EJOLT overview of work

Environmental Justice Organizations, Liabilities and TradeFP7-Science in Society-2010-1www.ejolt.org

Overview to the EJOLT action plan

Beatriz Rodríguez-Labajos and Leah Temper

Contents

• Objectives• Overall strategy• The WPs (with deliverables)• The workshops• Gantt chart• The role of ICTA-UAB• Impact

Objectives:OVERALL AIM

• Which are the causes of increasing ecological distribution conflicts at different scales,

• and how to turn such conflicts into forces for environmental sustainability?

To improve policy responses to and support collaborative research on environmental conflicts through capacity building of environmental justice groups and multi-stakeholder problem solving. A key aspect is to show the links between increased metabolism of the economy (in terms of energy and materials), and resource extraction and waste disposal conflicts so as to answer the driving questions:

Objectives:CONCRETE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ACTION PLAN

O.1. To compile a truly unique large database called ‘The Map of Environmental Injustice’ covering ecological distribution conflicts (resource extraction and waste disposal) around the world, drawing on activist knowledge, and linking them with material trade flows and other variables, and finally providing a platform for communication among EJOs and scientists working on related issues.

O.2. To make available the latest knowledge on indicators for the analysis of the environmental impacts of nuclear energy, oil and gas extraction, biomass extraction, mining and ship breaking and e-waste, focusing on the whole ‘commodity chains’ (from extraction to waste disposal or recovery).

WP 2

WP 3WP 4WP 5WP 6

O.3. To unveil some of the socio-environmental and public health impacts which are invisible to the consumers in the main resource importing countries and to the waste exporting countries, and to empower stakeholders to monitor and understand risks to environmental health.

O.4. To apply methodologies that allow the study of the valuation languages deployed in ecological distribution conflicts, particularly related to environmental liabilities.

WP 7

WP 8


O.5. To significantly improve the basis for EJOs to undertake legal actions regarding environmental liabilities or campaign for institutional changes in corporate accountability.

O.6. To develop the basis for EJOs to competently use notions and methods of calculation of ecologically unequal exchange and ecological debt, based on their own experiences and academic research.


WP 9

WP 10

O.7. To hold workshops and develop an online resource library for EJOs on political ecology and public policies, environmental health (including popular epidemiology), ecologically unequal trade and the ecological debt and legal recourse for NGOs.

O.8. To translate project findings into concrete policy proposals to be communicated to decision-makers in European, international institutions and corporate bodies. The emphasis of the recommendations will be on increasing corporate accountability and on legal institutional mechanisms to seek alternatives to and minimize harmful resource extraction and disposal rather than reliance on voluntary mechanisms such as Corporate Social Responsibility.


WP 11 WP 12

WP 11WP 12

WP7 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & RISK ASSESSMENT

WP 8 LIABILITIES AND VALUATION

WP 9 LAW AND INSTITUTIONS

WP 10 CONSUMPTION, ECOL. UNEQUAL EXCHANGE & ECOLOGICAL DEBT

WP2 DATABASE – MAP OF ENVIRONMENTAL INJUSTICE

WP11 TRAINING, BEST PRACTICES AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

WP12 DISSEMINATION

Overall strategy

Primary outputs of WPs

WP7 – WP9

WP2

WP11

WP12

WP11

The EJOLT workshops

Their progression:• Cornerstones of the knowledge-

sharing process in EJOLT• Meeting open to all partners with a

duration of 4-5 days.• Oriented to analyze case studies in

the thematic areas in the frame of a a transversal WP (except Ws1).

• They explicitly examine the links of a given topic with the other WPs

e.g. Ws2-Health – what are the links with legal aspects? with related liabilities?

• Training oriented - their outcomes feed the online resource library.

• Always involving parallel dissemination activities

Examination of the causes: political ecology contextualization using concepts of ecological debt and unequal ecological trade

Environmental monitoring and health assessment

Valuation of the costs and impacts: monetary terms to establish liability or costs, or with multi-criteria analysis to examine stakeholders’ values

Examination of institutional/legal actions to tackle environmental justice & externalities

Outlining of policy recommendations for changes in consumption practices, in regulations and legislation that will minimize externalities and conflicts

Dissemination of results and findings

The EJOLT workshopsWorkshop Location, Month Organisers Content / Major Tasks

Kick-off Meeting Barcelona, Spain(Month 2) UAB

• Project Presentation• Expectations / Formulation of roadmaps for WPs• Introduction to ecological economics concepts:

ecological debt, ecologically unequal trade (WP11) ULUND, UAB

• Presentation of thematic subjects by EJos (WP 3-6)• Dissemination and evaluation strategies

Workshop 1 Istanbul, Turkey(Month 4)

BOG & ZZ (hosts)SERIULUND

• Workshop on conflict analysis and scenarios for mining conflicts (BOG)

• Combined with a trip to mining conflicts in Bulgaria

Workshop 2 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil(Month 15) FIOCRUZ

• Environmental Health (FIOCRUZ)• Risk assessment• Radiation Workshops (CRIIRAD)

Workshop 3 Rome, Italy (Month 31)

CDCAUVSQR

• Valuation workshop (UVSQ)• Multi-criteria analysis (UVSQ)• Legal workshops (BHR, CDCA, URV)

Workshop 4Durban, South Africa or Lagos, Nigeria. (Month 38)

ERAUKZN

• Environmental Liabilities. Presentation on ecological debt calculations (UKZN, ERA)

• Sharing of best practices from thematic WPs• Co-preparation of training materials

Workshop 5 TBD ULUND Consumption, trade and ecological debt (ULUND)Closing presentations and policy meetings

Brussels, Belgium(Month 46) ANPED Meetings and round table events between project

members and political actors and other stakeholders.

Gantt chart - an example for the WP8Activities Partner

1-3 4-6 7-9 10-12 13-15 16-18 19-21 22-24 25-27 28-30 31-33 34-36 37-39 40-42 43-45 46-48

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F

WP8: Liabilities and Valuation UVSQ

Expanded detailed roadmap for collaboration between partners

UVSQ

8.1: Planning, implementing and reporting a workshop on liabilities and valuation

UVSQ, JNU, URV, BOG, BHR, UAB, OCMAL, ERA, SERI

Preliminary report on current court cases on socio-environmental damages, with an analysis of valuation issues and methods based on a exploitation of the database

UVSQ

D.8.1: Report on experiences establishing the economic value of past or foreseeable liabilities (oil extraction, mining, copper mining, plantations and waste disposal) and on methods of economic valuation and the practice of participatory multi-criteria evaluation

UVSQ

Workshop on environmental liabilities and valuation; (toguether with “law and institutions”

UVSQ

D.8.2: Final report with policy recommendation based on best practices of economic valuation of environmental liabilities discussed in the workshop

UVSQ

8.2: Carrying out advisory support to participant EJOs

UAB, UVSQ, BOG, SERI

Transcriptions of correspondence of advisory support between researchers and EJOs

UVSQ

Who is your link at the UAB?

WP1 (Financial)

WP1 (Reporting)WP2WP5 (with BRL)WP9 WP12

WP11 (CEECEC course)

WP 6WP 8WP11

WP4 (with LT)WP7WP10 (with BRL)

WP 6 (Waste disposal)

WP3

Joan

Leah

Bea

Lilit

Hali

Marta

Federico

Impacts

• B 3.1 Strategic impact• According to the call, expected impacts of EJOLT are:• Improved mobilization of researchers and different actors to engage

together in creating joint information base, and in knowledge transfer (science in society actions) on environmental justice.

• Incorporation of the information collection and conceptual development results (science in society actions) into the systems of research.

• Improved transnational cooperation between actors in different domains.

• Knowledge transfer to broaden the information base for evidence based policy-making.

B 3.1.1 Engaging in activities to support joint research• The mutual learning process between world academic experts in sustainability

sciences to improve the ability of all actors involved to engage in, contribute to and lead high quality research on several important environmental issues at both the European and international levels.

• promote innovative concepts and theoretical approaches developedby EJOs including the notion of Ecological Debt, and their role pushing for corporate accountability.

• increase the capability of environmental CSOs to act as intermediaries between governments/corporate actors and other CSOs or community organizations facing conflicts over use of resources and sinks.

• Operationalization of concepts such as Ecological Debt and Ecologically Unequal Exchange with scientific rigour, to improve the applicability and impact of such concepts. increases the uptake of these concepts

• Improve understanding of risks, exposure to hazards.• replication of success achieved in one region to others.• EJOLT will build on their legal capacity and ability to undertake legal court cases

B 3.1.2 Incorporation of activist knowledge into the systems of research• enrich the sustainability sciences through activist knowledge• strengthening the capacity of European researchers to engage in future

collaborative, trans-disciplinary research in sustainability sciences with civil society participation through the co-development of language, approaches and tools and the fine-tuning of methodologies developed in academia to civil society needs and application.

• enable academics to prioritize research agendas with CSOs, to ensure the relevance of research and enrich the quality of findings.

• The database, will enable the examination of larger trends and underlying causes of resource conflicts, presenting eco-conflicts as trends within a greater framework instead of isolated situations that should be examined as individual case-studies.

• training materials co-developed by researchers and EJOs will be used directly as course materials by academic EJOLT partners

B 3.1.3 Trans-national cooperation

• Comparing and contrasting experiences allows EJOs to gauge how environmental standards differ depending on the host country, as well as to share strategies

• Models which have been successful in one region, for example the referendums on mining activities or participatory multi-criteria evaluation processes will be presented for uptake.

• Examining the impacts of trade requires a trans-national approach to minimize harmful practices and develop more sustainable trade patterns.

B 3.1.4 Impact on policy across thematic areas

• Nuclear• contribute to an improved understanding among European citizens and policy-

makers about the impacts of nuclear from a cradle to grave analysis of the extraction of uranium, to the operation of the plants to the disposal of toxic nuclear waste.

• Input for government and civil society actors weighting the benefits, risks and costs of low-carbon nuclear energy.

• Mining and Oil extraction• Concept of “priceless sites”. V. balance of risks “no to cyanide’ – technology &

practices.• lay the groundwork for further institutional designs and experimentation with

governance processes related to conflicts.• demonstrate how processes of participation and consultation with local

communities can find alternatives to the planned (way of) resource extraction.• compile and make public a compendium of local referendums or consultations in

resource extraction conflicts in the last 10 years and the application of consultations in indigenous territories under Convention 169 of ILO

• Ship breaking and waste disposal• increase the awareness of illegal waste exports from the EU among the European

public and regulators.• legal analysis of the liability regime in national, international and European law will

strengthen the case for European action on waste exports, including e-waste.• Plantations and Biofuels Policy• provide valuable input into the biofuels debate for European CSOs and policy-makers.• answer questions such as, are biofuel plantations leading to conflict in third countries?• What volumes of imports are we talking about and which amount of environmental

space are we occupying through this biofuel policy?• Climate Justice• Support work to calculate the historical climate debt, and secondly to assess the

future liabilities for damages from climate change• A more vigorous climate policy in rich countries will be helped by sound arguments

from the South regarding the climate debt.• The objective is not to break negotiations, but rather to reconcile climate policy and

social justice.

B 3.1.5 Impacts on business• helping to improve corporate sustainability by both voluntary and

mandatory measures.• Our partner Business and Human Rights (BHR) will be the primary point of

contact with external corporate actors.• Finally EJOLT outputs can be valuable to corporate actors seeking to make

their activities more sustainable and less environmentally damaging.• Public at Large: Consumer awareness and shifting consumption patterns

- Confronting Consumer Blindness• One impact of EJOLT is to help European and international consumers

become more aware of the impacts of their consumption choices.• increase consumers’ and decision makers’ access to information on the

global social and environmental impacts of consumption.• Regulators will find solid information as a basis for developing legal

provisions (e.g. product quality standards) and administrative regulations (e.g. public procurement guidelines).

EJOLT overview of work

Education

Transcript of EJOLT overview of work