Development of Protocol & Negotiations

UNCLOS III negotiations was the intervention of the Maltese Ambassador to the United Nations before the First Committee of the General Assembly. As mentioned earlier, negotiations at the multilateral level may also open as the result of decisions taken by an international conference or by the governing body of an international organization. The negotiations on the FCCC were launched as the result of the adoption of a General Assembly resolution; the Kyoto Protocol negotiations were launched as a result of the adoption of the Berlin Mandate at the First Session of the COP; and the negotiations on the CBD and those on the Basel Convention were launched as the result of the Governing Council of UNEP deciding to set up ad hoc working groups of scientific and technical experts. The opening phase of negotiations also requires planning the process, setting the agenda and designing the structure of the negotiation machinery. In bilateral and multilateral negotiations alike, this phase can get into very elaborate details and require considerable negotiation itself, such as determining the number, definition and sequence of agenda items, selecting the venue and agreeing on the seating arrangements of a conference. In multilateral conferences, there is always an added layer of complexity as a number of administrative and strategic matters must also be addressed, such as drafting and adopting rules of procedure, approving credentials, establishing committees and subcommittees, delegating work, and electing presiding and other conference officers. The time required to complete such tasks varies immensely and, like so many

Global Convention on Forests

Box 2: From the Idea of a Global Convention on Forests to the Adoption of the Forest Principles One of the five outcomes of UNCED was the adoption of the Non-Legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and Sustainable Development of all Types of Forests, also known as the Forests Principles. Although the issue of forests was on the international policymaking agenda for nearly two decades prior to Rio, only one legally-binding agreement, the 1983 International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA), existed on forests prior to UNCED. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many countries, including those of the G-7, began calling for a global convention on forests. Significant divisions between developed and developing countries polarized the negotiations in the UNCED preparatory committee sessions, and ultimately prevented a legally-binding global agreement from materializing at Rio. The full title given to the Forest Principles is testimony to the widespread divergences between those states calling for a legally-binding instrument (i.e. “Authoritative Statement”) and those seeking to limit the agreement to a non-legally binding “Statement of Principles

Background

In the last past three decades over 300 multilateral treaties on environmental topics as diverse as biological diversity, long-range transboundary air pollution, climate change, desertification, etc. have been negotiated and concluded, with many more environmental agreements adopted either at the regional or bilateral levels. However, States, particularly least developed counties and developing countries, face the challenge of negotiating and implementing these legal instruments with limited technical, financial and human resource capabilities. The lack of trained personnel impedes an effective and efficient participation of least developed countries delegations in environmental agreements negotiations

INC 6-11

• INC 6-11: In the period prior to the Convention’s entry into force, the INC met six times. The meetings agreed to draft decisions on the definition and provisional adoption of PIC regions, the establishment of an Interim Chemical Review Committee (ICRC), and the adoption of draft decision guidance documents (DGDs) for chemicals already identified for inclusion in the PIC procedure. They also prepared draft decisions for the first COP, including on financial arrangements and dispute settlement procedures. Chemicals added to the interim PIC procedure during these sessions include
•  ethylene dichloride and
•  ethylene oxide,
•  monocrotophos,
•  four forms of asbestos,
•  dinithro-ortho-cresol, and
•  dustable powder formulations of benomyl, carbofuran, thiram, tetraethyl lead, tetramethyl lead, and parathion.
•  Discussions of the inclusion of a fifth form of asbestos—chrysotile—were initiated at INC-10 but no agreement was reached.

Rotterdam Convention

The current members of the CRC are Armenia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, the Gambia, Germany, India, Iran, Jamaica, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Yemen and Zambia

• CRC-8 adopted eight decisions, including on:
•  dicofol;
•  trichlorfon;
•  pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE)
•  and pentaBDE commercial mixtures;
•  octabromodiphenyl ether (octaBDE) and
•  octaBDE commercial mixtures;
•  perfluorooctane sulfonic acid,
•  perfluorooctanesulfonates,
•  perfluorooctanesulfonamides
• and perfluorooctanesulfonyls;
• paraquat; and working procedures and policy guidance.

Contract Drafting and Negotiating

Contract Drafting and Negotiating: Pitfalls and Strategies: Contracts that are well-drafted create binding, enforceable obligations consistent with the expectations of the parties. Experienced in-house and private counsel will highlight negotiation strategies and common drafting mistakes that render contracts ambiguous or unenforceable. Presenters will illustrate the importance of precise drafting using specific examples of indemnities, limitation sof liability, liquidated damages and arbitration clauses in the context of, among others, letters of intent, purchase agreements and shareholder agreements. Attend this session and learn practical drafting tips and negotiation tactics that can be applied to both simple and complex contracts to create enforceable obligations that reflect what you intended.

Previous Negotiations

Case #1The Origins of the Negotiations on the 1989 Basel Convention

Transboundary shipments and disposal of hazardous waste became the focus of international concern in the early 1980s as many developed countries began implementing strict legislation on waste disposal. The high costs associated with this new regulatory action made alternatives, such as shipping toxic wastes to developing countries, appear more attractive and certainly less costly to the many industries in developed countries producing such wastes.
......Anyway , years later....
the ash was finally illegally dumped into the Atlantic and Indian oceans. News of the incident contributed to growing international concern that tightened regulations for hazardous waste disposal in developed countries had to be accompanied with international rules regulating trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes.

Origins of negotiations

All negotiations aim to serve a purpose. The objective may be to manage or resolve a conflict or dispute, or it may entail developing a collective project, such as drafting and adopting a declaration or resolution on an issue of concern to the world community. In both cases, a broad spectrum of events or developments is usually responsible for precipitating a negotiation. These developments may be revolutionary in nature, such as a sudden, natural catastrophe (e.g. earthquake, flood, or tsunami), industrial accident or armed invasion. Or they may be evolutionary in nature, such as growing awareness or scientific evidence that a problem (e.g. land mines, ozone depletion or endangered species) can only be addressed effectively through collective action. In either case, events almost always trigger a response, which very often takes the form of intergovernmental negotiation.

Who are the Actors?

• The Provincial Government;
• Foreign Business Interests;
• Quebecers affected negatively by this Plan.
• Quebecers affected positively by this Plan.

Negotiators are rarely unitary actors. In most cases, including inter-governmental negotiations, they are agents acting on behalf of principals; they are accountable; and they carry important responsibilities

Negotiations in General

Although intergovernmental negotiations are conducted primarily between and among official authorities (e.g. heads of state, ministers, diplomats and scientific and technical specialists), other actors, such as intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, trade unions and, increasingly, parliaments and local governments, are often involved in processes and contribute to determining outcomes. In fact, in many contemporary intergovernmental negotiations and particularly those taking place in the context of large multilateral conferences on economic, social or environmental issues, representatives from these non-state sectors often easily surpass the total number of state delegates. At the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, for instance, NGO representatives outnumbered state delegates by a margin of more than four to one!

The Institut du Nouveau Monde and Minalliance: A Disingenuous Alliance | Coop média de Montréal

OPEN LETTER: The Institut du Nouveau Monde and Minalliance: A Disingenuous Alliance | Coop média de Montréal

What are these organizations? The Institut du nouveau monde, primarily funded by the Government of Québec, presents itself as an organization that favours civil society participation in all types of debates of social importance. As for Minalliance, it is nothing more and no less than the public relations arm of the mining industry, mandated to charm the people of Québec with their aromatic “positive contributions” to the development of Québec in a way that oddly reminds us of what the father of public relations, Edward Bernays, called “propaganda”.
In March, the two groups are organizing a tour of Québec to hold public consultations about our mining future… funded entirely by Minalliance. Nothing, these days, escapes private sponsorship, not even processes of public deliberation on the future of our collective resources and wealth. In this context, the very notion of what can be regarded as public territory is financed by private mining corporations, which have the most to gain by influencing the debate in their favour. On the one hand, it is very disconcerting that the industry defines — through Minalliance — the boundaries of political debate, for which it is directly concerned. On the other, the Institut du nouveau monde’s endorsment of the process in the name of civil society leaves us further

Tour schedule

Tour schedule

My Personnal Status

Because I can not afford the $2,000 networking sessions where real info is discussed- how is one to obtain the true and real info. This course alone costs $200./week, one module of 5 in the program. I could spend all my money today- but that means I would have no money for tomorrow.

The nature of negotiation

Negotiation is an interactive process whereby two or more interdependent parties seek to reach a mutually acceptable agreement over an issue or set of issues. As a concept, negotiation presumes that parties have both common and conflicting interests. As one recognized authority on negotiation has put so succinctly, “[w]ithout common interest, there is nothing to negotiate for, without conflict, nothing to negotiate about.” [1]This dialectic of interests is the raison d’être of negotiation; it is omnipresent, and it creates both major challenges and considerable opportunities for negotiators

CISDL Briefs

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) was organized in order to evaluate where we are standing with regards to the concept and the implementation of « sustainable development ». Governments of 195 countries as well as national and supranational organizations will meet to discuss the future of sustainable development in the context of green economy and poverty eradication, by trying to elaborate a concrete action plan for the future.

This expert round table, organized by the CISDL, aims at evaluating and exploring the legal and economic aspects of sustainable development and the transition to the green economy in the context of the preparation to Rio+20.

Climate Negotiations

The Kyoto Protocol was negotiated between 1995 and 1997 in response to the adoption of the Berlin Mandate at the First Session of the COP. Following the adoption of the Protocol at the conclusion of the Third Session of the COP, parties were reluctant to deposit their instruments of ratification largely because the rules of the protocol’s implementation mechanisms (the Clean Development Mechanism, emissions trading and joint implementation) were not yet finalized. This required several additional years of negotiations which were concluded at the Seventh Session of the COP in Marrakesh in 2001