IUCN Report Released: Review of Statutory and Customary Law in the Xe Champhone Ramsar Site, Lao PDR

Recently, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), "the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organization," released its, Review of Statutory and Customary Law in the Xe Champhone Ramsar Site, Lao PDR: Implications for a Rights-based Approach to Conservation (2013). The 48-page publication is available here, as a downloadable pdf. According to the abstract,

[t]his publication summarizes and analyses the findings of a situational analysis in the Xe Champhone Ramsar Site in Lao PDR, looking specifically at customary law governing natural resources and including its relationship with statutory law. It provides recommendations on how to incorporate customary law governing natural resources into the governance of Ramsar sites in the country.

UNEP Booklet Released: Seeds of Knowledge - Contributing to Climate Change Solutions

This month, the United Nations Environment Programme released a booklet titled, Seeds of Knowledge - Contributing to Climate Change Solutions for 2012. The 91-page document available here, "presents 24 case studies from 17 countries on grassroots solutions to the impacts of climate change."  According to UNEP,

[t]hese solutions come at a critical time. As never before the world is in a race against time to act on climate change or face cataclysmic natural disasters. Heat waves, droughts and flooding, we have seen them all. While vulnerability to climate change poses risks to all communities, the impacts are likely to be tilted against many of the world's poorest regions, which have the least economic, institutional and technical ability to adapt and cope.

Seeds of Knowledge aims to show that grassroots, community-led responses are already playing an essential role in building resilience to climate change across all regions of the world. With the right levels of investment and support, such initiatives can be scaled up and become a central component in reducing climate risks and supporting the transition to an inclusive Green Economy.

Changes in the Arctic: Background and Issues for Congress -- CRS

This Report from the Congressional Research Service, by Ronald O'Rourke, Coordinator
Specialist in Naval Affairs, dated October 15, 2010, finds that "the diminishment of Arctic sea ice has led to increased human activities in the Arctic, and has heightened concerns about the region’s future. The United States, by virtue of Alaska, is an Arctic country and has substantial interests in the region.

On January 12, 2009, the George W. Bush Administration released a presidential directive, called National Security Presidential Directive 66/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 25 (NSPD 66/HSPD 25), establishing a new U.S. policy for the Arctic region. Record low extent of Arctic sea ice in 2007 focused scientific and policy attention on its linkage to global climate change, and to the implications of projected ice-free seasons in the Arctic within decades. The Arctic has been projected by several scientists to be perennially ice-free in the late summer by the late 2030s.

The five Arctic coastal states—the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, and Denmark (of which Greenland is a territory)—are in the process of preparing Arctic territorial claims for submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf. The Russian claim to the enormous underwater Lomonosov Ridge, if accepted, would reportedly grant Russia nearly one half of the Arctic area. There are also four other unresolved Arctic territorial disputes.

The diminishment of Arctic ice could lead in the coming years to increased commercial shipping on two trans-Arctic sea routes. Current international guidelines for ships operating in Arctic waters are being updated, with a targeted completion date of 2010. Changes to the Arctic brought about by warming temperatures will likely allow more exploration for oil, gas, and minerals.

Warming that causes permafrost to melt could pose challenges to onshore exploration activities. Increased oil and gas exploration and tourism (cruise ships) in the Arctic increase the risk of pollution in the region. Cleaning up oil spills in ice-covered waters will be more difficult than in other areas, primarily because effective strategies have yet to be developed. Large commercial fisheries exist in the Arctic.

The United States is currently meeting with other countries regarding the management of Arctic fish stocks. Changes in the Arctic could affect threatened and endangered species. Under the Endangered Species Act, the polar bear was listed as threatened on May 15,2008. Arctic climate change is also expected to affect the economies, subsistence, health, population, societies, and cultures of Arctic indigenous peoples."

Managment Review of Environmental governance Within the United Nations System

This Report JIU/REP/2008/3 prepared by the UN Joint Inspection Unit finds that:

-The current framework of international environmental governance is weakened by institutional fragmentation.

-United Nations system organizations have not defined clearly their responsibilities under the governance framework, which aims at integrating environmental protection into economic and social development and mainstreaming environmental considerations in sustainable development policies.

-At present, there is no single strategic-planning framework embracing the entire United Nations system: the United Nations’ four-year medium-term plan ceased to be the policy orientation of the United Nations system following a General Assembly decision of 1999; UNEP lost its effective instrument of coordinating planning and programming when its System-Wide Medium-Term Environment Programme (SWMTEP) was discontinued in 1999; and its Medium-Term Strategy for 2010-2013 is not a system-wide instrument.

-Most UNEP/United Nations-administered MEAs have separate secretariats.

-Despite its mandate under the Cartagena Package to review the effectiveness of MEAs, UNEP has not developed concrete modalities or capacity to fulfil its mandate.