The Institute for Energy and the Environment invites you to a lecture on
GLOBAL ENERGY JUSTICE: ETHICAL ENERGY IN A LASTING WORLD
A global collaborative of legal experts addressing the central justice issue of our time.
Friday, Sept. 21, 12:45- 2pm, Chase Center

The Vermont Law School - Institute for Energy and the Environment, McGill Faculty of Law and the CISDL are embarking on a new research project on GLOBAL ENERGY JUSTICE: ETHICAL ENERGY IN A LASTING WORLD. It aims to establish a global collaborative of legal experts addressing on of the central justice issue – energy- of our time. After a workshop in Montreal in May 2007, a second preparatory workshop was held at the Vermont Law School, 21-23 September 2007. As part of the workshop a public lecture and panel discussion was held on Friday, Sept. 21, 12:45- 2pm, Chase Center, Vermont Law School. Poster: PDF

Dr M Gehring, Lead Counsel for Sustainable Trade Law and Lecturer in International Law at the University of Cambridge gave the main lecture on “Global Energy Justice: Ethical energy in a lasting world - European Energy Sector: Innovations in Law and Policy”. His presentation can be found here.

Transcript

2007-2008 Selection Process
Senior Manager: Invitation to Apply

"The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) is seeking a dynamic self-starter with excellent management and communications skills to serve as the part-time Senior Manager for its International Secretariat located in Montreal, Canada.

The responsibilities of the Senior Manager include:

• Providing support to the CISDL’s Directors, and the CISDL Board of Governors;

• Providing communications and marketing leadership for the CISDL, including oversight of online resources and website;

• Developing and initiating fundraising proposals, managing relationships with potential and existing funders, and ensuring dissemination of project outcomes;

• Maintaining links with institutions and individuals associated with the CISDL;

• Serving as a liaison for the CISDL within the Law Faculty and the University, as well as with outside partners and stakeholders;

• Overseeing CISDL administration and the CISDL Secretariat team, including financial matters.

The qualifications sought include:

• Program development, coordination, management and administration skills;

• Demonstrated self-starting ability, leadership skills and initiative;

• A graduate degree in law, management or a related field and relevant experience;

• Fundraising or similar experience;

• Bilingualism required (English and French); other UN languages an asset.

Salary and Conditions:

The successful candidate will be able to make a minimum commitment of three years, for approx $60,000 - $80,000 /year at full-time, a portion of which depends on confirmation of funding. This post could be held part-time by an exceptional graduate student, and starts in January 2008.

For detailed information: PDF

Internship Opportunity
Gender, International Law and Justice (GILJ) Research Assistant
Cambridge, UK | July 2007
GILJ research focuses on the gap between the adoption of international laws on non-discrimination of women, and the implementation of these laws through the investigation of how non-governmental organizations use and understand international law, and what actors affect this process. The study focuses on sexual and reproductive rights in Argentina, health in Iran, education in Pakistan and water in Kenya.

For details please consult : internship opportunity (PDF)

Future lectures over the next year will include: (1) "Global Governance and Human Security: The 2007 Security Council debate on climate change as a threat to international peace and security under Article 51 of the UN Charter"; (2) "World Investment Law from Below: Global expansion of energy corporations from China and India and protection of indigenous rights"; (3) "Human Rights & the Environment: Comparative analysis of access to justice in China and India"; (4) "Energy Security & the Law: Analysis of global trends in energy law and recommendations for China's new 2008 Basic Energy Law"; and (5)"Land & Social Equity: Comparative analysis of land law as a tool for legal empowerment of the poor in China and India"

Sustainable Development Geopolitics – Developing Nations – Global Insertion, Competitiveness and Sustainability

Giselle Ferreira de Araujo, Profesor, Ibirapuera University, UNIB, Brazil & Legal Consultant*

Please RSVP in advance, if possible, to Melissa Castello,
Melissa.castello@law.ox.ac.uk.

However, participation is welcome without RSVP.

CISDL Director Marie-Claire Cordonnier-Segger is presenting a keynote speech at the upcoming conference in Oslo this weekend at the University of Oslo Law Faculty on "Sustainable Development in National and International Law: What did the Brundtland Report do to Legal Thinking and Legal Development, and where can we go from here?".

Her keynote, on the opening plenary, will cover "Principles, Practices and Prospects: Sustainable Development through International Treaty Law". A CISDL Lead Counsel, Dr. Markus Gehring from Cambridge, will also present on "Sustainable Development in World Trade Law - Perspective, Process and Prospects - A Brief History of Procedural and Substantive Integration in the International Trading System", and a CISDL International Advisor, Prof. Nico Schrijver, will present on "Sustainable Development: it's Meaning and Status in International Law."
http://www.jus.uio.no/english/

The CISDL, with a network of investigators from leading Canadian and international universities, has embarked on a legal and policy analysis of the implications of a changing climate for governance and interactions with Inuit Land-claims organizations; environmental protection and human rights; and international sovereignty and diplomacy. This four-year initiative, supported by ArcticNet, is leading and coordinating new legal research in several core areas.

To learn more or to get involved - click here.

Check out the most recent CISDL publication:
World Trade Law in Practice

In the context of growing international trade flows and frequent references in the national and international press to topical trade-related issues, this practical handbook explains how international trade law actually works in practice and how practising lawyers can use trade law to advance the cases of their clients.

World Trade Law in Practice presents international trade law in a clear, step-by-step manner, with short sections at the end of each chapter on how to find further information and explanations of key concepts and procedures. It describes the legal forums available to a country or firm with a case and how an adviser might be called upon by a firm, association or nation to use the relevant trade law. Using practical case studies, the book reviews the substantive rules covering tariffs, subsidies, dumping, services and intellectual property rights. A concluding section explains complex issues related to sustainable development and other emerging topics in a simple, clear manner.

This highly accessible title, prepared by the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, will appeal to partners and associates in law firms dealing with international economic law, corporate counsel in international and national firms and institutions, and law, economics and business management students.

Authors: Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Markus W. Gehring and Jarrod Hepburn - Centre for International Sustainable Development Law - Montreal

Publication Date: December 2006

Format: Hardback

Length: 295 pages

Price: £95

ISBN: 0-9548706-8-9 / 9780954870683

CISDL and the Emerging Dynamic Global Economies (EDGE) Network are co- hosting a side event to the third meeting of the Working Group on Liability and Redress under the Biosafety Protoocol. CISDL Research Fellow Kathryn Garforth and University of Ottawa law professor Jeremy deBeer will discuss the Canadian cases of Monsanto v. Schmeiser and Hoffman v. Monsanto and their links to the liability negotiations taking place in the context of the Biosafety Protocol. The event will be an opportunity to present research on the case law and to engage in a discussion of the implications of these cases. Lunch will be served.

Exeter College, Oxford, with Earth Charter UK
and the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law,
are hosting an International Seminar and Tree Planting Ceremony.

Honoring International Agreements for the Earth
Saturday 10th February at 10.45am.
The Saskatchewan Room, Exeter College, Oxford.
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Prize Laureate, Green Belt Movement
Julia Marton-LeFèvre, Director-General, World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger & Ashfaq Khalfan, Directors, CISDL & Chairs,
World Summit on Sustainable Development ILSD Partnership

The International Seminar will be followed by a tree-planting ceremony on the mound overlooking Radcliffe Square at the foot of
the Fellows’ Garden. At the anniversary of the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Convention on Climate Change,
this event will mark a triple launch in the UK:
• Earth Charter in the United Kingdom
• The UNEP Billion Tree Campaign
• The Oxford / CISDL Sustainable Development Law Guest Lecture Series

The seminar and talk will take place in the Saskatchewan Lecture Theatre. It focuses on Honoring International Agreements for the Earth, with interventions on The Earth Charter in the UK (Earth Charter UK), Commitment and Compliance with Earth Treaties (CISDL) and Local and Global Action for the Earth (Green Belt Movement). After the Seminar, a Jazz band will lead the procession to Fellows Garden where the Tree Planting Ceremony to Launch the UNEP Billion Trees Campaign will take place. The ceremony will be followed by lunch in the College Hall.

Spaces are very limited for this event. For an invitation or more information, contact kprice@cisdl.org

The CISDL is now accepting submissions for the positions of Research Fellow (more information), Associate Research Fellow (more information) and member of our Legal Research Group (more information).

If you are interested, send your application, clearly indicating which position you are applying to in the subject bar, to secretariat@cisdl.org before Dec 15th.  Final selection will take place at the beginning of January.

Thank you for your interest in the CISDL.

ISDL Curriculum Materials for Judicial Education

CISDL has partnered with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to compile Cases and Curriculum Materials on Sustainable Development Law, focusing specifically on a hypothetical challenge to Canadian climate change legislation. On the international level, these materials were part of a Judges Handbook that was reviewed, translated and published by UNEP.  CISDL members served as external authors for UNEP and other partners. In Canada, this work was part of a contract with the NJI, where the materials were prepared for publication as a new computer-taught course / website.

The NJI expressed great satisfaction with the materials and the course as it comes together, and arranged to purchase a bulk order of ‘Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practices and Prospects’ (OUP, 2004) to send to judges. The sustainable development law course will first be offered, drawing on CISDL members as instructors and honorary chair, in the spring of 2006

Larger file (2.4 MB):

Announcing the publication of ‘‘Legal Aspects of Implementing the Kyoto Protocol Mechanisms, Making Kyoto Work’’ Edited by David Freestone and Charlotte Streck, Oxford University Press, 2005

The Kyoto Protocol is the first international agreement to include economic instruments which are designed to involve private sector entities and assist parties to meet their targets. These economic instruments, known as the Kyoto or flexible mechanisms, are Joint Implementation (JI), the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and International Emissions Trading.

The Kyoto Protocol defined these mechanisms but did not set out the details necessary for their operation. After protracted negotiations, detailed rules were finalized at the Seventh Session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties held in Marrakech in 2001. The Marrakech Accords run to almost 250 pages but still leave many important practical issues unaddressed. As the 2008-2012 commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol draws close more and more projects under CDM and JI are being developed to take advantage of the Kyoto mechanisms and the key issues and problems are now becoming more apparent.

Drawing on the emerging body of expertise in this complex area, this book conveys a knowledge of what is becoming known as 'Carbon Finance' - the international trade of emission allowances. It thereby aims to contribute to the development of the market for carbon emission reductions - one Kyoto’s objectives.

For order form, see pdf