Environment

SC Contribution – Call for Inputs by UN SR on HRs & Environment, 14 June 2023

Response to the Call for Inputs by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment

Should the interests of foreign investors trump the human right to a clean,
healthy and sustainable environment
?”

South Centre

14 June 2023

To realize the right to clean, healthy & sustainable environment and reduce ISDS risks, States need to align their FDI policies with human rights, climate action and SDGs, including via reform of the international investment regime.

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AMR Virtual Workshop, 28 & 29 March 2023

Antimicrobial Resistance, pharmaceuticals and environment

South Centre Virtual Workshop, 28 & 29 March 2023, 2:30-4:30 PM CET 

The emergence and spread of resistant genes and pathogens among and between humans, animals and the environment is a global threat. Join to learn and share how civil society is tackling these issues and how to elicit ways such efforts might seed or scale more broadly such action.

This workshop is organized with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Commission.

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SouthViews No. 237, 31 May 2022

Structural Change and the Environment

By Calixto Salomão Filho

Free-riding and free driving are relevant problems undermining structural transformation in environmental matters. These two different trends of the markets give incentive to opportunistic and individualistic behavior that hinders the abilities of international markets to create positive environmental externalities. To the contrary, they might lead to monopolistic concentration and negative environmental externalities.

Law, instead of allowing them (through carbon markets compensations only, for example) should look for alternatives of structural transformation of markets. Both well know concepts as the common goods and newer ideas as the possibility of positive screening of transformative market alternatives (or transformed enterprises) might be really useful for such a goal and consequently for the production of positive environmental externalities.

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Statement – International conference on “Climate Change and Sustainable Development”, 26-27 March 2022

Climate change and trade: what policies for environmental goods and services?

Carlos Correa, Executive Director, South Centre

International conference on “Climate Change and Sustainable Development”

26-27 March 2022, Cairo, Egypt

While the importance of protecting the environment in the context of trade policies is firmly recognized, a key question is the extent to which trade disciplines aimed at protecting the environment can reach their intended or declared objectives and affect the trade interests and economic growth prospects of developing countries. Developing countries are also among the most affected by climate change and, hence, they have a major interest in international action to address it. However, the intensification of environmental threats faced by developing countries is not of their making, and advancing an agenda -with no evidence that it would lead to reduced emissions- is likely to just disadvantage the developing world which has the least responsibility historically for today’s climate-related damages. Given this history, as well as the tight external constraints imposed on their efforts to mobilize resources, developing countries cannot be expected to either successfully mitigate climate change or adapt to climate change, without significant financial and technological support. The South Centre has been assessing the policy implications that the initiatives on trade and environmental sustainability will have for the Global South.

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MAK’IT International Conference, 7 April 2022

WHAT ROLES FOR SCIENCE IN CRISIS TIMES?

Outlook in the health, environment and agriculture interconnected areas

APRIL 07, 2022 – 10:00-17:30 CEST

Charles Flahault Amphitheatre, Institut de Botanique, Montpellier, France

163 rue Auguste Broussonnet 34090 Montpellier

Organized by the Montpellier Institute for Advanced Knowledge on Transitions (MAKIT), in collaboration with the South Centre, this event aims to provide a space for dialogue between scientists, decision-makers and other actors involved in the management of crisis, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussions among eminent specialists will address new crisis scenarios related to health, environment and agriculture in their different dimensions, examine the complex science-policy-public interactions at play, and the role of science and scientists in the search for sustainable and long-lasting solutions for crisis resolution.

The conference will be organized in a hybrid format, with options for in-person and online attendance. Interpretation will be available in French and English.

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LEAD Journal Special Issue 2022 Call for Papers

Call for Papers for LEAD Journal Special Issue 2022

PLANETARY HEALTH IN TIMES OF CONVERGING CRISES – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

The Law, Environment and Development Journal (LEAD) Journal Special Issue 2022 will reflect on environmental issues in the context of the Stockholm Conference’s 50th anniversary and the COVID-19 crisis.

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SouthViews No. 193, 30 April 2020

Reforming Responsibly: Why Governments Should Assess the Human Rights Impacts of Economic Reforms

By Daniel Bradlow

The purpose of economic reforms is to change the structure and overall direction of an economy. They therefore will affect the amount and allocation of resources available to a country. This means that the reforms will also affect the human rights situation in the country. This requires impact assessments of each reform option before it is implemented.

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Beijing+25 Update Series 3, 21 April 2020

Spotlight: Asia-Pacific and the Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action

Regional Round-up on progress in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action in light of the upcoming 25th anniversary of the platform. Spotlight: Asia-Pacific

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Research Paper 104, March 2020

Antimicrobial Resistance: Examining the Environment as Part of the One Health Approach

By Mirza Alas

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a serious issue that is threatening the medical and agricultural advances of today. The connections that exist among human health, food production and the environment necessitate a One Health approach to address the challenge of AMR. Recent research points to the environment as an essential factor in the spread of AMR, as well as a possible reservoir of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and genes. The process, however, of the environmental transmission of resistance genes, along with their effects and how to mitigate them, is still being examined. As new research emerges, so to have new challenges regarding the selective pressure of antibiotics on the environment. AMR in the environment is not new, with resistance genes found even in isolated places (e.g. in permafrost or volcanoes) but understanding this natural process and its implications for tackling AMR continue to pose many questions. This paper aims to examine some of the emerging research on AMR from a One Health perspective and in particular to highlight the role of the environment. It will explore the use of antibiotics and their effects in different ecosystems, as well as the challenges they pose for developing countries: in particular, in designing policies to address antimicrobial resistance that take into account the connections among humans, animals and the environment.

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Climate Policy Brief 22, February 2020

The Africa Energy Transition Program (AFRETRAP)

By Rajesh Eralil and Youba Sokona

In a more and more climate change threatened world, Africa’s energy vision should be premised on moving from an energy landscape based on underdeveloped and carbon intense pathways to a modern, clean and decentralized energy system. This transition is a critical enabler of meaningful and endogenous socio-economic development. While the continent may face a broad set of challenges in achieving this vision, it has at the same time the opportunity to avoid the fossil fuel lock-in that many industrialized countries face and to take advantage of vast supplies of untapped energy resources and/or any stranded asset problem. The Africa Energy Transition Program in the making under the auspices of the African Energy Commission forms a continent-wide and coordinated approach in facilitating the required transformation for the realization of Africa’s development aspiration.

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