Gathering the Grassroots in Guadalajara
 Maurice Odhiambo Makoloo, Institute for Law and Environmental Governance, Kenya, and Titi Anggraini, Natural Resources Law Institute, Indonesia. (Photo: Shauna Whidden) |
Convening E-LAW`s 2002 Annual International Meeting, "Guadalajara 2002," was an enormous undertaking. Obtaining necessary travel documents, meeting varied dietary needs, finding a common language, and getting everyone from the airport to the hotel were only a few of many challenges.
Meeting these challenges has yielded tremendous returns: At Guadalajara 2002, sixty five grassroots advocates from 34 countries collaborated face-to-face to further efforts to protect the environment through law.
Advocates shared legal tools, scientific resources, and inspired each other with their creative approaches and years of experience helping communities around the world build a greener, more sustainable future.
After the meeting, Genee Mislang from the Philippines wrote: "I had never imagined how much inspiration I could draw from all your experiences and friendship."
E-LAW advocates participating in the meeting reported on groundbreaking work, including:
Raquel Gutiérrez Nájera: Protecting Lake Chapala
 Meeting participants visit Lake Chapala |
Lake Chapala, México`s largest freshwater lake, has been contaminated by industrial pollution, domestic waste, and agricultural run-off. Residents of Guadalajara depend on Lake Chapala for drinking water and nearly 10 million people depend on the connecting river system for domestic, farm, and industrial use, including electricity.
Raquel Gutiérrez Nájera, the host of Guadalajara 2002, has worked for years to protect Lake Chapala. The federal government asked Raquel to draft a law to protect watersheds throughout México. Raquel called on the E-LAW network for help. Within days of her request, Raquel received advice, model laws, and support from advocates in Colombia, Costa Rica, Spain, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and the U.S. In August, Raquel sent draft amendments for the National Water Act to México`s National Environmental Secretariat. She writes: "The network and the Amigos were key and a fundamental element for our accurate presentation of the proposed amendments."
At Guadalajara 2002, E-LAW advocates visited Lake Chapala to witness firsthand the critical state of the local ecosystem. Nearby residents hosted a lunch for the visitors to thank them for their support of Raquel`s efforts to restore the lake and surrounding watershed.
Lottie Cunningham Wren: Defending Indigenous Communities
Lottie Cunningham Wren, a lawyer and Miskito Indian, is a tireless advocate for indigenous communities on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. She shared a recent victory with her colleagues at Guadalajara 2002.
Last year, Lottie helped the Mayagna Indians of Awas Tingni win a case before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights blocking the Nicaraguan government from selling logging rights in community forests to a foreign logging company. The government had granted a timber concession on Awas Tingni land to a Korean logging company, and even after the Awas Tingni won domestic court victories, the government refused to recognize the rights of the Awas Tingni people to their ancestral land.
 Raquel Gutiérrez Nájera (right) hosted Guadalajara 2002. She is the executive director of Instituto de Derecho Ambiental (IDEA), a non-profit organization helping Mexican communities protect the environment and public health. |
The legal victory at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights was the first such victory at the international level by an indigenous community anywhere in the world. The Court directed the government of Nicaragua to recognize the rights of the Awas Tingni community, and more significantly, directed the government to establish clear procedures for demarcation and titling of indigenous lands all over Nicaragua.
Many lawyers in the E-LAW network represent indigenous communities and they were eager to hear details of Lottie`s victory. Lottie called on these partners to help her ensure that the Awas Tingni lands are properly demarcated.
E-LAW U.S. is working to bring Lottie greater visibility, better communications tools, and legal and scientific support for her groundbreaking work. E-LAW`s Latin America Technology Circuit Rider, based in Uruguay, visited Lottie in Puerto Cabezas earlier this year and helped technicians at the local university set up hardware infrastructure that is enabling Lottie and local community members to use e-mail services and tap the Internet for the first time.
In Danger: Kaiser-i-hind butterfly
Fifteen kilometers southeast of Kathmandu, Phulchowki mountain rises above the Kathmandu Valley. In the Godavari forests nestled at the base of Phulchowki live hill leopards, barking deer, jungle cats, and 300 species of butterflies, including the rare Kaiser-i-hind butterfly.
 Teinopalpus imperialis |
The large, brightly-colored Kaiser-i-hind is one of 557 insect species included in the World Conservation Union`s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. It is estimated that more than 70% of all animal species on earth are insects, but fewer than 0.1% of these have been assessed for threatened status.
Kaiser-i-hind butterflies living in one of Nepal`s most biodiverse ecosystems are threatened by limestone-mining activities of Godavari Marble Industry. The quarries that feed the marble factory have destroyed the lower slopes of Phulchowki mountain, and the factory has polluted the district`s air and water.
E-LAW partners at the Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Pro Public) in Nepal have filed suit against the marble company to protect the forests from further degradation.
Pro Public`s efforts to defend Godavari began in 1989. On behalf of LEADERS, a local NGO, Pro Public lawyers presented a writ petition against Godavari Marble Industry, the Ministry of Industry, and others, calling for closure of the marble factory. In October, 1995, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued an important judgment holding that the right to life includes the right to a healthy environment, and that public interest environmental organizations, such as LEADERS, have the right to go to court.
Despite this landmark ruling, the Supreme Court of Nepal did not order closure of the Godavari marble factory. Although the Court recognized that effective mitigation and corrective measures for environmental conservation had not been taken, this was not in clear violation of any Nepalese legislation. The Supreme Court issued advisory directives to the Ministry of Industry, Cabinet Secretariat, and others to enact legislation for the conservation of air, water, and the environment.
Earlier this year, the government of Nepal renewed the Godavari Marble Industry`s lease.
In April, 2002, Pro Public filed suit again, arguing that the decision to renew the lease violates Nepal`s new Environmental Protection Act as well as new Supreme Court directives to protect the ecologically-sensitive Godavari area.
Pro Public has called on the E-LAW network for information about the impacts of limestone mining. E-LAW U.S. scientists provided information on the environmental impacts of limestone mining in ecologically significant regions, including several case studies from India.
Advocates at Pro Public hope to convince the Court that the damage caused by the limestone quarrying exceeds the economic benefits. They hope the Godavari area will be designated a protected area so that its rich biodiversity can be enjoyed by generations to come.
Travel Notes: Reflections on Puerto Cabezas
by Miguel Peirano
 Migeul Peirano, E-LAW Technology Circuit Rider |
Puerto Cabezas, home to barely 20,000 people, is the largest city on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. The eastern seaboard of Nicaragua is sparsely populated and poor, even by the standards of Central America`s poorest nation. Most of the people there are Miskito -- the traditional inhabitants of the region -- living together with significant minorities of English-speaking blacks and mestizos.
Not much has attracted the world to Puerto Cabezas. A few trawlers catch wonderful seafood that is shipped directly to New Orleans. A couple of logging companies extract precious timbers with no thought of sustainability. That`s about it.
Two years ago I arrived in Puerto Cabezas to find out why it was possible that a provincial capital of nearly 20,000 couldn`t afford the facilities for people to send a simple electronic message.
E-LAW had a valued partner working in Puerto and she was reduced to hearing second-hand news and to speaking through intermediaries who happened to be traveling to more "civilized" places like Managua.
That partner, Lottie Cunningham Wren, is a Miskito Indian lawyer who represents communities on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua who seek to protect their native lands. Lottie is frustrated by her limited access to communications tools. Out of her frustration grew our determination to help in any way we could and bring Puerto Cabezas closer to the "connected world."
It wasn`t an easy thing to do because the technical barriers would have challenged even the most generous of budgets.
A fortuitous event kindled our hopes. A pan-Caribbean fiber optic ring, called Arcos II, needed to land in Puerto to reach the Nicaraguan market. We tried to convince the local operators to spare some bandwidth for the town, but there was little interest. Later, we learned that the local university (URACCAN) had secured funding from the Ford Foundation to establish a satellite uplink tied to a public-access cyber cafe of sorts, aptly named the Communications Centre.
 Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua |
I returned to Puerto in June to try to persuade URACCAN to offer remote connections at the Communications Centre to local customers like Lottie. I brought a basic Linux machine donated by the University of Oregon Computing Center, and an external modem. I had no idea that I was going to find URACCAN virtually wallowing in a sea of expensive hardware it had acquired from Ford -- Hardware that made the gift I was bearing look rather humble.
Fortunately, I found that I had other things to contribute. I made contact with the person in charge of putting all that hardware together, a courageous young woman named Ada Villareal. I say courageous because her job description could have been that of an entire team of experts.
She had a basic computer degree and was in charge of establishing computer facilities and linkages on three campuses in the most isolated spots one can imagine: Puerto Cabezas, Bluefields, and Nueva Guinea. With help from the Network Startup Resource Center, we sent Ada to a training workshop for networking professionals in Puerto Rico.
I showed Ada how to install and configure a Linux host and how to trick Windows workstations to believe they are hosted by a Windows file server. Some of the work was delayed because we could not get a simple tool needed to make network cables. We tried to get the tool sent from Managua, but twice received the wrong item.
It was virtually impossible to configure and test the dial-up service because the Communications Centre had only one phone line. All of this was enough to convince us that the new wireless technologies will eventually carry the day, and we are now aiming our efforts in that direction.
Lottie continues to visit the Communications Centre to check her e-mail, but I think E-LAW`s contributions will go a long way if URACCAN is able to provide direct access from Lottie`s office in the future. As far as our partners are concerned, these advances represent important groundwork for connecting grassroots advocates in Nicaragua to the legal tools and scientific resources they need from around the world.
Miguel Peirano, based in Uruguay, is the E-LAW U.S. Technology Circuit Rider for Latin America.
Travel Notes: Central Africa, Working Exchange Visitors, A First for Thailand
Reaching out to Central Africa
In October, E-LAW U.S. Staff Attorney Alex Hanafi traveled to Yaoundé, Cameroon, to co-host a workshop for grassroots advocates serving local communities in the region. He was joined by E-LAW U.S. Technology Circuit Rider Miguel Peirano and co-hosts from the Centre pour l`Environnement et le Developpement.
"It was certainly inspirational," said Alex. "Everyone endured some hard travel, but Milton Taylor from Liberia managed to make it through Abidjan during a civil war!"
Alex reports that the initial excitement of advocates meeting colleagues in the region for the first time only grew in three days of work sessions and computer training. "E-LAW opened my eyes to the wide world of public interest environmental law," wrote Tumai Murombo of Zimbabwe.
And the collaboration and camaraderie continues to grow through a regional listserv and participation in the global E-LAW network.
Advocates from Cameroon, Congo (Brazzaville), the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Zimbabwe attended the Cameroon workshop thanks to support from the U.S. State Department`s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Support from the French American Charitable Trust made it possible for French human rights lawyer and former Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights, William Bourdon, to attend and share the French legal perspective with lawyers from Francophone Africa.
Recent Working Exchange Visitors in Eugene
 Nixon Sifuna, Kenya |
In the past six months, E-LAW U.S. staff have traveled to work with grassroots advocates in Cameroon, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Jamaica, México, Costa Rica, Cambodia, and Thailand. Meanwhile, E-LAW U.S. has welcomed Working Exchange visitors from the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Nicaragua, India, Kenya, Cameroon, and Zambia.
The following describes a few of our recent visitors.
Last year, Nixon Sifuna filed a precedent-setting "forest excision" case in Kenya`s High Court at Eldoret. Two days after winning preliminary rulings, Nixon was arrested and imprisoned overnight, without cause. The judge who issued a preliminary injunction was transferred and the new judge reversed the injunction. Kenyan advocates are continuing to challenge the forest excision. Sofiya Vankovych and Nataliya Balushka are 2002 graduates of Lviv State University Faculty of Law. They are staff attorneys at Ecopravo Lviv, home of E-LAW Ukraine.
Vera Mischenko is co-founder of Ecojuris, Russia`s first public interest law organization, and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize (2000). Vera brought the first successful lawsuits against the Russian government in defense of citizens` environmental and health rights. E-LAW has supported Vera`s work since 1993 to protect native forests, halt ill-conceived development projects, and challenge multinational oil companies.
 Robinson Djeukam, CED, Cameroon (left) and Peter Sinkamba, CBE, Zambia |
Robinson Djeukam is a staff attorney at the Centre pour l`Environnement et le Developpement (CED) in Yaoundé, Cameroon. CED builds the capacity of community leaders and NGOs working to protect the rainforests of Southern Cameroon.
Peter Sinkamba is the Executive Director of Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE) in Kitwe, Zambia. E-LAW U.S. Staff Attorney Jennifer Gleason traveled to Zambia to work with Peter earlier this year. CBE is helping communities in Zambia`s mining belt fight for a cleaner environment.
Pavel Cerny is a staff attorney at Ekologicky Pravni Servis in the Czech Republic. He participated in a three month Fellowship at E-LAW U.S. He is working to strengthen access to justice and public participation provisions in the Czech Republic`s civil code.
S. Devika is an environmental lawyer from Chennai, India. Her legal expertise is in the areas of transportation, women`s rights, civil litigation and environmental litigation. She has contributed to a compendium on the environmental laws of India and is a board member of the People`s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a national human rights organization. Devika is an actress and tours all over India with a local theater company.
A First for Thailand
In May, E-LAW U.S. Staff Attorney Alex Hanafi met with representatives of EnLaw, a new organization and the first independent environmental law organization in Thailand.
E-LAW U.S. Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik is now working with EnLaw advocates to get the information they need to protect the health of citizens exposed to severe radiation from improperly discarded radioactive medical devices. This case has been covered extensively in the Bangkok Post.
Thanks to support from The Asia Foundation, EnLaw Staff Attorney Surachai Trong-ngam attended the 2002 E-LAW Annual International Meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico. At that meeting, Surachai reported on the work EnLaw is doing to support the victims of radiation poisoning and gathered information from colleagues around the world to help him with his case.
Headlines: E-LAW in the News, Autumn 2002
Victory for Indigenous Rights
October 2, 2002 -- KLCC Radio (Eugene) interviewed E-LAW advocate Lottie Cunningham Wren about her work with the Mayagna Indians of Awas Tingni, Nicaragua. Lottie won an Inter-American Court of Human Rights victory blocking the Nicaraguan government from selling logging rights in the community`s forests to a foreign logging company.
That evening, Lottie addressed a standing-room only crowd as the first speaker in the "Human Rights for ALL" program at the University of Oregon. This program, co-sponsored by E-LAW U.S., included an exclusive showing of a new film, "Children of the Sun," that documents the struggle of the Awas Tingni and their victory at the Inter-American Court. Svitlana Kravchenko, President of Ecopravo Lviv (home of E-LAW Ukraine), designed the Human Rights for ALL program. Svitlana is the University of Oregon 2002-2004 Carlton & Wilberta Savage Visiting Professor in International Relations and Peace.
PNG Advocates Urge World Bank to Keep Logging Reviews
September 27, 2002 -- The Environment News Service reports that E-LAW advocate Brian Brunton, a Greenpeace forest campaigner in Papua New Guinea, is concerned that the World Bank will not keep its promise to protect PNG landowners and the country`s rainforests. In December, 2001, the PNG government and the World Bank agreed on a $39 million forest and conservation project that included commitments to review all new logging permit applications and review 15 current logging projects by June, 2003. Brunton said: "Whether or not they will stand firm or give up will depend on the amount of pressure that is applied to them... But if no pressure is applied to them I think they will repeat the mistakes they have made in the past with the Papua New Guinea government." E-LAW U.S. has worked with Brian Brunton since 1994 to protect the environment through law in PNG and around the world.
E-LAW Advocates Speak Out at World Summit
September 2 - 11, 2002 -- E-LAW advocates from Australia, Cameroon, Kenya, Moldova, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine all traveled to Johannesburg in August to attend events leading up to the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
Svitlana Kravchenko from Ukraine was a keynote speaker with the Ukrainian Minister at an August 26 roundtable "Participatory Democracy and Good Governance as a Tool for Human Rights Approach and Sustainable Development," organized by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe, UNEP, and the Regional Environmental Centre. Read Svitlana`s observations on the World Summit in "Travel Notes" at E-LAW`s web site: http://www.elaw.org.
On August 30, the Environment News Service reported that E-LAW advocate and Goldman Prize winner Samuel Nguiffo of Cameroon joined Jane Goodall and other forestry experts for a panel discussion on forests, and indigenous and other forest-dependent peoples.
Reporting on that panel, ENS writes: "Nguiffo described how countries` burdens of debt increase, leading to crushing poverty when they are given loans to finance projects that create "protected" areas off-limits to forest-dwelling peoples who depend on forest resources to survive. At the same time, these projects liberalize access to these same resources by corporations for profit."
Samuel is the director of the Centre pour l`Environnement et le Developpement, the home of E-LAW Cameroon.
Inside E-LAW: Martha Remembered, Harvard Law, Corporate Challenge
Martha Remembered
 Martha (left) with Carolyn Sykora, former E-LAW U.S. Development Director |
E-LAW`s "grandma," Martha Russell, passed away October 12, 2002. She was 85. Martha was a tremendous friend and supporter of E-LAW and E-LAW U.S. recognized her with a Local Hero Award in 1999. On that occasion, E-LAW U.S. Associate Director Lori Maddox said:
"Martha is a friend of E-LAW U.S. who helps sustain us in several ways. First and foremost, she is an inspiration. She is flawlessly dedicated to leaving a better world behind than the one she was born into. She educates us, and inspires us to act.
She makes our babies warm, welcome, and comfortable with homemade blankets. She makes our dogs feel human. She entertains our visitors and gives them a taste of Eugene`s special brand of culture. She feeds us figs and strawberries from her garden. She keeps us, and our legislators, on our toes.
Her generosity is astounding, and productive. She is a solid activist and a good friend."
Harvard Law
Executive Director Bern Johnson traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in November to speak to Harvard Law School students as part of Harvard`s "World of Law" speakers series. He described his experience as the first staff attorney at E-LAW U.S. (1991 to 1993) and his current work as Executive Director. He urged students to pursue work that advances causes they care deeply about, such as protecting the environment through law.
Bern graduated from Harvard Law School in 1987. Harvard Law School awarded him a Wasserstein Fellowship in 1994 in recognition of "his outstanding contribution and dedication to public interest law." During his Wasserstein Fellowship, Bern met Alex Hanafi, a Harvard Law School student interested in defending the public interest. Alex joined E-LAW U.S. as a staff attorney in 2001.
E-LAW Wins Commute Challenge
E-LAW U.S. participated in the City of Eugene`s Commute Challenge, and won an award from Eugene for achieving 100% participation. On October 9, the City asked people working in Eugene to use alternatives to driving to work alone.
Corporate Challenge for a Sustainable Future
E-LAW U.S. is looking for businesses that have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability, and have put that commitment to work. On November 7, E-LAW U.S. launched its Corporate Challenge for a Sustainable Future campaign at the University of Oregon`s sixth annual Sustainable Business Symposium. E-LAW U.S. was a co-sponsor of the Symposium.
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The Corporate Challenge campaign is supported in part through a generous challenge grant from the AVINA Foundation. AVINA will match the first $50,000 that E-LAW U.S. raises from private businesses over the next year. The AVINA Foundation was founded by Swiss entrepreneur Stephan Schmidheiny, who has invested a significant portion of his personal fortune into the Foundation to promote sustainable development in Spain and Latin America. Stephan Schmidheiny was an early voice for sustainable development and founded the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Serena Cosgrove of the AVINA Foundation spoke at E-LAW`s reception on the opening night of the Sustainable Business Symposium.
E-LAW U.S. thanks Howard Ingber Construction Company, Eugene Springfield Nephrology Associates, and Blitzen Ventures for becoming the first corporate partners in its campaign to build a sustainable future around the world. We are also grateful to King Estate Winery, Cafe Soriah, and Sundance Natural Foods for their generous contribution to our reception. And many thanks to Jason Halstead of View Design for his creative work.
To find out more about this campaign or how to become a Corporate Challenge Partner please contact Shauna Whidden, E-LAW U.S. Development Director
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