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INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ACCEPT ‘ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS’ AS SOLUTION TO SOCIAL CONFLICT OVER WATER
19 August 2004
 A range of international organizations today accepted ‘environmental flows’ as the tool to ward off social conflict and environmental degradation due to the overuse of water in the river basins of the world. The endorsement was received at a special session at the 14 th World Water Week underway in Stockholm. ‘We believe the implementation of environmental flows is a necessary step to increase water security,’ said Mr. Anders Bertell, Executive Director of the Stockholm International Water Institute, host of the conference. The acceptance by the international community in Stockholm of ‘environmental flows’ is a major milestone because it demonstrates that ‘environmental flows’ has become widely accepted as a standard tool in modern water management.
IUCN Media Release
Download a free copy of 'Flow: the essentials of environmental flows' here (1,374KB).
Find IUCN Water and Nature Initiative (WANI) here.
IUCN CEL REGIONAL VICE CHAIR RECEIVES ABA ENVIRONMENTAL AWARD
17 August 2004
 The American Bar Association has used the occasion of its annual meeting in Atlanta to present an Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy to J. William Futrell, IUCN CEL Regional Vice Chair for North America and the Caribbean. The award was presented by the ABA President Mr. Dennis Archer, during a ceremony and reception at the Ritz-Carlton on 8 August. Mr. Futrell has devoted most of his professional life to improving understanding of environmental law and policy and to promoting sustainable development in the United States and abroad. He served as president of the Environmental Law Institute from 1980 - 2003, is a former president of the Sierra Club and currently holds the position of president and chief executive of Sustainable Development Law Associates. "Bill Futrell has mentored a generation of lawyers in environmental law...We are proud to honor him with this award", said Mr. Falk, chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law.
Full story
DECISION-MAKER'S GUIDE TO GMO ISSUES NOW AVAILABLE
11 August 2004
 Biosafety and GMOs are among the most difficult and complex biodiversity issues facing IUCN and its members. This issue touches all aspects of IUCN's mandate, from species conservation, to sustainable livelihoods, to socio-cultural policy. Responding to a call from WCC-2 in Amman, IUCN's Director General and Council commissioned a detailed background analysis that would enable them to determine how IUCN should "advance leadership, research, analysis and dissemination of knowledge regarding the potential ecological impact of the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment, focusing especially on biodiversity, socio-economic impact and food security." (Res. WCC 2.31, addressed by 55th-58th IUCN Council meetings (2001-03.)) Realising that the greatest GMO-related need shared by all decision-makers' (governmental, civil society, and industrial) is for unbiased background information and a framework for evaluating new evidence, this paper is now available to begin to address this need.
Download in pdf-format: English (438KB), French (534KB), Spanish (521KB)
HONOR AWARD FOR CHAIR OF IUCN CEL SPECIALIST GROUP ON SOILS
9 August 2004
 The World Association of Soil and Water Conservation has used the occasion of the 13th International Soil Conservation Conference held from 4 to 8 July in Brisbane, Australia, to present an Honor Award to Dr. Ian Hannam, Chair of the IUCN CEL Specialist Group on Sustainable Use of Soils. Dr. Hannam received the award "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to soil and water conservation and his service to the World Association of Soil and Water Conservation". Dr. Hannam has a 39-year long career in soil conservation and has held several positions in soil conservation in Australia and internationally. He played a major role in drafting the "Amman Soil Resolution", passed by the IUCN World Conservation Congress in 2000. He has published a number of books and research papers, and has undertaken special studies on over 20 countries, on law and policy for soil conservation.
For more information on the IUCN Specialist Group on Sustainable Use of Soils click here.
UNU/IUCN COLLABORATION FOCUSES ON GENETIC RESOURCES OF CENTRAL ASIA AND MONGOLIA
5 August 2004
 IUCN-ELC's "ABS Project" has sponsored and co-presented a regional workshop on "Legal Issues of Access and Benefit-sharing in Central Asia and Mongolia", through a collaboration with the IUCN Office for Central Asia and UN University. Over 25 participants from Mongolia and all 6 central Asian republics met in Almaty, Kazakhstan for 3 days of intense, high-level discussion of the practical issues surrounding the creation of genetic resources frameworks within these countries. During the discussion the workshop's emphasis began to focus on the possible need for a more comprehensive framework addressing the broader range of genetic resource issues, including biosafety, agriculture and farmers rights, as well as ABS - an approach that might create new pathways and solutions of ABS and other genetic resource implementation problems. This potentially ground-breaking approach is one result of the first year of work under the ABS Project, and is the subject of an intensive international research project. The ABS Project is supported by the German Ministry for Development Co-operation (BMZ).
Full story
For more information on the ABS Project click here.
UNU-IAS Access and Benefit-Sharing Programme
GOBERNABILIDAD DEL AGUA EN SUDAMERICA
2 August 2004
 Una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar la administración, el manejo y propender a la conservación de los recursos hídricos surgieron del taller que se realizó en Ciudad de Buenos Aires con miembros de la Comisión de Derecho Ambiental. Expertos en derecho ambiental de casi todos los países de América del Sur trabajaron durante tres días en el análisis de los vacíos legales y las deficiencias existentes en la formulación de políticas públicas en materia de aguas. El resultado de este esfuerzo que incluye, además de las apuntadas recomendaciones un análisis del estado actual de la legislación en materia de agua en cada país de Sudamérica, será publicado antes de fin de año en la Serie de Derecho y Política Ambiental de la UICN.
Para más información sobre publicaciones del PDC haga un click aquí.
English Version
News July 2004 >
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