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Carbon Markets

Joe Perullo November 24, 2011 0 Comments
by Joe Perullo Lately, the phrase Carbon Markets is what comes to me when I hear the word “controversial.”  Much of the literature I have read on them mentions how the markets are "a horrible distraction from real emission mitigation strategies" and how they "redefine the problem to fit the assumptions of neoliberal economics."  I wouldn’t say I disagree with these statements, but at the...

Terms of engagement: the trench war over bio-resources

Nathan Thanki June 23, 2011 0 Comments
~by Nathan Thanki Although not classically what many would immediately think of as being a priority for a Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which one might imagine is solely concerned with conservation of cuddly polar bear cubs and lush rainforests,  access and benefit sharing (ABS) for genetic resources and their derivatives have their own Nagoya Protocol (NP). So it is worth saying a...

Congratulations! … It’s a Protocol.

tzundel June 10, 2011 0 Comments
by Trudi Zundel It’s a fairly grotesque analogy: the Nagoya protocol as a newborn infant, finally emerging after years of arduous labour, ready to face the world but also helpless, in need of nurture and care. One would (or at least I did) expect the UN to be too reserved a forum for such visuals, yet Janet Lowe, ICNP Co-Chair from New Zealand, has analogised the Nagoya Protocol as such. This...

paranoia

COA Admin June 9, 2011 0 Comments
Although security is quite tame here in Montreal, once inside the building I notice the silent, uniformed men who guard bathrooms and closets, never saying anything. At a side event at lunch, I turned around only to see one such guard standing in a darkened, empty translating room, watching. In the plenary I notice them as they patrol up and down, looking along every row of laptops. Who do they...