Archive for ‘property rights’ Category

CHN Launches New Project on Ecological Political Economy

Ideas of Humans and Nature, Humans, Nature, and Democracy: Ecological Political Economy

February 12th, 2010

If nature were understood as a living system with natural limits instead of raw material, how would economic and governance institutions and practices be organized? What would a right relationship between human activities and natural systems be? These are the basic questions posed by a new research project on Ecological Political Economy recently begun by the Center. This project is being done in collaboration with scholars from Yale University and the New School and is co-directed by Bruce Jennings and Peter Brown, CHN Senior Fellow and professor at McGill University. The first meeting of the project research group was held on December 9, 2009 at Yale. Presentations addressed basic shifts in scientific/ontological paradigms, modes of ethical reasoning, and approaches to democratic governance. A project hypothesis is that these shifts of worldview and ethics will be required for building a new political economy based on ecological perspectives. For more information about the project, click here.

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Ron Engel is Keynote Speaker at Conference in New Zealand

April 25th, 2009

Ron at conference_web

Ron Engel, CHN Senior Fellow, was a keynote speaker at a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Center for Environmental Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The Conference was devoted to the subject of “Property Rights and Sustainability: The Evolution of Property Rights to Meet Ecological Challenges” and Ron’s presentation was titled “Property: Faustian Pact or New Covenant with Earth?” Judge Christopher Weeramantry (former Vice President of the International Court of Justice), and Professor Eric Freyfogle (Max L. Rowe Professor of Law, University of Illinois) were fellow keynote speakers.

While in Auckland Engel also taught a course on “Law, ethics and governance for sustainability” in the master’s program of the University of Auckland School of Law, the first course in the program to base a course in international environmental law on ethics. A 600 page casebook of selected readings was prepared for this course, which Engel hopes to make available to other educators.

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“Another World is Possible”: CHN returns from the World Social Forum

Global Program, The Biosphere Ethics Initiative

February 1st, 2009

kintzele_World Social ForumCHN colleague Katy Kintzele recently returned from the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil, the Amazonian capital city of Pará. The Forum was created to offer an alternative to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, held during the same dates. In the current state of the western economic model, it was considered a timely and necessary event. Over 120,000 individuals from 150 countries attended the Forum, including President Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Fernando Lugo of Paraguay and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. On the opening day, the Forum’s founder Francisco Whitaker said participants would discuss ideas to create “a new civilization, based on other values.”

To advance the work of the Biosphere Ethics Project, Katy was joined by Karla Monteiro Matos, Director of Citizenship and Social Environmental Responsibility of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Patrick Blandin, Professor at the Paris Museum national d’Histoire naturelle. Katy presented the work of the project at the Local Agenda 21 Day events, which attracted large numbers due to the participation of Carlos Minc, Environment Minister of Brazil. Katy then chaired the CHN workshop, “Keeping Nature Alive: the Biosphere Ethics Project and Brazil’s Local Agendas 21,” which featured Karla and two Local Agenda 21 experiences. Gilberto Puig Maldonado, Gerente de Relacionamento Comunicação Institucional of Petrobras, presented the relationships between Petrobras and the 15 Local Agenda 21s that were created as a result of a refinery proposal near Rio de Janeiro. He spoke of the need to move away from “clientelism” and that corporations should extend their corporate social responsibility beyond legal requirements and risk assessment. Sirlene de Almeida, Secretaria Municipal de Meio Ambiente for the city of Contagem, spoke of the Local Agenda 21 in Contagem, their process and their motivations, including the power “to dream of a better life.”

Katy’s personal observations of the Forum and the main themes resulting from the workshops will be in the upcoming edition of CHN’s Minding Nature. The formal report, to be published by the IUCN Environmental Law Center in Bonn, is currently being drafted. The work will then be taken to the CHN North American Global Responsibilities Annual Symposium, September 17-19, 2009 at Windblown Hill, Libertyville, Illinois. This meeting will consist of a critical ethical review of the project’s work-to-date, and in the nature of this “living project,” a dialogue on the ethics of protected and non-protected areas.

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CHN Staff Invited to the University of Auckland School of Law for Course and Conference

November 20th, 2008

CHN Senior Fellow Ron Engel has been invited to be a Visiting Professor at the University of Auckland School of Law for the April 2009 intensive course, “Law, Ethics and Governance for Sustainability.” He will lead the course with School of Law Professor and New Zealand Center for Environmental Law (NZCEL) Director, Klaus Bosselmann. Dr. Engel will also be a Keynote Speaker at the NZCEL conference, Property Rights and Sustainability: the evolution of property rights to meet the challenges of sustainability. Other keynote speakers include Judge Christopher Weeramantry (Sri Lanka) and Professor Eric Freyfogle (USA). CHN colleague Kathryn Kintzele has been offered a Visiting Fellowship and will assist in the course, as well as participate in the conference.
(http://www.nzcel.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/law/about/assns/nzcel/nzcel.cfm)

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