In follow up to Sustainable Justice 2002 and their participation in the WSSD Process, the CISDL, ILA and IDLI committed to implement a new ‘Type II’ partnership initiative, in partnership with many others.

The goals of the International Law for Sustainable Development Partnership are to:

carry out legal research and capacity building in international sustainable development law (ISDL), so as to assist developing country governments, IGOs, judges, parliamentarians, local communities and the media to effectively address inter-linked environmental, economic and social challenges.

produce a series of policy and educational publications on ISDL, particularly to be used in training seminars/workshops, which shall be made widely accessible to scholars, decision-makers and civil society, in particular those in developing countries (and countries in transition).
develop a user-friendly web-based legal resource centre, engaging developed and developing country jurists, to assess, promote and implement integration of international social, economic, and environmental law. This legal resource centre will be supported by a network of dynamic developing country SD lawyers.

The Partnership will result in the following deliverables:

10 ISDL Compliance Capacity Building Workshops: Each year from 2002 to 2007, approx. two Workshops will be held, one in Canada and one in a developing country. The first 3 workshops, 40-50 people, in Montreal will examine Social (Development and Human Rights), Economic (Trade and Finance) and Environmental law and policy. Others are planned for Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sustainable Development Law: Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Livelihoods and Access to Justice; and Antigua and Barbuda on Sustainable Development Law: Climate Change, Trade and Investment.

10 Legal Briefs and 10 Capacity Building Manuals:

Each ISDL Workshop will be preceded by joint participation of sustainable development lawyers from the north and south in international negotiations on the issue, and debate over the CISDL listserve, as well as consultations with expert advisors. This participatory process will result in ISDL legal briefs (prepared before the Workshops), discussed through the interactive web site and listserve, to lay out the issues, and scope the relevant parameters of the debate. A thematic Compliance Capacity Building Manual will be prepared after the Workshop, which features the relevant principles, explains best practices in instruments to implement and enforce the ISDL in question, and includes case studies of lessons learned by different countries with experiences in implementation of the relevant treaties.

Ongoing Publications on the Web-Resource Centre:

Through the virtual web-based resource centre, we will provide resource materials for partners to engage in capacity building, including at least 30 Developing Country Firms, Courts and Bar Associations, as well as non-lawyers, in international and domestic (including grassroots) capacity building work. A knowledge network of sustainable development lawyers will be created, to bridge the digital divide in Africa and other areas.