Implementing Actor: Civil Society Organization



Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Framework

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international non-profit organisation that promotes the use of sustainability reporting as a way for organisations to become more sustainable and contribute to sustainable development. According to GRI, a “sustainability report is a report published by a company or organization about the economic, environmental and social …   Continue readingGlobal Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Reporting Framework

The Goldman Environmental Prize for Grassroots Environmentalists

For the past 25 years, the Goldman Environmental Prize has honoured grassroots environmentalists from Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The Prize, which awards each recipient $175,000 USD, recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment. The Goldman …   Continue readingThe Goldman Environmental Prize for Grassroots Environmentalists

Whakatane Assessments, Rights-Based Assessments of Protected Areas

Whakatane Assessments are part of a larger programme called the Whakatane Mechanism, which is implemented by the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP), the Forest Peoples Programme, and other indigenous peoples’ organisations (IPOs). According to IUCN, the Whakatane Mechanism “is a process to assess, address and redress situations, …   Continue readingWhakatane Assessments, Rights-Based Assessments of Protected Areas

Mexican Consejos Consultivos para el Desarrollo Sustentable/Consultative Councils for Sustainable Development

Articles 157 and 159 of the Ley General del Equilibrio Ecológico y la Protección al Ambiente (Environmental Framework Law) establish that the national government must promote public participation in the planning, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of environmental and natural resource policy. The Mexican Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Secretaría …   Continue readingMexican Consejos Consultivos para el Desarrollo Sustentable/Consultative Councils for Sustainable Development

ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Workshop on Human Rights, Environment and Climate Change

The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) was established as the human rights body of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2009 to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of the peoples of ASEAN. The AICHR organised a Workshop on Human Rights, Environment and Climate Change in Yangon, Myanmar from 13 to 15 September …   Continue readingASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights Workshop on Human Rights, Environment and Climate Change

Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Request for Czech Government to Consider the Transboundary Environmental Effects of a Coal Plant

FSM, with assistance from Greenpeace International, requested a transboundary environmental impact assessment (TEIA) of a proposed expansion and life-extension of the Prunéřov II brown coal-fired power plant in the Czech Republic through filing a formal objection under the Czech Republic's environmental impact assessment law. Although TEIAs are often triggered by …   Continue readingFederated States of Micronesia (FSM) Request for Czech Government to Consider the Transboundary Environmental Effects of a Coal Plant

13th Informal Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment

The 13th Informal Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar was held in Copenhagen on 21-23 October 2013 with a thematic focus on Human Rights and the Environment. Established in 1998, the Informal ASEM Seminar on Human Rights regularly brings together government officials, academics, and civil society representatives from ASEM member countries for dialogues on ASEM priorities. …   Continue reading13th Informal Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Seminar on Human Rights and the Environment

Local Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, Mongolia

The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organisation headquartered in San Francisco and with a network of offices in 18 Asian countries, including Mongolia, and in Washington, DC. The Asia Foundation’s current environmental program, Engaging Stakeholders for Environmental Conservation (ESEC), was initiated in August 2010 to address the key …   Continue readingLocal Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, Mongolia

Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) for Climate Change

The Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) programme rests on the notion that to gain a voice in policy debates over climate, it is important that rural and indigenous women document their own practices and experiences and are the authors of their own research. Women-led participatory research promotes democratic participation of women in policy making around …   Continue readingFeminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) for Climate Change

Grassroots Legal Advocates or “Community Paralegals”

Namati is an international civil society organisation dedicated to putting the law in people’s hands through building a global movement of grassroots legal advocates who work with communities to advance justice. The objective of training grass roots advocates is to empower communities to exercise their rights and participate in processes of governing. Namati, working …   Continue readingGrassroots Legal Advocates or “Community Paralegals”

Canada-U.S. Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act (Model Law)

In 1982, a liaison committee of the U.S. National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws and the Canadian Uniform Law Conference drafted a model law entitled the Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act. Its key provision states that “[a] person who suffers, or is threatened with, injury to his person or property in a reciprocating jurisdiction …   Continue readingCanada-U.S. Uniform Transboundary Pollution Reciprocal Access Act (Model Law)

Community Protocols

Natural Justice works with local communities and indigenous groups to assist them to prepare protocols that set out their customary, national and international rights relating to their community or territories and the natural resources within them. Natural Justice explains that these protocols serve both a defensive and proactive function. Defensively, they serve to …   Continue readingCommunity Protocols

The Submissions on Enforcement Matters Process of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Since 1994, Canada, Mexico and the United States have collaborated in protecting North America’s environment through the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which came into force at the same time as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Articles 14 and 15 of the NAAEC provide for a procedure known as the Submissions on Enforcement …   Continue readingThe Submissions on Enforcement Matters Process of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation

The Living Convention and Human Rights Standards for Conservation

The rights of indigenous peoples and local communities are addressed in a wide range of international instruments, each with its own particular focus. As a result, indigenous peoples and local communities are often unaware of their rights relating to issues such as development on their territories, lands and waters and the use of their natural resources and …   Continue readingThe Living Convention and Human Rights Standards for Conservation

Center for Victims of Torture’s New Tactics in Human Rights Programme

The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) launched its New Tactics in Human Rights Programme in 1999, with the aim of helping human rights defenders work more effectively so they can achieve their goals and better address human rights violations around the world. According to CVT, the New Tactics Programme began when it “recognized how complex the systems are that allow …   Continue readingCenter for Victims of Torture’s New Tactics in Human Rights Programme

Environmental Management Committee (EMC ): A Joint Monitoring Body of Civil Society, Government and the Private Sector in South Africa

In 2008 an Australian company, Coal of Africa (CoAL), applied for a mining right in South Africa on land less than seven kilometres from the boundaries of a UNESCO recognised World Heritage Site called the Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape. A civil society organisation called Save Mapungubwe Coalition formed and undertook a wide variety of strategies that included engaging …   Continue readingEnvironmental Management Committee (EMC ): A Joint Monitoring Body of Civil Society, Government and the Private Sector in South Africa

Advocacy and Ecology: Monitoring of “Hot Spots”

Since 2005, EcoLur has undertaken public information campaigns through the monitoring of ecological “hot spots.” The monitoring analyses the compliance of government authorities’ decisions with, among other things: Article 33.2 of the Armenian Constitution, which provides that everyone shall have the right to live in an environment favorable to his or her health and …   Continue readingAdvocacy and Ecology: Monitoring of “Hot Spots”

National Human Rights Commission of Thailand: Koh Kong Sugar Plantation Case

The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT) received a complaint in January 2010 from Community Legal Education Center (CLEC), a Cambodia-based organisation, regarding alleged human rights violations in the Koh Kong sugar cane plantation in Cambodia. The allegations included that a Thai company, through its Cambodian subsidiaries, acted unlawfully. Alleged …   Continue readingNational Human Rights Commission of Thailand: Koh Kong Sugar Plantation Case

Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)

ELAW is a network of 300 public interest advocates from 70 countries. The core mission of ELAW is to assist its partners, who are grassroots environmental lawyers working in their home countries protect the environment and communities through use of the law. Grassroots advocates play a key role in helping communities speak out, and ELAW gives these advocates the legal and …   Continue readingEnvironmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW)

The Access Initiative

The Access Initiative (TAI), which was established in 1999, is a global network of more than 150 civil society organisations that promote the procedural rights of access to information, public participation, and justice in environmental decision-making. Member organisations from around the world carry out evidence-based advocacy to encourage collaboration and innovation …   Continue readingThe Access Initiative

Protection of Environmental Human Rights Defenders

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) is a partnership created in 1997 between the Fédération Internationale des Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and L’Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (OMCT). According to the OBS web site, the objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights …   Continue readingProtection of Environmental Human Rights Defenders

Aarhus Centres

In an effort to support the implementation of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters by providing members of the public with practical resources to exercise their environmental rights under the Aarhus Convention, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) …   Continue readingAarhus Centres

Tarkkailija (“Observer”) – Web-Based Environmental Information Observer

Tarkkailija, a map-based web application launched in 2009, seeks to increase access to information regarding environmental and land use projects in different areas and cities by enabling interested parties to identify themes or locations that they would like the application to monitor. Once users specify the habitat, theme or plan that they would like to monitor, the web …   Continue readingTarkkailija (“Observer”) – Web-Based Environmental Information Observer

Women’s Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRDIC)

WHRDIC is a global resource and advocacy network comprised of 28 organisations working to defend women human rights defenders (WHRDs). The network includes Amnesty International, Front Line Defenders, and Human Rights First. WHRDIC provides many support services to human rights defenders, including: tools, resources and analysis to WHRDs to enable them to be effective …   Continue readingWomen’s Human Rights Defenders International Coalition (WHRDIC)

Human Rights Defenders Urgent Assistance Programme

FORUM-ASIA’s Human Rights Defenders Programme aims to strengthen the protection of human rights defenders, including defenders of the rights of women, in Asia. One main objective of FORUM-ASIA’s work is to provide urgent assistance and protection to human rights defenders at risk. According to a FORUM-ASIA staff member, many of these defenders are environmental human …   Continue readingHuman Rights Defenders Urgent Assistance Programme

Environmental Democracy Index

The World Resources institute (WRI) is a global research organization that works at “the nexus of environment, economic opportunity and human well-being.” The Access Initiative is a global network of civil society organisations that promote access to information, participation and justice in environmental decision-making. WRI and The Access Initiative (TAI) are …   Continue readingEnvironmental Democracy Index

Front Line Defenders Identification Cards for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Front Line Defenders (FLD) was founded in Dublin in 2001 with the aim of protecting human rights defenders at risk -- people who work non-violently for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. One important programme FLD has employed since 2005 is the use of identification (ID) cards to provide human rights defenders with an …   Continue readingFront Line Defenders Identification Cards for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders