Project proposal – draft 3

Ecological Debt, Environmental Justice and Human Rights: 
a new approach towards global sustainability

The  Global Tribunal on Ecological Debt, Environmental Justice and Human Rights 

Brussels, 9 – 10 - 11 December 2006

Organisation (International networks)
JADES (Justicia Ambiental, Deuda Ecologica y Sostenibilidad)
Contact: Leida Rijnhout, leida@vodo.be
SPEDCA (Southern Peoples Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance)
Contact: Aurora Donoso, ieetm@accionecologica.org
ENRED (European Network of Recognition of Ecological Debt)
Contact: Gualter Baptista, miquel.ortega@debtwatch.org
World Council of Churches
Contact: Rogate Reuben Mshana,  rrm@wcc-coe.org
Jubilee South
Contact: ??

Main Contact:
VODO Vlaams Overleg Duurzame Ontwikkeling 
Flemish Platform on Sustainable Development
Leida Rijnhout or Geert Fremout
Vlasfabriekstraat 11
1060 Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 536 19 40
Mail: leida@vodo.be or geert@vodo.be

Organisation:
A core group of people from North and South is installed to prepare the Tribunal. This group will organise the communication with all actors (“tribunal-list”) and will have the mandate to take decisions, based on the input of all the actors.

Main goals:
1) to raise awareness on the concept of ecological debt
2) to recognise the ecological debt of the Northern countries towards the South in legal and political (inter)national policies.
3) to propose methods to repair the ecological debt
4) to propose policy changes to avoid and reduce ecological debt in the future
5) to strengthen and interlink networks working on ecological debt

Background information:
Since colonial times Northern industrial countries have used labour and natural resources of Southern countries in wealth accumulation. The wealth of the North is built upon the richness of the Southern countries. Slavery, exploitation of minerals, political manipulation and forced monocultures are just some examples. Industrialised countries not only make use of natural resources and labour in Southern countries, they also increasingly put pressure on global ecosystems such as the climate system. Since a few years, the common denominator for these phenomena is ecological debt.  

Ecological debt is the debt accumulated by Northern, industrial countries on account of resource plundering, unequal trade, environmental damage and free occupation of environmental space at the expense of equitable rights of others. This appropriation of natural resources violates human rights and obstructs the development of the peoples in Southern countries. The notion of ecological debt is an extremely powerful concept, adding new dimensions to the analysis of North – South relations within the context of sustainable development, but the notion is still relatively unknown.

In essence, ecological debt is a new way of looking at past and present relations between countries.  Perspectives include:
-	A different political perspective: countries can be in a creditor-debtor relationship on the basis of physical-ecological relations. Through the concept of ecological debt industrialised and developing countries stand in another relationship: the North as debtor, the South as creditor. Southern movements sometimes formulate this as ‘empowerment’ of the South and Southern peoples in international relations. Ecological debt provides a different look not only at the legacy of the colonial period, but also at ‘the era of development’ after World War II: a lot of this development has been debt-driven, not only in financial terms (South-North) but certainly in ecological terms as well (North-South).
-	A different economic perspective, in particular in the field of trade: ecological debt shows that trade has often not been mutually beneficial, neither in monetary terms, nor in ecological terms. This points to the need for different analyses and perspectives on trade, which are not to be found in neo-classical trade theories, nor in current trade policies.
-	A different ethical perspective: ecological debt points at the collective responsibility of industrialised countries for past violations of the right to a clean and safe environment in other countries, in particular in the South
-	A different ecological perspective: ecological debt is another way of revealing the impossibility and undesirability of the development paths of industrialised countries, and even worse to copy them to other countries.
-	- A different juridical perspective: ecological damage and (unequal) appropriation of national goods has to be recognised, and it must be possible to bring a charge against the offender.

Ecological debt and policymaking
The ecological debt of the North towards the South should start playing a major role in discussions at international level and in several ongoing negotiations, e.g. negotiations on sustainable development, trade, climate change, biodiversity, external debt …  To study the issue of ecological debt and to look for an effective approach to stop the yearly accumulation of ecological debt and accompanying violations of human rights, we propose the introduction of the concept at the different policy levels.

A recognition of ecological debt by Northern countries would create an entirely new context for dialogue between countries.  The political act of international recognition of ecological debt may herald a new system in which North and South enter into negotiations on a more equal footing: power relations will change and the negotiating position of Southern countries will strengthen. Moreover the debate could then be aimed at a real common future.

This implies e.g. that the imbalance between commercial and financial interests on the one hand and social and ecological considerations on the other, has to be straightened out. The dominance of IMF, the World Bank and WTO has to be broken and instead, within the framework of the United Nations, an international architecture should be outlined which offers real chances for ‘Global Governance for Sustainable Development’. Provision of basic needs – food, water, health care, shelter, education – has to prevail over the pursuit of profit. Transparent decision making processes and participation of civil society have to be guaranteed.

Human Rights and Ecological Debt
As stated, ecological debt is a question of industrialised countries causing environmental destruction in the South and occupying a disproportional amount of the planet's environmental space. But ecological debt is more than just a question of reaching biophysical limits. Ecological debt has enormous human rights consequences, since people all over the South see their basic rights compromised by the continuing accumulation of ecological debt. The right to a clean and safe environment should not be denied on the basis of race, class, ethnicity or position in the global economic system. The environmental degradation and exploitation of the world’s resources by industrialised countries is then an illegitimate violation of human rights, since it undermines the life chances and quality of life of Southern peoples. Ecological debt is thus an example of environmental injustice at global level.

A rights-based approach implies equal per capita entitlements to natural resources for all people. Sustainability implies developing economies which do not transgress the earth’s carrying capacity. The combination of the two necessitates a tremendous change in production and consumption patterns in Northern countries. The North has to develop styles of wealth which are capable of justice. 

Activity:

The Global Tribunal on Ecological Debt, Environmental Justice and Human Rights

The past and present accumulation of ecological debt has largely been ignored by industrialised countries, but the violation of human rights through increasing ecological debt cannot continue. A Global Tribunal on Ecological Debt and Human Rights in the heart of the European Union (Brussels) intends to draw international attention to the problem and wants to bring it to the international agenda.

The Tribunal is planned for 9 and 10 December 2006 (International Day of Human Rights). The place of the Tribunal will be the European Parliament (to be confirmed). 

The process towards the Tribunal will be very important as well. During 2005 the network of the South (SPEDCA, WCC and Jubilee South) will organise several regional meetings (in the 4 continents, including Eastern Europe) to prepare the Tribunal and make a first selection of the cases. Every case can be explained in a first document of max 4 pages. 

The core group will decide on which 4 items the selection will be made (Agriculture, Climate Change and Energy, dumping (Nuclear) Waste, or others).  

In the meanwhile a Board of  lawyers (from North and South) will be composed to make afterwards a final selection of  cases based on criteria of admissibility. This in co-operation with the core group.
-	Existing documentation and argumentation
-	A clear EU dimension
-	presented by a (active) local based organization 
-	debt case is still ongoing or debt case is ‘closed’ (we have to decide)
-	regional spreading
-	per item one case will be selected

This board has to be independent. So, without people involved in the organization or any other actor in the Tribunal. The criteria  will be established in cooperation with the core group for  the Tribunal.
This board will select 4 cases, which will be presented during  the Tribunal itself. The creditors of the ecological debt are now asked to make a complete dossier per case. (max 20 pages, with annexes if needed).

In the process towards the Tribunal there will be made a basic legal document on the basis of which the members of the Tribunal will judge individual cases. This documents will be written by  legal experts. It will contain in the order of  20 provisions based on  international law on which the jury will base their judgements.  

The cases will be presented by a prosecutor, a Southern specialist of the item. The testimonies will be done by representatives of local groups (the debtors).

The accused will also be invited to defend themselves. They will receive the documents, made by the offenders two months on forehand, so they can prepare their defence. If they don’t send someone to the Tribunal, the organisers will ask a lawyer to defend them. 

During the Tribunal there will be a jury of 9 people (odd  number). Between them there will be a president and two vice-presidents.  The Tribunal will consist of a mix of experts on different subject matters related to the topic of the Tribunal as well as   “internationally known individuals”. There has to be a balance of academics, activists, philosophers, economists, lawyers, environmentalists.

During every case two clerks  will make minutes. After every case the jury and the two clerks will withdraw in the council chamber. Then the two clerks continue to write a (draft) verdict. In the evening this will be discussed with the jury and confirmed by the president of the jury. 

Then the next case will be presented, and so on.

Representatives from UN will be invited to observe the process, and the press as well.

The third day the results will be presented as a verdict. But also our reporter will make recommendations on political level for possible solutions and/or ways of reparation of the ecological debt and how to grow to reconciliation towards the European Parliament.

As follow up, the results of the Tribunal will be inspiration for future work on awareness raising and policy work.

Draft program of the Tribunal:

Day 1:
Opening of the Tribunal 
(by the organizers and speech and (European) political person)

Introduction on ecological debt (What, Why, How)
International experts introduce the concept, for example:
-	Joan Martinez Alier (from a Northern perspective)
-	Erik Paredis (idem)
-	Vinod Raina (from a Southern perspective)
-	Aurora Donoso (idem)
-	L. Nipsil
-	Jose Augusto Padua (historical Debt)

Day 2:
Tribunal with 4 cases.
Each case will take three hours. 
Every case is documented by a paper (10 pages) prepared by the organisations (debtors) of the South with the accusation. 
In annex there is a list of proposed cases at the moment.

Day 3 :
Report and conclusions
Report and political conclusions made by Mr. Jan Pronk. The verdict will be handed to a representative of the European Parliament and the media.

Actions to reduce and avoid ecological debt 
It should also be forward-looking, emphasizing the prevention of further accumulation of ecological debt. This implies demands to halt new projects and credits that increase ecological debt as well as fundamental changes in consumption and production patterns in countries in the North. In other words Sustainability Adjustment Plans (SAPs) in the Northern countries.
 
Some organisations have worked out alternatives and methods to implement sustainable development on global level. Around 8 alternatives will be presented as concrete policy-instruments to reduce and avoid ecological debt.

During the Tribunal:
The Degrading room and the Upgrading room
In the places around the main hall of the conference there will be several exhibitions of cases of ecological debt (even if they are not selected for the Tribunal). Organisations involved in the realization of the Tribunal can present cases on ecological debt (the Degrading Room)
We will also organise a Sustainable Development Market (in the Upgrading Room), where organisations can explain their activities/initiatives to reduce and avoid further accumulation of ecological debt. 

Timetable during Tribunal (3 days)

Day 1 AM	Day 1 PM	Day 2 AM	Day 2 PM	Day 2 evening	Day 3
AM	Day 3
AM-PM	
Opening ceremony
Presentation of Tribunal 

Presentations about 
ecological debt, environmental justice and HR
(combined with press moments)	Presentations about 
Ecological and historical debt, environmental justice and HR
(combined with press moments)	2 Cases
(3 hours each)	 2 cases
(3 hours each)	Clerks and jury work on verdicts
(closed room)	Report and political conclusions
(combined with press moment)	Possible (6 to 8) solutions to decrease the ecological debt	
Exhibition of several ecological debt cases (photos, video, ..)	Exhibition …..	Exhibition …..	Exhibition …..	Exhibition …..	Exhibition …..	Exhibition …..	
SD Market	SD Market	SD Market	SD Market	SD Market	SD Market	SD Market	

Main goal public:
NGOs (civil society), politicians, policymakers, consumers, students, scientists, migrants, refugees, journalists, .. (250 participants)

Results:
-	The verdict for the European members of Parliament (including alternative policy proposals)
-	Publication of cases and alternatives
-	Articles in press: newspapers, magazines, ..
-	Interviews on television and radio
-	Strengthened networks on ecological debt
-	Awareness raising in North and South on Sustainable Development
-	Empowerment of civil society in the Southern countries

Budget
+/- 400.000 Euro
(see annex 2) 

Indicative timetable:

	2005	2005	2005	2005	2006	2006	2006	2006	
Quarter of a year	1	2	3	4	1	2	3	4	
Contacts/core group	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	
Project proposals	x	x							
approval				x					
Basis document			x	x	x				
Process in the South/hearings in each continent 	x	x	x						
Presentation of cases from South				x					
Selection of cases by board					x				
Preparing Tribunal doc per selected case 						x	x		
Send out of charges to accused							x		
Start of media campaign (flyers, direct press contacts, ..)						x	x	x	
Definitive formation of Jury							x		
Formation of group of clerks						x	x		
Logistic organisation					x	x	x	x	
…..									
…..									
…..									
…..									

LR/06-10-04

The Tribunal is supported by:

[First list, will be supplied]
-	Prof. Dr. Jan Pronk, former minister of international cooperation, former minister of environment, special advisor of secr. gen. VN Kofi Annan.
-	Prof. JM Alier, Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor Economics and Economic History, 
-	Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Member of the Scientific Council, European Environment Agency. President-elect, International Society for Ecological Economics
-	Ms. Magda Aelvoet, former Federal Minister of Environment, Belgium
-	Mr. Jan Peeters, former Federal Minister of Environment, Belgium, actual Mayor of Herentals (Belgium)
-	Club of Rome Chapter Brussels, Prof. Dr. Raoul Weiler
-	…………………..
-	……………………

ANNEX 1:

National Contacts:
(to be completed)
Continent	Country	Contact	
Europe	Belgium – Flemish Region	Leida Rijnhout
VODO
Vlasfabriekstraat 11
1060 Brussel
tel + 32 2 536 19 40
mail: leida@vodo.be	
	Belgium – Walloon region	Hugo Ruiz
CADTM-Belgium	
	Netherlands	Jan Juffermans
De Kleine Aarde
P.O.Box 151, 5280 AD Boxtel
Tel: + 31 411 684921
Mail: info@dekleineaarde.nl	
	Spain	Miguel Ortega
ODG	
	Italy	A Sud	
	Scotland	Friends of the Earth
Teresa Martinez	
	France	CADTM-France	
	United Kingdom	Andrew Simms
New Economic Foundation
Andrew.simms@neweconomic.org	
Latin America	Ecuador	Accion Ecologica 
Aurora Donoso	
	Colombia	Tatiana Roa	
	Brazil	Jose Augusto Padua	
	Peru	Ivonne Yanez	
Asia	India	Vinod Raina	
	Philippines	Athena Peralta	

Africa	Senegal	Dembe Dembala	
	South Africa	Malcolm Damon	

ANNEX 2

Proposed cases at the moment:

Item	Cases	Debtors	Creditors	Experts	
					
Climate Change	-	Pacific Islands
-	Glacial melting	States
Consumers of too much carbon/petrol/gas		Stanley (FIJI)
Andrew Simms
FOE (Martin Rocholl?)	
Water and dams	Mozambique
INDIA/Asia 
(Río Mekong)
Chixoy/Guatemala	IFIS
MNO’s
States	

Indígena Guatemala	Malcolm Damon (WCC Africa)
Vinod Raina (India)
Jaroslava (Italy)	
Biopiracy
		States
MNO’s		Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group)
Vandana Shiva (India)
Lorenzo Muelas (Colombia)	
Food sovereignty
Food Aid
.  Nafta Mexico (mais)
.  Agro-Bio – technology.
	.  Soya Trangenetics.
.  Mais en Mexico	States
MNO’s
IFIs
Consumers 		University Ghent (Belgium)  Wouter Van Hove.
Silvia Ribeiro (ETC Group)
Adolfo Boy (Argentina)
Walter Pengue (Argentina)
Elizabeth Bravo (Ecuador)	
Pesticides	.  Bhopal (India)
(Dow Chemical)
.  Agriculture 
   .  Banana DBCP
(Dow Chemical)	States
MNO’s
IFIs		Vinod Raina (Bhopal-India)
Elsa Nivia (Rapal)
Juan Tiney (CLOC)
Ana Maria Varea
Paul Lannoye- ex-MEP-Belgium
	
Petrol and gas	.  Shell en Nigeria y others.
.  Texaco en Ecuador y others.
.  Repsol en Bolivia, Argentina y Ecuador y others.
.  Gasoduct Camisea
.  Gasoduct Burma
Thailand (UNOCAL)	States
MNO’s
Consumers 
IFIS	.  Mapuche (Argentina)	OILWATCH
Nnimmo Bassey
(Sofía WCC Suecia)
Marc Gavaldá (Repsol Mata. Barcelona)	
Mining
.  gold

.  copper

.  aluminium

.  carbon

.  uranium	.  Yanacocha (Peru)
.  South Africa

.  Papúa Occidental 
(Indonesia)
(FREE PORT MAC MORAN Y RIO TINTO)

.  Kashipur
(Orissa – India)
(ALCAN – Canadá)

.  Colombia
.  India

.  Namibia 
(Africa del Sur)
(RIO TINTO)	States
MNO’s
Consumers 
IFIS		In General:
Mines Minerals and People (Filipinas ?)
Rowil Aguillon (Jubileo Sur-Asia)
CONACAMI
.  JATAM (Indonesia)

. Stanley (WCC-India)
. Achyut Das
(Ong Agragamee-India)

.  CENSAT
	
Fishery	.  crustacean
.  salmon
.  industrial fishery	States
Japan
Spain
MNO’s
IFIS
Consumers		.  Elmer López
(Greenpeace Central America)
.  Alfredo Quarto
(Mangrove Action Project
.  John Kurien
.  Thomas Kocherry
(India)	
Illegal logging	.  FACE (Ecuador)
.  South Africa
.  Indonesia	States
Finland
MNO’s of wood and paper
IFIS
Consumers		.  Ricardo Carrere ¿?
.  Ana Filippini
.  Teresa EXPOR
(WRM)	
Exportation or dumping of toxic waste	.  Nuclear
.  CFCs
.  Barcos a desguace
(ALANG, India)
.  Mercurio
(THOR CHEMICAL
Sudáfrica)
.  Asbesto
(CAPE Sudáfrica)	States
MNO’s
IFIS??		Groundwork (Sudáfrica)
WISE Amsterdam
Greenpeace (Residuos Tóxicos-Convenio de Basilea).	
Militarisation	.  Casos de Centro – Sur América y el Caribe (Impactos de las Bases Militares y Fumigaciones en el Plan Colombia).	States
MNO’s
IFIS??		Grupo investigación WCC	

* Climate Change: very important item where there is a very clear EU involvement; debtors: a.o. EU member states; creditors: Small Island States, Inuit Circumpolar Conference; experts: Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Canada

* Water and Dams: very important item which can make use of the report of the World Commission on Dams (WCD); cases with EU involvement and active local civil society: Urra I,II and III in Colombia; debtors a.o.  Swedish energy company; creditors: Embera-Katio indigenous people; expert: Prof. Clarita Müller-Plantenberg, Univ. of Kassel (Germany); Balbina Dam in Brazil; debtors a.o. World Bank; creditors: Waimiri and Atroari indigenous peoples; experts: Instituto Socio Ambiental (Brazil) a.o. Lucia Andrade (in preparation: La Parota in Guerrero (Mexico); debtor: Electricité de France (EDF)?creditors: local indigenous peasant organisations; expert: CIEPAC (Mexico))

* Biopiracy: very important item, case with a clear EU involvement: patents on any cosmetic or pharmaceutical composition containing an andiroba extract(EP087224, US5958421, CA 2235057, JP10287546); debtors: Laboratoires de Biologie Végétale Yves Rocher; creditors: indigenous peoples from the Brazilian Amazon (Pará); COIAB, COICA; experts: ETC Group, GRAIN, Amazonlink.

* Food Security: about the introduction of GGOs? Important item but not easy to get already cases where there are EU based companies involved

* Pesticides: important item; experts: Pesticides Action Network

* Oil and Gas: very important item; cases with clear direct EU involvement: Niger River Delta Field  in Nigeria; debtors: Shell, AGIP and other EU based companies; creditors: Ogoni, Ijaw, Itsekiri and other small tribal peoples; experts: FoE; Oilwatch; Burma-Thailand Gaspipeline; creditors: Karen people; debtors: a.o. Totalelf (including Fina); experts: Oilwatch; Chiquitano Field Bolivia; debtors: REPSOL; creditors: Chiquitano people; experts: Repsol Mata

* Mining: very important item; cases with direct EU involvement: Rössung Uranium Mine in Namibia; debtors: Rio Tinto Zinc Company (RTZ); creditors: Ovambo people; experts: Minewatch (Roger Moody); Lake Flambeau Copper Mine (Wisconsin, USA); debtor: RTZ; creditors: Lac Court Oreilles Chippewa Band; experts: Lac Court Oreilles Chippewa Band, Minewatch, Canadian Council of Churches; Grande Carajas Mining Project; debtor: World Bank; creditor: a.o. Karajá indigenous people; experts: Instituto Socio Ambiental (Brazil)

* Fishery: important item; cases with direct EU involvement: West African fishing fields; debtors: EU fishers float; creditors: West African countries; experts: Fonds voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking (FOS) (Belgium); Magda Aelvoet (former MEP and Former Vice-Premier of Belgium)

* Illegal logging: very important item; cases with direct EU involvement: South Cameroun; debtors: a.o. French logging companies; creditors: Bakosi tribal people; experts: Greenpeace Belgium (Filip Verbelen)

* Exporting and Dumping of toxic waste: very important item; case with direct EU involvement: French Nuclear Test Sites in Te Ao Maohi (French Polynesia) (Fangataufa and Moruroa); debtors: France; creditors: (Polynesian) workers at the test site; experts: Moruroa e Tatou; Pacific Council of Churches (John Doom); Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC).

* Militarization: very important item; case with direct EU involvement: UK Miltary base at Chagos Island; debtor: UK; creditor: Chagos Islanders living as dispossessed “refugees” in Mauritius; experts: Chagos Islanders, Chagos Islanders Support Groups in UK and Switserland, Minority Rights Group Belgium (Yvo Peeters);

ANNEX 3

Budget for Global Tribunal Ecological Debt and Human Rights

 	January 2004 - December 2006	 	 	
Out	 	 	 	
 	Item	Costs	Total	
Staff	Coordination of project (VODO)	80.000	 	
 	personal national organisations	p.m.	 	
 	travel costs (meetings)	5.000	 	
 	 Total 	 	85.000	
Logistic costs	 	 	 	
 	office rent	1.000	 	
 	telephone, mail, internet	1.500	 	
 	communication (house style, logo, website, etc..)	25.000	 	
 	flyer, promotion	5.000	 	
 	accountancy	500	 	
 	Total   	 	33.000	
Activity costs	 	 	 	
Preparation phase (South)	documentation of selected cases (in the South)	20.000	 	
 	Hearings in the South (via WCC)	60.000	 	
 	 	 	 	
Conference	Rent of aula conference	3.000	 	
 	translation costs (conference)	10.000	 	
 	translation of documents	2.500	 	
 	payments for the clerks (8 x 300)	2.400	 	
 	catering	12.000	 	
 	Travel costs of invited guests from the South	100.000	 	
 	Staying costs of invited guests	25.000	 	
 	Per diem (7 days)	8.750	 	
 	Conference folder	1.000	 	
Final document	editing and lay out	3.000	 	
 	print (5000x) and distribution	30.000	 	
 	Total   	 	277.650	
Total	 	310.650	395.650	
In	 	 	 	
Jades	FPH	5.000	 	
Netherlands	NCDO	21.375	 	
Belgium	VODO (1/3 part of coordination)	25.000	 	
Spain	 	 	 	
Italy	 	 	 	
WCC	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	
Total	 	 	51.375