The number of specialized courts that resolve environmental issues has grown from only a handful in the 1970s to more than 350 in 41 countries. And while past research has studied a few courts in one or two countries, The Access Initiative of the World Resources Institute (WRI) today releases the first comprehensive global report on the status of these courts.
“The dramatic growth in the number of these courts is the result of growth in the complexity of environmental laws and in public awareness of environmental problems,” said George Pring, who coauthored the report – Greening Justice: Creating and Improving Environmental Courts and Tribunals, being released here at an event at WRI – with his wife Catherine Pring.
World Map of Countries with Environmental Courts and Tribunals
She added, “Considering there has been so much growth in this area, there has not been a lot of cross-border learning going on. We wanted to examine these courts first-hand. And what we discovered is that there are 12 essential elements that go into making environmental courts successful.”
Those “12 essential elements” depend on the legal framework, political system, and goals for each country establishing these courts – which, in the report, are referred to as “environmental courts and tribunals” (ECTs). They include type of forum, legal jurisdiction, ECT decisional levels, geographic area, case volume, standing, costs, access to scientific and technical expertise, availability of alternative dispute resolution expertise, competence of ECT judges and decision-makers, case management, and enforcement tools and remedies.
The report’s findings are the result of site visits by the Prings to 33 ECTs in 21 countries and interviews with 150 ECT-experienced justices and judges, prosecutors, court staff, government officials, private-sector attorneys, nongovernmental organizations, and academics.
Over the last three decades, ECTs in many countries have responded to environmental challenges. Good examples include Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Sweden, and Canada. Major ECT developments are also happening in India, China, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The report includes a full list of the known ECTs worldwide.
“Greening Justice examines plenty of innovative models around the world, but the bottom line is that most citizens still lack adequate access to justice. Further, the research that would help us better understand the effectiveness and promise of these institutions is almost non-existent,” said Lalanath de Silva, director of The Access Initiative at WRI.
With new ECTs being proposed, considered, or developed around the globe, most recently in Chile, Bolivia, Thailand, the Philippines, China, Abu Dhabi, India, and Hawaii, it appears that the increase in ECTs and their ongoing reform and improvement will continue.
Jenkinson joins WRI today after serving as director of Governance & Sustainable Investment at F&C Asset Management in the United Kingdom since 2001. Before then, she was an executive director in Fixed Income Research for part of her six years employed by Goldman Sachs.
WRI President Jonathan Lash said, “Kirsty is at the forefront of analyzing how global financial markets are impacted by environmental, social, and governance issues. She helped her team’s business grow significantly at F&C despite the global financial crisis, and now we’re looking forward to having her lead our team.”
Jenkinson added, “I firmly believe that the private sector can play a pivotal role in addressing the world’s environmental and social challenges while stimulating economic development. I am extremely motivated to help achieve this through the work we can do at WRI.”
WRI’s primary work in its Markets & Enterprise Program includes:
– ENVEST: An initiative to further investors’ understanding of the financial implications of environmental trends.
– New Ventures: A program to develop and help capitalize sustainable small and medium-scale enterprises in key emerging markets.
It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied. Environmental courts and tribunals (ECTs) have been proposed as a quick, easy, and cheap solution to the challenges of access to justice in environmental conflicts. But under what conditions do ECTs meet these expectations?
Join us in a lively debate on the creation of and effectiveness of environmental courts and tribunals around the world. Learn why environmental courts may be critical to providing access to environmental justice for all.
This in-depth study was published by The Access Initiative (TAI), the largest civil society network dedicated to ensuring that communities have a voice in decisions concerning their natural resources. TAI partners have worked hard in over 45 countries to identify gaps in laws, institutions, practices, and tools for removing barriers to access to justice in environmental matters.
For nearly a decade, World Resources Institute has been privileged and proud to serve as the Global Secretariat of TAI.
“Prime Minister Persson’s record of building long-term and ambitious environmental policies is exceptional,” said Jonathan Lash, WRI president. “Facing the most important challenge of our time – climate change – he has led by example and helped Sweden go further than required by the Kyoto Protocol.”
Persson served as prime minister from 1996 to 2006. He led the reduction in Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions by 13.5 percent between 1996 and 2005, and set a national target to reduce emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. In 2007, he was awarded the Sophie Prize for his leadership on climate policy. Prior to serving as Prime Minister, he served as finance and education minister, as a member of parliament, and was a local politician.
Persson joins WRI’s current board members: Chairman James A. Harmon, Vice Chair Harriet (Hattie) Babbitt, Chairman Emeritus William D. Ruckelshaus, Vice-Chair Emeritus Alice (Tish) F. Emerson, Roberto Artavia, Frances Beinecke, Afsaneh Beschloss, Antony Burgmans, Fernando Henrique Carsdoso, Robin Chase, Leslie Dach, Daniel L. Doctoroff, Jamshyd N. Godrej, Al Gore, Chen Jining, Jonathan Lash, Kathleen McGinty, Douglas R. Oberhelman, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Michael Polsky, C.K. Prahalad, Theodore Roosevelt IV, Stephen M. Ross, Alison Sander, James Gustave Speth, Lee M. Thomas, Todd S. Thomson, Dr. Susan Tierney, Diana H. Wall, and Daniel Weiss.
Göran Persson tar plats i styrelsen för World Resources Institute
“Göran Perssons arbete för att skapa en långsiktig och ambitiös miljöpolitik är exeptionellt”, säger Jonathan Lash, WRIs generalsekreterare. “Under hans ledning har Sverige svarat på vår tids största miljöpolitiska utmaning – klimatfrågan – genom att gå före och överträffa Kyotoprotokollets krav.”
Sverige hade år 2005 minskat sina utsläpp av växthusgaser med 13,5 procent jämfört med 1996 och lagt fast ett nationellt mål om en utsläppsminskning på åtminstone 25 procent från 1990 till 2020. Göran Persson, som var statsminister från 1996 till 2006, tilldelades år 2007 Sofie-priset för sitt klimatpolitiska ledarskap.
I styrelsen blir Göran Persson kollega med bland andra USAs förre vicepresident Al Gore, Unilevers förre ordförande Antony Burgmans och Brasiliens förre president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. WRI har 200 medarbetare i Washington DC och samarbetar aktivt med myndigheter, företag och miljöorganisationer över hela världen för att omsätta kunskap i handling. WRI har nyligen utnämnts till en av världens bästa miljöpolitiska tankesmedjor av University of Pennsylvania. Bland välkända företagspartners märks IKEA, General Electric, General Motors och Apple.
The video news release can be viewed here and at the bottom of this page. For state and city information, please see below.
A new online system that maps a rich trove of environmental data of southern U.S. forests onto satellite images from the past 35 years was launched today by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
The system, located at SeeSouthernForests.org, highlights risks to these forests such as pest and pathogen outbreaks, active wildfires, potential climate change impacts, and forest conversion to suburban development – the leading cause of southern U.S. forest loss in recent decades. The system also maps other features such as the region’s protected areas and forest ownership.
Extent of Southern Forests, by County (Early 2000s)
“SeeSouthernForests.org is a first-of-its-kind one-stop shop for map-based information about southern forests,” said Craig Hanson, director of WRI’s People & Ecosystems Program. “We have pulled together the power of GoogleEarth, Microsoft’s Bing Maps, NASA satellite images, ESRI technology, and a wide variety of forest data to raise awareness about the benefits of southern forests and the challenges they face.”
The system is the first step in a multiyear WRI project, Southern Forests for the Future, aimed at helping landowners, conservation organizations, and others ensure the ability of these forests to continue providing a range of benefits – called “ecosystem services” – to people.
“At a time when the world is concerned about climate change, freshwater availability, the economy and jobs, southern forests are part of the answer,” said Jonathan Lash, president of WRI. “The pattern of forest cover loss in this region has been acres here and acres there. Continuous but dispersed change often goes unnoticed. This new online system addresses that.”
Stretching from Texas to Virginia and from Kentucky to Florida, the southern U.S. forests are among the world’s most biologically diverse temperate forests. Though they comprise just two percent of the planet’s forest cover, they underpin hundreds of thousands of jobs and produce more pulp for paper by volume than any single nation – other than the entire United States.
In addition, they supply other ecosystem services, such as watershed protection, recreation, and carbon storage.
“A lot of focus in global climate change discussions to date has been on tropical rainforests,” said Susan Minnemeyer, a WRI senior associate. “But U.S. forests are important too. When domestic forest acreage declines, the nation’s carbon sink shrinks.”
The future of these forests mostly rests in the hands of private landowners. Approximately 27 percent of southern forest acreage is held by companies and financial institutions while another 60 percent is owned by individuals and families. But three-quarters of these family forests are owned by people 55 years of age and older. A generational transfer is on the horizon.
“In many ways, the next 20 years will shape the fate of southern forests,” said Todd Gartner, manager of Conservation Incentives at the American Forest Foundation. “Surveys indicate that most families want to pass their forests on to the next generation. However, with increasing development pressure, market-based incentives are needed to ensure that private forests remain as forests.”
WRI’s new online mapping system can help forest landowners in the South see the history of their forests through satellite images and better understand the forces of change affecting their properties. It also showcases examples of successful approaches for owners who want to retain their forests.
“SeeSouthernForests.org will be really helpful when engaging a community and working with local landowners regarding forest conservation and sustainable management,” said Tom Bancroft, chief scientist at the Audubon Society. “If a picture is worth a thousand words, satellite images and a good map are worth 10,000.”
“We hope the site will raise awareness about the economic and environmental benefits of southern forests and put important information at people’s fingertips,” said Patricia Pineda of Toyota, which is sponsoring WRI’s work as part of the company’s commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative.
“We were thrilled that Toyota and WRI committed to launch SeeSouthernForests.org at the Clinton Global Initiative’s Annual Meeting last year,” said Robert S. Harrison, CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative. “We hope this site will empower more and more people to appreciate southern forests and the benefits they provide to people in the region and beyond.”
WHAT: Residents, celebrities, cyclists, and government officials will take part in the first-ever Mumbai Car Free Day this Sunday in India.
It’s part of a global movement to encourage motorists to enjoy physical activity and alternate forms of transportation, such as walking and cycling, in a safe, non-motorized, fuel-free environment. Other planned activities include yoga, cricket, dancing, skating, kite flying and musical performances. The event is modeled after initiatives like Bogotá’s Ciclovia and New York City’s Summer Streets.
Member of Parliament Priya Dutt; Baba Siddique, a member of the legislative assembly; and members of the Bangalore Cycling Club are slated to attend. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the Awaaz Foundation will conduct air and noise pollution studies before and after the event.
WHEN: Sunday, February 21, 2010,
7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
WHERE: Carter Road, Bandra-Khar, Mumbai
(from Café Coffee Day to Otter’s Club)
WHY: The event is organized by the Khar-Bandra-Santa Cruz (KBS) Foundation. EMBARQ and its Mumbai-based partner, the Centre for Sustainable Transport in India, helped organize the event and will have booths, as will other corporate and non-profit partners. Reporters interested in interviewing a transport expert at the event may contact Madhav Pai, technical director at CST-India, at +(91) 9987548808 or mpai@wri.org. For more general information about EMBARQ’s work in India, please contact Erica Schlaikjer, EMBARQ’s media relations coordinator, at +1(202) 729-7722 or eschlaikjer@wri.org.
Jonathan Lash, president of WRI, commends the administration for proposing the new office, which will integrate NOAA’s climate capabilities into a coordinated office, making climate information more accessible to governments and businesses.
“WRI applauds the creation of the National Climate Service. The impacts of climate change are already being felt, and the nation needs the best possible science to develop its response. This service will help government, business and citizens to make well-informed decisions. NOAA’s engagement with the public and its transparency in providing vital information is a model for good governance,” Lash said.
Yesterday was the deadline set in the Copenhagen Accord for countries to submit their greenhouse gas emission reduction targets to the UNFCCC Secretariat.
“Following a month of uncertainty, it is now clear that the Copenhagen Accord will support the world in moving forward to meaningful global action on climate change. However, although important in showing the intent to move to a low-carbon economy, the commitments are far below what is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The level of ambition must be ratcheted up if the world is to avoid dangerous levels of warming. Countries who have submitted their target as a range, in particular, must aim for the higher end. Moving forward will require the development of common accounting rules, as well as more details from all countries on the assumptions underlying their pledges, such as the role of land-use emissions.
“The commitments now registered with the UNFCCC show that the world is coming together to transition to a clean energy future, and should revitalize climate negotiations this year. Other critical elements such as finance should be finalized as soon as possible to build further confidence.
“The pledges made by countries like Japan, China, Europe and India show a commitment to collective, transparent action on a scale never seen before. The United States should have no doubt that these countries plan to build their economies with clean energy. In order to compete in this race for the markets of the future and to meet President Obama’s commitment to reduce U.S. emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, the Senate should act now to enact comprehensive climate legislation.”
Sixty corporations today begin measuring the greenhouse gas emissions of their products and supply chains by road testing a new global framework that is part of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative.
Jonathan Lash, president of WRI, said, “We are encouraged by the overwhelming response from the private sector seeking to road test the new standards. There were more than 120 applications across a broad array of sectors and regions worldwide. The road testing will provide critical input in ensuring that the standards generate credible and meaningful data for business and government decision makers, while considering the practical challenges that businesses and programs will face during implementation.”
“Increasingly, companies are looking beyond their own boundaries and developing strategies to reduce GHG emissions in their supply chains and in the products they make and sell,” added Bjorn Stigson, president of WBCSD. “By taking a comprehensive approach to GHG measurement and management, businesses and policymakers can focus attention on the greatest opportunities to reduce emissions within the full value chain, leading to more sustainable decisions about the products companies buy, sell, and produce.”
An example of GHG emissions across a product’s life cycle
While many companies have been measuring the emissions from their own operations and electricity use, the Scope 3 Standard will, for the first time, allow companies to look comprehensively at the impact of their corporate value chains, including outsourced activities, supplier manufacturing, and the use of the products they sell. Road testers of the Product Standard will measure the climate change impact of products ranging from magazines, food and jeans to computers, wind turbines and steel.
Ashley Crepiat, environmental footprint and economics manager for road-testing company Airbus, said, “Managing the transition towards a low-carbon economy is now a true concern for corporations. Airbus understands that beyond reducing its direct GHG emissions from its operations, evaluating emissions throughout the whole value chain is also a major challenge. By road testing GHG Protocol’s Scope 3 Accounting and Reporting Standard, we believe this will help establish harmonized international guidelines enabling a common and robust framework for Scope 3 accounting.”
Michael Kobori, Levi Strauss & Co.’s vice president of Social and Environmental Sustainability, said: “Levi Strauss & Co. is thrilled to be road-testing the GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard. If this method becomes widely accepted, it will enable us to better calculate and share the climate change impact of our products. Being able to credibly measure and communicate that product impact to consumers can unleash the power of the market to address climate change on a global scale.”
The draft standards were developed over the last year through a global, collaborative multi-stakeholder process, with participation from over 1,000 volunteer representatives from industry, government, academia and non-governmental organizations. The road testing process will provide real-world feedback to ensure the standards can be practically implemented by companies and organizations from a variety of sectors, sizes, and geographic areas around the world. The final standards are scheduled to be published in December 2010.
Companies participating in the road testing represent 17 countries from every continent and more than 20 industry sectors. The companies include: 3M Company; Acer Inc.; Airbus S.A.S.; AkzoNobel; Alcan Packaging; Alcoa; Anvil Knitwear, Inc.; Autodesk, Inc.; Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.; BASF SE; Belkin International; Belron International; Bloomberg LP; BT Plc; CA, Inc.; Coca-Cola Erfrischungsgetränke AG; Colors Fruit SA (Pty) Ltd.; Deutsche Post DHL; Deutsche Telekom AG; DuPont; Eclipse Networks (Pty) Ltd.; Ecolab; The Estee Lauder Company; Ford Motor Company; General Electric; U.S. General Services Administration; Gold’n Plump Poultry LLC; Hasbro, Inc.; Highways Agency (UK); Hydro Tasmania; IBM; IKEA; Italcementi Group; JohnsonDiversey, Inc.; Kraft Foods; Lenovo Corporation; Levi Strauss & Co.; Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation; National Grid; Natura Cosméticos; New Belgium Brewing Co.; Otarian; PepsiCo, Inc.; Pinchin Environmental Ltd.; PricewaterhouseCoopers (Hong Kong); Procter & Gamble Eurocor; Public Service Enterprise Group, Inc.; Rogers Communications, Inc.; SAP AG; SC Johnson; Shanghai Zidan Food Packaging & Printing Co., Ltd.; Shell International Petroleum Company Ltd; Suzano Pulp and Paper; Swire Beverages (Coca-Cola Bottling Partner); TAL Apparel Limited; Tech-Front (Shanghai) Computer Co., Ltd./Quanta Shanghai Manufacturing City; Tennant Company; Veolia Water; Verso Paper Corp; VT Group Plc; Webcor Builders; Weyerhaeuser Company and WorldAutoSteel.
WHAT: For the seventh straight year, Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, will hold a briefing for journalists to preview key environmental issues to watch this year.
WHEN: Thursday, January 7, 2010 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. EST
Presentation and Q-and-A Session (Continental Breakfast will be served at 9 a.m.)
WHERE: National Press Club First Amendment Room
529 14th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20045 (Metro: Red, Orange and Blue Lines to Metro Center)
WHY: Will the Copenhagen Accord be implemented and, if so, how? With the help of the “London Challenge” and other initiatives, how much is the long-neglected potential for forest restoration beginning to change? Are SEC laws relating to climate change likely to be enforced due to the financial crisis? What options do the EPA and Congress have for reducing CO2, and who will provide federal leadership? What environmental and political factors will come into play as China focuses on implementing its 40 percent to 45 percent target to reduce carbon intensity? What progress is Congress making on a bill to limit Chesapeake Bay pollution?
Jonathan Lash has a strong record of working closely with CEOs of major corporations, members of Congress and the White House, and leaders from countries worldwide. He is a unique and trusted voice from the environmental NGO community for these leaders, and journalists can benefit from his insight for their future stories on issues ranging from climate and business action to water and forests.
Rolling Stone called him a “climate warrior and hero,” recognizing him for bridging the divide between industry and environmental leaders. He was named one of the world’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Finance by Treasury & Risk Management magazine, and was the only leader of a non-profit environmental organization to make the list.
A former co-chair of President Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development and secretary of natural resources in Vermont, Lash currently serves on the advisory board of Generation Investment Management, on the GE Ecomagination Advisory Council, and as a leader of the United States Climate Action Partnership.
RSVP: Paul Mackie, WRI director of media relations, +1(202) 729-7684, pmackie@wri.org
Jessica Forres, WRI media officer, +1(202) 729-7684, jforres@wri.org
Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute (WRI), will brief journalists on January 7 at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on upcoming environmental issues in 2010, including climate, business action, water, forests and more.
Look for a full media advisory with more details, including Webcast information, to be sent the week of the event.
Please RSVP:
Paul Mackie, WRI director of media relations, +1(202) 729-7684, pmackie@wri.org
or Jessica Forres, WRI media officer, +1(202) 729-7736, jforres@wri.org
Transcripts, slidedecks and Webcasts from previous years
World Map of Countries with Environmental Courts and Tribunals
