IUCN World Conservation Congress

Since Spring 2019, and in the lead up to the WCC, dozens of Haub Law students have worked with the law school’s Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies (GCELS) to draft, submit and debate IUCN policy motions to help advance environmental justice and strengthen environmental rule of law globally. During the WCC, Haub Law students went head to head in negotiations with government representatives at IUCN to secure stronger human rights and environmental protections. Below are select highlighted successes of Haub Law students that took place during the Congress:

International Symposium on Environmental Law - Peace with Nature: Laws for Ecological Resilience

Haub Law students, alumni, and faculty were featured panelists in a two-day symposium entitled Peace with Nature: Laws for Ecological Resilience which was held from September 2 to 3, 2021, in Marseille, France and virtually. Professor Nicholas Robinson and Professor Victor Tafur helped organize the symposium and participated in various panels throughout the event. The symposium was organized as a side event in the lead up to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in which many Haub Law community members are also taking part.

• Haub Law students Carly Hopkins and John Notoris presented on the urgency of ending fossil fuel subsidies, alongside Professor Richard Ottinger.
• Madison Shaff and Christopher Sudol presented on the need to prevent further zoonotic diseases and the need to renounce the colonial Doctrine of Discovery, respectively.
• Cassandra Jurenci ’21 and Nick Sioufas ’19 presented on the critical links between upholding food sovereignty and protecting biodiversity, alongside Professor Smita Narula.
• Former Environmental Law Program LLM Fellow Umair Saleem ’21 presented on Lahore’s Judicial Commissions while Haub Law alum and 2020 Haub Visiting Scholar Professor James May spoke to actualizing the rights of nature.

Renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery – Motion 048

• Motion 048 calls on IUCN to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery as already implied in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
• Chris Sudol and Gina Hervey represented the Haub Law team during virtual negotiations for Motion 048. Makayla Loeb and Madison Roberts had also previously worked on the motion.
• Chris Sudol was successful in delivering interventions on behalf of GCELS and connected with several allies during the process.
• Motion 048 (PDF) renouncing the Doctrine of Discovery was successfully adopted.

Calling for Immediate International action to Address Climate Change – Motion 034

• Motion 034 calls on the IUCN, as the largest and most prestigious international environmental organization, to take immediate steps in addressing the climate crises through adopting thereby broadening the IUCN definition of Nature Based Solutions and calling on IUCN Members and Experts to urge their governments and private sector organizations to phase out their dependence on fossil fuel and to phase out the non-essential uses of plastics.
• Professor Ottinger and John Notoris represented the Haub Law Team in virtual negotiations for Motion 034 calling for amendments urging IUCN members to take immediate action. Carly Hopkins and Allison Wood ‘21 also provided significant support to this motion.
• Motion 034 (PDF) was adopted with the Team's Amendment incorporated by 95% of governments and 94% of NGOs.

Strengthening Food Sovereignty and Security of Indigenous Peoples and Peasant Communities – Motion 044

• Motion 044 calls on IUCN Members to reject destructive agricultural practices and embrace more sustainable food pathways by joining in the global recognition of the rights of peasants and respect for traditional agrarian knowledge.
• Professor Narula, Cassie Jurenci, and Nick Sioufas represented GCELS in virtual negotiations for Motion 044. The team provided successful interventions and made significant progress on priorities for the Motion, managing to get most of their amendments in for the Motion.
• Motion 044 (PDF) was adopted with most of the Team's amendments incorporated into the text

Preventing Zoonotic Spillovers to Avert the Next Pandemic – From New and Urgent Motion to Motion 135

• This Motion calls for the IUCN’s acceptance of the One-Health approach, readjustment to land use laws, environmental statutes to incorporate zoonotic disease potential in all Environmental Impact Statements, and a cultural shift back to prioritizing indigenous teachings.
• The IUCN Resolutions Committee revoked their initial rejection of the Zoonosis Motion and subsequently merged our proposed New and Urgent Motion with Motion 135 "Ensuring human, animal and environmental health, and preventing pandemics through the One Health approach".
• Madison Shaff assisted in drafting the text appealing the IUCN Resolutions Committee decision on the Zoonosis Motion.
• Madison Shaff and Brooke Mercaldi drafted the Haub Law Team’s application for submitting the New and Urgent Zoonosis motion. Brooke also secured co-sponsors for Haub Law’s New and Urgent Zoonosis motion, represented GCELS in the initial virtual negotiation for Motion 135, and drafted language on the inclusion of Environmental Impact Assessments to be added to Motion 135 in the final Contact Group negotiation
• Claire McLeod represented GCELS in the final virtual negation for the Motion and was successful in reaching consensus language which highlights impact assessments in the text.
• Motion 135 (PDF) was adopted, with language referencing the "One Health" approach and Impact Assessments, by 93% of governments and 95% of NGOs.

The Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies (GCELS) at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University anchors innovative projects to develop necessary laws to address the world’s most pressing global environmental issues.

The following motions, which will be voted on during the IUCN World Conservation Congress Members’ Assembly, were submitted by Haub Law School faculty, alumni and students.

• WCC MOTION 048: Rediscovering the care of Mother Earth from the vision of Indigenous Peoples
• WCC MOTION 044: Actions to strengthen food sovereignty and security of indigenous peoples and peasant communities
• WCC MOTION 034: Climate Change and Biodiversity Crisis [Promoting integrated solutions to the climate change and biodiversity crises]
• NEW AND URGENT MOTION: Preventing Zoonotic Spillovers to Avert the Next Pandemic

NOTING the exploitation of minerals, especially columbite – tantalite (coltan) – linked to many human rights and environmental concerns, in African countries and the market demand for metals, especially coltan, in the global electronics economy;

RECALLING the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas;

RECOGNISING the dialogue between IUCN and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) to advance sustainable development in mining through responsible sourcing, product stewardship and chemical management;

REAFFIRMING the World Charter for Nature’s call not to overexploit non-renewable resources and United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (PDF), which call on mining companies to respect human rights and to prioritise environmental management;

AWARE that environmental impact assessments (EIAs) are customary international law;

CONCERNED that without EIAs and human rights assessments, the Sustainable Development Goals are difficult to achieve as peace, security and sustainable development depend on maintaining a healthy environment;

AWARE that lack of EIAs and human rights assessments in mineral-rich African States has increased environmental degradation and human rights violations through forcible evictions, land-grabs, ill-treatment of and violence against miners, and that forest degradation, water contamination, soil erosion, and toxic chemical release and climate change intensification occur from unsustainable mining practices;

CALLING on those engaged in international commerce in metals and materials from African mines to pay attention to the supply chain in order to be environmentally ethical companies;

RECOGNISING that importer states have the moral responsibility to ensure supply chains do not destroy the environment;

DISMAYED that environmental degradation in Africa happens because some importers fail to follow OECD guidelines on sustainable mining practices and human rights compliance;

ENCOURAGED that electronic and mobile phone recycling has the potential to significantly reduce unsustainable mining by recovering a large quantity of materials, thereby protecting crucial chimpanzee, gorilla and other wildlife habitats; and

RECOGNISING that mining activities in Africa have contributed to the development of the African economy and welfare of indigenous people living in Africa, and that therefore the realisation of sustainable supply-chain systems can contribute to eliminating the primary cause that threatens wildlife species, namely poaching due to serious poverty;

The IUCN World Conservation Congress, at its session in Marseille, France:

1. 1. REQUESTS the IUCN Director General, as well as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to convey to ICMM the urgent need for supply-chain stewardship with respect to mining activities in Africa;
2. 2. REQUESTS the World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) to prepare a report to Council on breaches of environmental law with regard to unsustainable mining practices in Africa and to consult with the African Union on how to strengthen African rule of law with respect to mining through EIAs and human rights assessments;
3. 3. REAFFIRMS UN Environment Assembly Resolution UNEP/EA.4/Res.19 (2019), establishing sustainable mineral resource governance by encouraging governments, business, NGOs and academics to diligently ensure sustainable supply-chain management;
4. 4. REQUESTS states importing minerals from Africa to establish supply-chain standards to ensure that importers are not harming the African environment;
5. 5. INVITES the mining sector to adapt and strengthen the available supply-chain standards and assurance systems for minerals – especially tantalum and niobium – mining to prevent human rights abuses from occurring in the African region; and
6. 6. ENCOURAGES recycling and reuse of metals – especially tantalum and niobium coltan – by Members and others to further protect the environment and to restore, conserve and protect gorilla and other wildlife.

Co-sponsors:

• Centre international de droit comparé de l`environnement [France]
• Instituto O Direito por um Planeta Verde [Brazil]
• International Council of Environmental Law [Spain]

Motion 048 calls on IUCN to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery as already implied in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Laws, policies, and practices effectuating the Doctrine of Discovery are unjust, destroy the collective and individual rights of Indigenous Peoples worldwide, and have devastating impacts on nature.

The Doctrine of Discovery (“DoD”), is an international legal principle that historians date to the 5th century A.D.

Today, DoD legitimizes the continuing suppression of Indigenous communities and cultures while making the co-stewardship of nature and natural resources by Indigenous Peoples impossible during a time when unsustainable development, supported by DoD principles, is diminishing biodiversity and contributing to climate change.

Motion 048 calls on IUCN to renounce the Doctrine of Discovery. The adoption of this motion would reaffirm the dignity and humanity of all Indigenous Peoples, and help achieve IUCN’s mission for the conservation of nature

Now is an opportune moment for IUCN to reify its support of Indigenous Peoples’ rights by adopting this motion.

Memorandum on Motion and amendments to Motion (PDF)

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP) upholds peasant farming as an alternative to industrial agriculture. It also champions women’s rights and affirms peasants’ rights to land, seeds, and food sovereignty, as well as their right to maintain biological diversity through the use of traditional practices and knowledge. When their rights are recognized and protected, peasants inherently shore up the ecological infrastructure needed to conserve biodiversity, build sustainable food systems, and protect rural and urban communities against climate shocks. Motion 044 calls on IUCN Members to reject destructive agricultural practices and embrace more sustainable food pathways by joining in the global recognition of the rights of peasants and respect for traditional agrarian knowledge.

The essential biodiversity that underpins global food production is disappearing. Industrial agriculture has led to a host of environmental problems, including deforestation, soil degradation, increased greenhouse gas emissions, extinction of species, and pollution of freshwater sources. Moreover, our industrial food system often impoverishes small-scale farmers, and displaces rural communities and indigenous peoples. Peasant movements from around the globe are advancing an alternative model that is oriented toward peasant-based agriculture and that prioritizes local markets and uses agro-ecological production methods to facilitate the transition to more sustainable and inclusive food systems.

This model underscores the rights of Indigenous, rural, and traditionally-underrepresented peoples to define their own agricultural systems and policies, also known as the right to food sovereignty.

In December 2018, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the landmark U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (“UNDROP”) - a powerful legal tool to help ensure peasants’ rights and elevate this model.

The result of nearly 20 years of mobilization by the social movement La Via Campesina and its allies, and six years of negotiation at the U.N. Human Rights Council, UNDROP is a response to the ongoing violations of the rights of peasants and other rural communities who help protect biodiversity and build sustainable food systems but are themselves disproportionately affected by extreme poverty and hunger.

• Memorandum on Motion and amendments to Motion (PDF)
• Watch video to find out more details about UNDROP

Motion 034 calls on the IUCN, as the largest and most prestigious international environmental organization, to take immediate steps in addressing the climate crises through adopting thereby broadening the IUCN definition of Nature Based Solutions and calling on IUCN Members and Experts to urge their governments and private sector organizations to phase out their dependence on fossil fuel and to phase out the non-essential uses of plastics. With climate change effects far more drastic and immediate than previously predicted according to recent IPCC findings, immediate and drastic steps must be taken to mitigate and adapt to the global climate crisis.

Climate change effects are far more drastic and immediate than previously predicted according to recent IPCC findings.

Immediate steps in mitigating and adapting to climate change must be taken as there is no longer time to just develop a plan for addressing its existential threats.

As the largest and most prestigious international environmental organization, we urge the IUCN to take action at its World Conservation Congress 2021 regarding climate change.

Motion seeks to broaden the IUCN definition of Nature Based Solutions to include renewable energy practices such as solar, wind, and hydroelectricity - all practices which are recognized as essential elements of reduction of the climate crisis threat.

Motion calls on IUCN’s thousands of Members and Experts to urge their governments and private sector organizations to phase out their dependence on fossil fuel and to phase out the non-essential uses of plastics

Memorandum on Motion and amendments to Motion (PDF)

CONCERNED that increasing human activity in the ocean causes underwater noise;

RECOGNISING that anthropogenic underwater noise can disrupt vital life functions of many marine species, with implications for global food security;

REAFFIRMING Resolutions 3.068 Undersea noise pollution (Bangkok, 2004) and 5.81 Addressing ocean noise pollution in Africa (Jeju, 2012);

RECALLING that the Species Survival Commission (SSC) Cetacean Specialist Group has identified that rising ocean noise threatens cetaceans;

NOTING that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) sets out the obligation on states to protect and preserve the marine environment and to assess the potential effects of activities that may cause substantial pollution or significant and harmful changes in the marine environment and that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 urges states to reduce marine pollution by 2025;

WELCOMING actions taken at all levels to manage and mitigate the effects of anthropogenic underwater noise, including those taken by the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and its development of CMS Family Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessments for Marine Noise-generating Activities, by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through the adoption of Guidelines for the Reduction of Underwater Noise from Commercial Shipping to Address Adverse Impacts on Marine Life (2014), and by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) through Resolution 71/312 Our ocean, our future: call for action (2017), calling on UN Member States to accelerate actions to address marine pollution, including underwater noise;

APPLAUDING the work by the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS) and the Parties to the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) on regulation of anthropogenic underwater noise;

RECOGNISING that the Pacific Islands Year of the Whale Declaration (Tonga, 2017) states that whale populations are vulnerable from emerging threats such as noise, and that UNGA Resolution 73/124 Oceans and the law of the sea (2018) called for international cooperation on studying the effects of underwater noise on marine life;

ACKNOWLEDGING new work by the Arctic Council that shows substantial recent increases in underwater noise from shipping in the Arctic Ocean;

DISTRESSED that the sixth Global Environment Outlook (GEO-6) articulates how much remains to be done to mitigate ocean noise impacts; and

URGING immediate action to better understand, regulate and reduce the immediate, long-term and cumulative effects of anthropogenic noise on marine life;

The IUCN World Conservation Congress, at its session in Marseille, France:

1. REQUESTS Council to establish an Inter-Commission Panel of Experts, comprised of Species Survival Commission (including specialists of cetaceans, mysticetes and odontocetes from SSC), World Commission on Protected Areas(WCPA) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) members and representatives of the underwater noise-generating sectors, to seek an integrated approach to abating anthropogenic underwater noise pollution, in cooperation with entities such as the Global Alliance for Managing Ocean Noise (GAMeON) initiative and the Maritime Environment Protection Committee under the International Maritime Organization;
2. REQUESTS WCPA to make recommendations promoting a precautionary approach on ways to reduce and limit anthropogenic underwater noise in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Particularly Sensitive Sea Areas (PSSAs) and Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) that may be adversely affected by underwater noise, by implementation of measures, based on scientific evidence, to manage certain human activities within and adjacent to MPAs, PSSAs and IMMAs, e.g. voluntary actions, speed limits, use of best-available technologies and redesign of shipping routes;
3. CALLS ON Members to apply the CMS Family Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessments for Marine Noise-generating Activities (2017);
4. ALSO CALLS ON Members to collaborate with the international community to encourage noise-producing entities to employ best-available noise-reduction and fuel-reduction technologies, especially in regard to commercial shipping, and to encourage the implementation of the IMO guidelines for the reduction of underwater noise from commercial shipping to address adverse impacts on marine life (circular MEPC.1/Circ.833), and to support and contribute to the planned revision of the guidelines (MEPC 76/15 Para12.3);
5. ENCOURAGES UN Members to consider anthropogenic underwater noise pollution within the negotiations for a new international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction and State Members that are Party to UNCLOS to consider such pollution within the Exploitation Regulations under Part XI of UNCLOS; and
6. REQUESTS the Director General, with the assistance of the Inter-Commission Panel of Experts established under paragraph 1 of this Resolution, to provide a progress report at the next session of Congress on the implementation of this Resolution.

Co-Sponsors:

• Environmental Law Program at the William S. Richardson School of Law [United States of America]
• Instituto O Direito por um Planeta Verde [Brazil]
• International Council of Environmental Law [Spain]
• Noé [France]

“Zoonotic diseases”, such as COVID-19, are illnesses resulting from germs that animals carry which are becoming more common as humans increasingly encroach on wildlife habitats. By recognizing that the best way to prevent future pandemics is a proactive approach, this Motion calls for the IUCN’s acceptance of the One-Health approach, readjustment to land use laws, environmental statutes to incorporate zoonotic disease potential in all Environmental Impact Statements, and a cultural shift back to prioritizing indigenous teachings.

“Zoonotic diseases”, such as COVID-19, are illnesses resulting from germs that animals carry.

With an increasing world population, humans are spreading into habitat zones where they previously had not causing more close connections with animals carrying such zoonotic diseases than ever before, thus more opportunities for the transfer of zoonotic diseases to humans.

The Motion for Preventing Zoonotic Spillovers to Avert the Next Pandemic recognizes that the best way to prevent future pandemics is a proactive approach.

This motion calls for the IUCN’s acceptance of the One-Health approach, readjustment to land use laws, environmental statutes to incorporate zoonotic disease potential in all Environmental Impact Statements, and a cultural shift back to prioritizing indigenous teachings.

Memorandum and Motion (PDF)

The Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies (GCELS) supported the decision of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN’s) 2016 World Conservation Congress (Congress) in Honolulu, Hawaii, inviting the General Assembly of the United Nations (UNGA) to request an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the principle of sustainable development in view of the needs of future generations.

In advance of 2016 Congress, GCELS submitted Motion 087 on this question due to the concern that:

“Considering that sustainable development is generally defined as development that balances social, economic and environmental interests in order to meet the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, … [but] unless halted, environmental degradation worldwide as reflected in the climate crisis and the calamity of extinctions, will deny the option of sustainable development to future generations.”

Following an electronic vote, the Congress approved and adopted the Motion during the 1st Sitting of the Members’ Assembly, requesting the IUCN Director General to communicate this request to the UNGA with the assistance of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law.

Through a joint initiative, the Environmental Law Programs with Pace Law and the William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii hosted the “Tony Oposa Intergenerational Moot Court” named after the internationally renowned environmental attorney from the Philippines and former visiting scholar at Pace Law. The Moot Court analyzed and presented arguments on the question of the intergenerational climate justice through written Memorials and oral arguments held before a mock panel of the ICJ with judges from France, Norway, Philippines, Russia, and USA, presided over by the Chief Justice of the State of Hawaii Hon. Mark E. Recktenwald, at the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii.

In a follow-up workshop at the 2016 World Conservation Congress, international environmental law judges and experts, as well as the moot court participants, further discussed the issue.

Students and faculty members are following up on this proposal with the IUCN Permanent Observer Mission to the UN.

At the 2012 World Conservation Congress in Jeju, Republic of Korea, the Global Center for the Environmental Legal Studies hosted a series of series of workshops titled, “Conservation Campus 0669: Giving Force to Conservation Laws: Environmental Adjudication.

Watch the Workshops