and in how far they consider indigenous youth as legitimate stakeholders. The study was carried out under the …
Introduction On 2 November 2021 the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) adopted the Glasgow Leaders' Declaration on Forests and Land Use (here). 105 parties to the convention supported the declaration, which puts a strong focus on the conservation of forests and the rights of indigenous …
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Introduction 11 October 2021 marked an important day for the indigenous Sámi in Norway: the Norwegian Supreme Court ruled that traditional reindeer grazing grounds on the Fosen Peninsula in Central Norway cannot be used as a site for wind turbines, operated by Fosen Vind. This means that two large wind farms, Roan and Storheia, may …
Introduction In early October 2021 India's minister for power, new and renewable energy, R.K. Singh, informed the public that the current demand for power in his country has exceeded the usual post-monsoon demand from earlier years (here). Several new outlets have picked up on this problem since this would lead to potential power outages in …
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