New TWN Book on Nagoya Protocol Negotiations

The Third World Network (TWN) has released the second edition of "The Road to an Anti-Biopiracy Agreement: The Negotiations Under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity". Comprised of a series of reports and articles, the book provides detailed descriptions and analyses of the 14 sets of negotiations since 2004 that led to the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing in 2010. It also provides initial analysis of the potential of the Nagoya Protocol to stop and prevent biopiracy of biological resources and traditional knowledge and to contribute to the fair and equitable sharing of benefits and the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Cesagen to Sponsor the Next Cardiff sciSCREEN

Cesagen (ESRC Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics) will be the sponsors of the next Cardiff sciSCREEN; a screening and discussion of Poetry (dir: Chang Dong-Lee). Cesagen is an interdisciplinary research centre based at the universities of Cardiff and Lancaster.

At the sciSCREEN we will have four speaker who will address topics such as:

• The genetics behind Alzheimer’s Disease and recent developments in the field.
• How poetry makes us remember, but also lets us experience as if for the first time.
• The role that art plays in allowing us to acknowledge and engage with the potential meaninglessness and tragedy of life.
• The ways in which people with Alzheimer’s can learn to do new things despite memory problems, and how this contrasts with the current government strategy for caring and treating individuals with dementia.

Further detail of the speakers will be put up shortly.

UNFCCC Meetings & Event on REDD Safeguards

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recently held parallel meetings in Bonn, Germany. The 34th sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) took place from 6-16 June. The second part of the fourteenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) and the second part of the sixteenth session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) took place from 7-17 June.

On 7 June, Ecuador and the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emission from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (UN-REDD) held a joint side event about some of the key concepts and tools being developed to address safeguards in REDD+ implementation. An press release on the side event states, "The Agreement on REDD+ now recognizes the need to 'promote and support' safeguards and requests parties to develop a 'system for providing information on how safeguards are being addressed and respected'. Safeguards include critical issues such as forest governance, respect for the knowledge and rights of Indigenous Peoples and members of local communities and actions that are consistent with conservation of natural forests and biological diversity." Presentations at the side event included the UN-REDD Programme on its approaches and various sets of guidelines; the Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) on its Social and Environmental Standards Initiative; TEBTEBBA on the importance of addressing Indigenous peoples' land tenure; and Ecuador and Vietnam on their experiences with addressing safeguards in their respective national contexts.

More information about the side event and its presentations can be accessed here. Daily reports and analysis of the UNFCCC negotations are provided by IISD Reporting Services.

New Publication on Development & Customary Law

The International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) recently released an issue of "Indigenous Affairs". Edited by Jens Dahl and Geneviève Rose, it includes a range of articles on different aspects of customary law, self-determination, and development among Indigenous peoples in Kenya, Sabah (Malaysia), India, Bolivia, and Russia. The editorial explores the importance of customary law for Indigenous peoples' self-determined development, self-governance, control and management of their territories, and addressing internal challenges such as conflict resolution and women’s rights. The full issue can be downloaded here.

Thanks to Elsa from the TK Bulletin for the link!

Ontario's Biodiversity Strategy

Yesterday the Ontario Biodiversity Council released “Ontario’s Biodiversity Strategy” to coordinate conservation action in the province over the next decade. Its primary goal is to “mainstream” biodiversity considerations into the decision making of government, industry, ENGOs, landowners, scientists, communities and individuals. It is definitely worth a read and will hopefully generate lots of discussion among biodiversity scientists. For example, a few of my comments…

The Good: The emphasis on public education and explicit biodiversity curricula at all levels.

The Bad: Barely any mention of protecting biodiversity in Ontario’s agricultural landscapes (pretty pictures of sunsets on farms don’t count). And, as Cécile pointed out, barely any mention of coordinating efforts with other provinces or states.

The Ugly: No explicit target for controlling habitat loss or fragmentation (the biggest threats to biodiversity!). Instead they focused on controlling invasive species and setting aside 17% of ecosystems in protected-area networks. What about managing the other 83% of the ecosystems?

CBD Meeting on Sustainable Use Held in Montreal

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) hosted a meeting from 31 May to 3 June in Montreal on the sustainable use of biological diversity, with particular focus on customary sustainable use (i.e. Article 10(c)). Participants agreed on recommendations regarding elements of a strategy to integrate Article 10(c) as a cross-cutting issue into the CBD work programmes and thematic areas, beginning with the programme of work on protected areas, as well as recommendations on: developing further guidance on sustainable use and related incentive measures for Indigenous peoples and local communities; and considering measures to increase the engagement of Indigenous peoples and local communities and governments at the national and local levels in the implementation of Article 10 and the ecosystem approach. They also focused on how to operationalize the three indicators adopted for traditional knowledge: status and trends of linguistic diversity and numbers of speakers of Indigenous languages; status and trends in land-use change and land tenure in the traditional territories of Indigenous peoples and local communities; and status and trends in the practice of traditional occupations. The advice and recommendations developed at the meeting will be submitted to the seventh meeting of the CBD Working Group on Article 8(j) this November, as well as to the 11th Conference of the Parties (October 2012).

Meeting documents, including the agenda and information on indicators, can be found here. More information about the meeting can be viewed on the Traditional Knowledge Information Portal. Thanks to Elsa from the TK Bulletin for the links and description!

Viewing People and Parks through a New Lens

From 18-19 June, Natural Justice attended a seminar on biocultural diversity and conservation in Sabah, Malaysia. It was the second of three seminars and part of an interactive course designed by the Global Diversity Foundation (GDF) and funded by the Darwin Initiative UK. The first seminar, "Reframing Our Ecology: Concepts and Debates for Research and Advocacy in Human-Environment Relationships", took place in April.

This second seminar was facilitated by Dr. Tania Li (Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto) and Dr. Richie Howitt (Department of Geography and Environment, Macquarie University). Drawing on critical academic literature, Dr. Li and Dr. Howitt guided participants through discussions of contemporary issues concerning people and parks (particularly areas of contention), scale and institutions, and intercultural environmental governance. Online discussions of additional readings will continue ahead of the third seminar in October.

A Travel beyond the Himalayas: Mustang #4!

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Ranipauwa, the only town of Muktinath, is about 45 minutes walk from the Jharkot. The trail, along with the land settings looks perfect: wide enough and neither plain nor steeply uphill. The landscape is rather mild but with very rough terrain.  No greenery around. That may be because of the season. People said it gets a bit greener during summer though there are no trees. Only few adaptive scrubs and herbaceous species grow and bloom when the area receives rain. Rainfall is very scanty. Mustang is one of those areas which receive extremely low rainfall. As I already mentioned on previous post, this is mainly due to the monsoon shaded by Annapurna-Dhaulagiri Massif. One of greatest naturalists, Adam Stainton classified this valley as Inner Himalayan Valley. In his book ‘The Forest of Nepal’, he mentioned that Mustang has similar vegetation to Tibet because of the physiographic and climatic similarity. The only few woody species found modifies their habit into compact and dwarf spiny form. Such life form is called Cushion, which is the best life form to cope the environmental (especially extreme radiation, aridity, temperature and wind) as well as biotic (browsing by Yaks, Naks, Chauries, Horses, Sheeps and Goats etc.) severity. These cushion species are an integral components of trans-Himalayan vegetation.

Landscape of Mustang with Mt. Dhaulagiri on distance

 As I approached Ranipauwa, I checked quite a few hotels but couldn’t see my research colleague. I didn’t have any alternative, so opted to go find him around Muktinath Temple Complex. 

Ranipauwa Town, Muktinath Mustang

 It takes about 15 minutes from Ranipauwa to Muktinath temple. The trail is somewhat uphill but not really hard. I was alone and climbing up towards main gate of the temple. Because of being in high altitude area it was hard to walk, and had to drink water quite frequently with sufficient rest. The souvenir shops on both side of trail were trying to persuade me to buy their stuffs. They were getting excited when I started looking at their shops. But their excitement didn’t last long because I only had bare promises. As of many visitors, who just see their souvenirs, I also didn’t buy. I looked at their shop because there were some really interesting items like ammonites, very thick and attractive woolen scarf, socks etc. They jack up price quite interestingly. I asked a lady who had the largest shop on right side of trail, about the way of fixing prices and percentage they save as profit. 

The souvenir shops and Close up view of the town.

Firstly she denied talking but later after a long conversation on other aspects of her life, she revealed that they fix price observing the costumer. She told that she sometimes hike up the price even up to 200%. It largely based on how much time costumer spent looking her stuffs. For those who looks souvenirs for longer, play with those and gets smaller items, she charges more money. But, that visitor who goes for quick selection gets quite a good discount. However, she argued that she has never charged inexplicably. It is interesting to note that all the souvenir shops were ran by women. Further, they are not so aware about the skin problems they might face because of the intense solar radiation and the dust wind blows, and strikes their skin every seconds. Even if they know they can’t quite the shop – one of the major sources of income for their family to sustain and to educate their kids. Though they are quite adaptive to physical surrounding, they may not be able to tolerate cancer causing solar radiation! Above all they are enjoying, which is great :)

See the people looking at one of the souvenir shops. (sorry for poor quality pic.!

But I was walking slowly and taking longer than I was supposed to. I was planning to wait Gabe outside the complex because I didn’t want to visit the temple that day! It is believed that before entering into Hindu religious complexes, one should be sacred. According to mythology, it is considered to be sacred/ pure if one takes shower and changes clean clothes. Although I showered last evening and was pretty clean, I was not culturally pure because I didn’t washed my body on same day. So, as an inborn Hindu [I’m a believer and do believe on existence of God but just SINGLE. I think, The God for all religion is same (and just ONE) but the way of perceiving him are different so there are many religions around the world], I was not willing to enter into temple complex when I was (so called) impure.

The Holy Muktinath Temple, Mustang