Nathan

Can we part with conventions?

Nathan Thanki June 8, 2011 1 Comment

by Nathan There’s nothing new under the hot Montreal sun, but it is worth noting anyway. The Intergovernmental Committee on the Nagoya Protocol opened Monday morning, the first meeting on access and benefit sharing since the Protocol was finalised at the COP last October. For a protocol that seems wholly unfinished—Swizz cheese with more holes than cheese as one observer put it, or, as new...

“You can’t have a tug-of-war without a rope”

Nathan Thanki June 7, 2011 0 Comments

By Nathan Thanki As CSD-19 finally drew its last breath at 8.52am on Saturday morning, the road to Rio looked not only rocky, but downright perilous. The CSD had failed to come to an agreement, the text was left, brackets and all, as delegates flew home. The possibility of a resumed session remained minimal—the likelihood that it would be an inclusive process; nil. As a result, the overwhelming...

The quick of it

Nathan Thanki June 7, 2011 0 Comments

By Nathan Thanki CSD-19 is only 3 days old, but already we’re seeing significant weakening of the Chair’s Draft negotiating document. Sad to say, it’s a case of the usual suspects: JUSCANZ. The United States is relentlessly pushing forth the idea that waste is a “resource,” like oil or gold, and should be exploited for economic benefit. The sad thing is that, with many people in...