equity workshop: equity in international environmental law
TRANSCRIPT
Equity in interna,onal (environmental) law:
Findings and ques,ons about fair and equitable benefit-‐sharing
ELISA MORGERA [email protected] ANNALISA SAVARESI
ELSA TSIOUMANI (Edinburgh Law School) LOUISA PARKS (University of Lincoln)
Web: www.benelex.ed.ac.uk TwiMer: @BENELEXedinburg
Facebook: BENELEX Email: [email protected]
Equity in interna,onal law
• No uniform understanding … • General principle of internaSonal law • InternaSonal law of the sea
– Common heritage of mankind
• InternaSonal investment law – Fair and equitable treatment of foreign investors*
• InternaSonal environmental law – Equitable use of shared natural resources – Equity re common concern of mankind (UNFCCC)
– Fair and equitable benefit-‐sharing* • not just from geneSc resources!
* Equitable principles as a sub-‐set of a broader noSon of equity
Prolifera,on of benefit-‐sharing in interna,onal environmental and human rights legal instruments
Bio-‐diversity
Oceans
Human Rights
Fresh water
Develop-‐ment
Climate Change
Land
Rio Forest Principles CBD (POWPA, …) ITPGR (farmers rights) Nagoya Protocol
Universal DeclaraSon ILO ConvenSon 169 {UNDRIP} Saramaka case Endorois case [Peasants]
REDD+ Finance TK?
UNCCD VGGT Right to Food PRAI CFS RAI
Evolving ra,onales for benefit-‐sharing
Fairly and equitably allocaSng economic, social, cultural and environmental advantages arising from environmental management to different
stakeholders
1970s New InternaSonal Economic Order (solidarity without restructuring of
internaSonal economic order)
Post-‐neoliberal aMempt to harness market-‐based
approaches to social and environmental ends [C Hayden]
2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment:
ecosystem services
Focus on human wellbeing & vulnerability
Focus on rarely accounted-‐for regulaSng,
supporSng and cultural services
Modernizing noSon of “need”
UN Charter
linking ecosystems to the reference to “wellbeing” in …
IPRs
Main challenges for benefit-‐sharing to opera,onalize equity are…
• Conceptual confusion
• Conflated terminology (but also circular logics at play)
• Sectoral understandings (theoreScal and empirical)
• Insufficient inter-‐disciplinary reflecSon (role of law?)
Dimensions of benefit-‐sharing Inter-‐State • Global commons/
common “heritage”
• Access to geneSc resources /exchange
• Climate change/ common “concern”
• Intl rivers / shared natural resources Tran
sna,
onal • TransnaSonal contracts
• GEF Small Grants, ITPGR Benefit-‐sharing Fund
• Corporate accountability
• Development cooperaSon
• Community protocols
Intra-‐State
• Ecosystem stewardship
• Access to tradi,onal knowledge
• Human rights (ownership, subsistence, culture)
Benefits? Access to resources Finance & tech transfer Capacity building Revenue-‐sharing InformaSon-‐sharing
Benefits? ConSnued/secure access to resources Legal recogniSon of & support to tradiSonal
pracSces Capacity building Revenue-‐sharing, joint ventures, jobs InformaSon-‐sharing
Intra-‐community • Endogenous • Culturally
appropriate • Gender equality
Benefit-‐sharing as a legal concept Equity
• Systemic integra,on
• EvoluSonary • Contextual balance of interests
• JusSce? • recogni,on • distribu,ve (basic needs saSsfacSon)
• of exchange (reward for global public goods)
• correc,ve? • procedural
Sharing
• concerted • dialogic • empowerment
• partnership
• Consensus-‐building
Benefits
• Access, control and ownership of resources
• Economic vs non-‐economic?
• Improvement in human well-‐being and livelihoods
‘arising from’
• conservaSon
• sustainable use
• envt’l regulaSon
• Not resource alloca,on per se BUT posi,ve implica,ons of human interac,ons with nature
Beneficiaries
• Indigenous peoples
• local community?
• Farmers • Tenure right holders?
• Ecosystem stewards
• TK holders
• vulnerable/ poor?
• Public at large? [Aarhus – social jusSce?]
…faced with actual POWER imbalances !!! Social acceptance? Rubber-‐stamping?
Excluding? Elite capture? Inherently exploitaSve?
…so the ques,ons are:
• Is the internaSonal concept of benefit-‐sharing … – Ill-‐conceived (by sewng aside quesSon of sharing costs and risks)?
– Unworkable?
• Why is it not working? – Guarantees to be added? – Need to effecSvely rely on full panoply of opportuniSes across the board of internaSonal law?
Substan,ve vs procedural dimensions?
Substan,ve
Procedural
[ProtecSon of human rights] socio-‐cultural EIA
[ConservaSon & sustainable use] FPIC/ consultaSon
LegiSmate expectaSons? Fair procedure?
Non-‐discriminaSon? Transparency?
ProporSonality?
Int’l Biodiv & Human Rights Law
Int’l Investment Law [Klager]
BUT inherent tension: fair/procedural/legiSmacy tends towards stability within the legal system while equitable/substanSve/redistribuSve tends towards change …SO need to proceed by way of “fairness discourse” to balance these tensions premised on non-‐trumping & minimum condi,ons [Franck]
Framings & func,ons of benefit-‐sharing • Objec,ve • Principle (criteria for balancing interests) • Obliga,on • a Right or a Safeguard?
• Mechanism – InternaSonal (eg ITPGR MulSlateral System) – NaSonal (law, eg naSonal fund; nat’l plans) – MAT (private-‐law contracts)
Which func,ons of equity (as understood in interna,onal law)?
“Within the law”: influencing interpretaSon of rules
“Beyond the law”: gap-‐filling funcSon?
“Against the law”: derogaSng from exisSng rules under separate regimes ???
NOT “outside the law”: non-‐legal noSons of jusSce
BENELEX project (2013-‐2018): www.benelex.ed.ac.uk
ComparaSve internaSonal law study
• Parallel legal analyses: -‐ Biodiversity -‐ Climate change -‐ Land and agriculture -‐ Oceans -‐ Water
• Equitable transi,on to the green economy?
Inter-‐disciplinary empirical enquiry
• Selected case-‐studies (law and poli,cal sociology): -‐ ArgenSna (mining)
• -‐ Greece (pastoralism) -‐ Malaysia (land claim) -‐ Namibia (wildlife mngt) -‐ South Africa (medicinal plants)
Outputs: • Online working papers • Open-‐access arScles &
books • Blog posts • Side-‐events • Policy briefs • Online community
training module