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122. Two Global Challenges, One Solution: International Cooperation to Combat Climate Change and Tropical Deforestation
- Author:
- Antonio G.M. La Viña and Alaya de Leon
- Publication Date:
- 12-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- This paper provides an analysis of the international political dynamics around the reduction of tropical deforestation and forest degradation as a climate mitigation strategy, emphasizing the necessity of an enabling environment and sustainable financing to support the scaling up of these efforts globally. After describing the evolution from the 1990s of international cooperation to combat tropical deforestation, the paper focuses principally on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and how it provided an impetus for a renewed effort on this issue. The paper describes the complex process through which the climate and tropical forest agenda got inserted into UNFCCC processes, from its marginal role in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) created by the Kyoto Protocol to the emergence of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the Role of Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks) as the forum where decisions have been made on climate and tropical forests. The paper dissects the issues that have dominated the REDD+ negotiations, identifies and characterizes the actors and constituencies that have been influential in the process, analyzes lessons learned from the successes of this UNFCCC agenda, and suggests recommendations to move the REDD+ and overall tropical forests and climate agenda forward. The paper concludes with an anticipation of what to expect in the future, in the light especially of what could possibly be a new climate change agreement in 2015.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Energy Policy, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
123. The Transparency Rules and Transparency Convention: A good start and model for broader reform in investor-state arbitration
- Author:
- Lise Johnson
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- In July 2013, after nearly three years of work, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) adopted a set of arbitration rules that will help open some investor-state arbitrations to public view. The UNCITRAL Rules on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (Transparency Rules) were crafted with input from governments, academics, arbitration practitioners, and non-governmental organizations, and approved by consensus by the member states. When applied, the Transparency Rules will require disclosure of information submitted to, and issued by, arbitral tribunals throughout proceedings, mandate open hearings and expressly allow for participation by non-parties to a dispute. The Transparency Rules also guard against disclosure of confidential information and establish a repository in which all information will be published.
- Topic:
- International Law, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
124. What Future for Human Rights?
- Author:
- James W. Nickel
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- Like people born shortly after World War II, the international human rights movement recently had its sixty-fifth birthday. This could mean that retirement is at hand and that death will come in a few decades. After all, the formulations of human rights that activists, lawyers, and politicians use today mostly derive from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the world in 1948 was very different from our world today: the cold war was about to break out, communism was a strong and optimistic political force in an expansionist phase, and Western Europe was still recovering from the war. The struggle against entrenched racism and sexism had only just begun, decolonization was in its early stages, and Asia was still poor (Japan was under military reconstruction, and Mao's heavy-handed revolution in China was still in the future). Labor unions were strong in the industrialized world, and the movement of women into work outside the home and farm was in its early stages. Farming was less technological and usually on a smaller scale, the environmental movement had not yet flowered, and human-caused climate change was present but unrecognized. Personal computers and social networking were decades away, and Earth's human population was well under three billion.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, Europe, Asia, and United Nations
125. The Future of Human Rights: A View from the United Nations
- Author:
- Andrew Gilmour
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- Ever since the Charter of the United Nations was signed in 1945, human rights have constituted one of its three pillars, along with peace and development. As noted in a dictum coined during the World Summit of 2005: "There can be no peace without development, no development without peace, and neither without respect for human rights." But while progress has been made in all three domains, it is with respect to human rights that the organization's performance has experienced some of its greatest shortcomings. Not coincidentally, the human rights pillar receives only a fraction of the resources enjoyed by the other two—a mere 3 percent of the general budget.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, International Political Economy, Sovereignty, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Europe and United Nations
126. The Politics of the "Unfinished Business": Bosnian Police Reform
- Author:
- Dejan Guzina and Branka Marijan
- Publication Date:
- 06-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- The recent protests in Bosnia-Herzegovina (henceforth, Bosnia) have once more shown the extent of the remaining challenges in the country. However, while many commentators have examined the political, economic and social roots of the protests, less attention has been paid to the role of the police in these events. Police confusion, their inability to respond to the street protests in a timely and professional manner, and allegations of the use of excessive force against protestors represent clear evidence that the stalled police reform in the country needs to be re-examined. After almost two decades of international assistance, first by the United Nations (UN) and later the European Union (EU), police reform in Bosnia remains incomplete. Since the 2012 closing of the EU police mission (EUPM) in Bosnia, the issue of police reform has been put on hold. Bosnia's multiple police services remain fragmented and lack transparency. More importantly, the lack of harmonization, coordination and civic oversight leads to political interference in policing.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Human Rights, Law Enforcement, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and United Nations
127. National Ownership and Post-Conflict Peace Building: From Principle to Practice
- Author:
- Timothy Donais
- Publication Date:
- 06-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- There is a growing consensus, both within and outside the UN system, around the importance of national ownership for sustainable post-conflict peace building. Reflecting on the broader peace-building project in 2009, for example, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon invoked national ownership as a central theme, reflecting the common sense wisdom that any peace process not embraced by those who have to live with it is likely to fail (UN 2009).
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Governance, Reconstruction, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- United Nations
128. The African Union and the Post-2015 Development Agenda
- Author:
- Barry Carin
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- African countries are currently engaged at the United Nations (UN) to determine the post-2015 framework to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The post-2015 goals matter because they will guide the priorities of UN agencies, the multilateral development banks, bilateral development assistance and civil society organizations. It is in Africa's interests to ensure the post-2015 framework is congruent with African priorities. African Union negotiators must take a strategic approach in the current process to select the post-2015 development goals.
- Topic:
- Development, Governance, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Nations
129. Education in Emergencies: The Case of the Dadaab Refugee Camps
- Author:
- Hayley Mackinnon
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- Between 1991 and 2009, more than 2.5 million Somali citizens fled their homeland to Ethiopia, Djibouti and, most notably, Kenya, following the collapse of the Somalian government of Siad Barre. This led to violent clashes between various factional clan groups, and fighting to control land and resources ensued. This resulted in the displacement, starvation and slaughter of thousands of civilians, leading to a crisis that prompted international intervention during the 1990s.
- Topic:
- Development and Foreign Aid
- Political Geography:
- Africa, United Nations, and Ethiopia
130. Fragile States, Fragile Lives
- Author:
- Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
- Publication Date:
- 06-2014
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- For decades, child marriage has been viewed as an unfortunate but inevitable social ill. Few policy-makers have considered its eradication feasible given how entrenched the practice is across the globe: one in three girls worldwide marry before the age of eighteen and one in nine girls marry before the age of fifteen. The United Nations (UN) estimates that if current trends continue, in the next decade 142 million girls globally will become brides before they turn eighteen. The implications are dire: research shows that child marriage both reinforces poverty and makes it harder to escape. The practice has curtailed advancement on Millennium Development Goals Four and Five-which call for a two-thirds reduction in the under-five mortality rate and a three-fourths reduction in maternal deaths by 2015, respectively-and has undermined the goal of achieving universal primary education.
- Topic:
- Human Rights, Human Welfare, Fragile/Failed State, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United Nations