Communities or Mega-Resorts?

Children in Seine Bight Village, Belize.

ELAW partners around the world are calling on ELAW to help them protect coastal communities and ecosystems threatened by plans for massive resort developments. Inappropriate resort developments can destroy marine ecosystems, deplete groundwater, cut off beach access, and displace traditional communities, while contributing little to the local economy.

ELAW is helping win victories for coastal ecosystems and communities. Partners in Jamaica won a recent victory against the proposed Bahia Principe Resort in Pear Tree Bottom and partners in Mexico won victories against planned resorts on the Baja Peninsula that would have threatened whale breeding grounds.

The 3,000 residents of the Placencia Peninsula support themselves with small-scale tourist businesses and the bounty of the sea. Community members have teamed up with the Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy (BELPO) to challenge a massive resort development that promises little benefit for local residents.

U.S.-owned resort developer Ara Macao, Ltd. proposes to increase the population of Placencia Peninsula FIVE-FOLD by constructing a gated resort community with a marina, golf courses, poolside bars and restaurants, a casino, night club, beach condominiums, villas, and residential golf course homes. Local residents fear the development would deplete the groundwater, destroy ecosystems, and cut off beach access for local residents, such as these children in Seine Bight Village.

BELPO Attorney Antoinette Moore asked a Belizean court to review the decision to allow Ara Macao to go forward. ELAW partner Candy Gonzalez sits on Belize’s National Environmental Appraisal Committee (NEAC), where in recent months she has considered several proposals for these large-scale developments.

"Ara Macao and other similar projects will ruin Belize`s pristine coastline," says Gonzalez. "This style of development enriches a few foreign investors and destroys our greatest assets – our natural resources." Photo captions Lilian Bolt Smith moved to Cockpit Country 40 years ago when a mining operation took over her land in St. Anne Parish. She is interviewed in "Cockpit Country: Voices from Jamaica`s Heart," a film produced by the Jamaica Environment Trust and filmmaker Esther Figueroa.

Inside ELAW: 2007 Annual Meeting

Attendees at the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting in Yachats, Oregon.

"Seeing you again gives me renewed stength and hope to keep on fighting. I felt very much at home and very, very proud to be part of this wonderful ELAW family." — Annie Kajir, Papua New Guinea
2006 Goldman Prize Winner

The 15th Annual Meeting of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide was a tremendous success! Fifty public interest lawyers and scientists from 28 countries shared legal strategies, tapped scientific support, and collaborated to protect clean air, clean water, and healthy ecosystems. The meeting was held February 25 – March 1 in Yachats, Oregon.

Following the meeting, ELAW partner Raquel Gutierrez Najera received the 2007 Kerry Rydberg award for Achievement in Public Interest Environmental Activism. This award is given each year at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon.

Raquel has worked with ELAW for many years to protect Lake Chapala, which provides drinking water to most of Guadalajara`s five million inhabitants. Lake Chapala is the largest natural lake in Mexico and home to thousands of plant and animal species, including the migratory white pelican from central Canada.

Raquel founded the Instituto de Derecho Ambiental (IDEA -- Environmental Law Institute) in 1997 to help Mexican communities exercise their democratic rights and protect the environment through law. She is an environmental law professor at the University of Guadalajara and won Mexico`s Ecological Merit Award in 2001.

Thank You Externs

ELAW externs provide ELAW partners around the world with the support they need to win big, lasting victories for communities and the environment. Many thanks to Andrew Orahoske, Morgan Dethman, Sarah Peters, Amanda Freeman, Josh Kellermann and Rob Schwartz (from the University of Oregon School of Law), Tilah Larson (from Lewis and Clark Law School), and Michael McDonnell (from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida).

Report from China

CLAPV lawyer Zhang Jingjing visits with the lead plaintiff, near the power lines.

In the face of enormous environmental challenges, pioneering Chinese lawyers are stepping up to enforce China`s environmental laws and give Chinese citizens a voice in decisions about the environment.

ELAW Executive Director Bern Johnson and China Program Coordinator Steve Barnes traveled to Beijing in January to work with pioneering Chinese advocates at the Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims (CLAPV) on the campus of the China University of Political Science and Law.

Since 1999, CLAPV has received almost 10,000 complaints from Chinese citizens through the Center’s 24-hour telephone hotline. CLAPV has taken nearly 100 cases to court and won many victories for public health and the environment.

Bern and Steve traveled outside Beijing to meet with the lead plaintiff in one of CLAPV`s current cases. In February 2004, the Beijing Electric Power Company began building 50-meter electrical towers near the Summer Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For centuries, Beijing residents have enjoyed the area`s hills, lakes, and rivers. The power line project violates Chinese law and more than 200 residents have participated in community meetings and campaigns to voice their objections.

Ma Yan to visit ELAW

Bern Johnson collaborates with CLAPV staff in Beijing.

ELAW is thrilled to host CLAPV lawyer Ma Yan for a two-month ELAW Fellowship this summer. Ma Yan will study English, learn about U.S. environmental laws and litigation strategies, and meet with lawyers, judges, and non-profit organizations. ELAW will host two other Fellows from China before the end of the year. We thank Jim Olivier and ADM for making these Fellowships possible!

ELAW Impact: Protecting Mexico`s Coasts

ELAW partners in Mexico are making exciting progress protecting whale breeding grounds and fragile coastlines from polluting energy projects and Cancun-style development. Read more about our work with Carla Garcia Zendejas, Fernando Ochoa, and Pablo Uribe.

Punta Abreojos saved from Cancun-style development

A baby gray whale near San Ignacio Lagoon. PHOTO: Fernando Ochoa

Gray whales travel 5,000 miles from the Chukchi and Bering Seas to shelter and breed in the warmth of Baja`s Guerrero Negro, San Ignacio, and Bahia Magdalena lagoons. The United Nations designated San Ignacio Lagoon a World Heritage Site in 1993. Last year, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) were submitted for a large marina, yacht club, and a cruise ship pier in Punta Abreojos, near these whale breeding grounds.

ELAW scientists reviewed the EIAs and revealed many flaws. This information, coupled with legal analysis from ELAW partners in Mexico, prompted Mexico`s environmental agency (SEMARNAT) to reject the project last year. In March 2007, responding to "upgraded" plans from the developers, SEMARNAT canceled the project again.

Fernando Ochoa, Executive Director of Defensa Ambiental del Noroeste (DAN), wrote: "ELAW scientists were instrumental in this victory!" ELAW collaborated on this effort with Fernando and Pablo Uribe at Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA).

LNG terminal threatened Coronado Islands

Storage tanks for an LNG terminal currently under construction in Costa Azul, north of Ensenada. The project was developed by and is jointly owned by Sempra Energy and Shell. PHOTO: Carla Garcia Zendejas

ELAW partner Carla Garcia Zendejas, from Tijuana, has worked for many years to protect Mexico from polluting energy projects. In March 2007, Carla and ELAW partners around the world celebrated when Chevron canceled plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal near the Coronado Islands, off the Baja Peninsula.

Carla and Fernando Ochoa from Defensa Ambiental del Noroeste are now working with ELAW to oppose the siting of another LNG terminal, proposed for Puerto Libertad, Sonora, in the Sea of Cortez. This terminal would harm the marine mammals and many species that inhabit this biodiverse region.

In December 2005, Carla was interviewed by Tyche Hendricks at the San Francisco Chronicle about the environmental impacts of U.S.-owned power plants and natural gas terminals in northern Mexico. She said: "You know that saying, `Pobre Mexico! So far from God and so close to the United States.` You can put things you don`t want in your backyard, and your backyard is us."

"We have been working together against these giants for years now. . . . if it were not for the opposition mounted on all fronts, from the media to the courts, this would not have been the outcome. They did not expect the community to opine, to be informed, to make declarations, and this delayed their enterprise completely. We did our best to educate the region and learn together. I believe this was the best part of it all." Carla Garcia Zendejas

Whales and whale sharks protected by new biosphere reserve

Fernando Ochoa announced exciting news at the 2007 ELAW Annual Meeting: Mexico`s President Felipe Calderon will sign a decree creating the Bahia de los Angeles Biosphere Reserve and the Isla Espiritu Santo Marine Park.

Fernando says this victory follows six years of hard work promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in Bahia de los Angeles. The effort was led by grassroots advocates at Pronatura, with Fernando filing a key case in 2004 that halted a proposed marina that would have destroyed whale shark feeding grounds. The decree will add 400,000 hectares to Mexico`s marine protected areas.

Victories for Communities: Ecuadorean protected area; South African steelworks pollution; Protecting World Heritage from global

Spider Monkey (Ateles sp.) PHOTO: Jameson Weston, Utah`s Hogle Zoo

Developers of the Junin project, a potentially devastating mining project in the Intag region of Ecuador, have been sent back to the drawing board.

Canada`s Ascendant Copper Corporation proposes to mine copper near Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, a protected area in northern Ecuador that includes a cloud forest and one of the world’s most biologically diverse ecosystems.

Isabela Figueroa, an attorney with Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag (DECOIN), called on ELAW to review the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the exploration phase of the project. ELAW found major flaws in the EIA and helped DECOIN convince authorities that the community should be consulted early in the project planning process and that the mining proposal should be considered as a whole, without segmenting out the exploration phase.

Ecuador`s Ministry of Energy and Mines rejected the EIA due to insufficient consultation with affected communities and a lack of information on the project`s impact on local forests and the threatened Brown-headed Spider Monkey (Ateles fusciceps). The company must now consult with the local people and address the flaws in the EIA.

Isabela wrote: "I want to say a BIG THANKS to Jen, Mark and Meche for all efforts to give us technical and competent information."

Steelworks must improve pollution control

In South Africa, Mittal`s steel manufacturing plant in Vanderbijlpark is among the worst emitters of air pollution on the African continent. In 2006, Mittal submitted an environmental impact assessment (EIA) seeking to expand production at its facility by 50 percent. ELAW partners at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in Johannesburg called on ELAW for help protecting disadvantaged communities from these toxic emissions.

ELAW scientists studied the EIA and discovered that pollution at Mittal`s facility in Vanderbijlpark far exceeds pollution from facilities that Mittal owns and operates in the U.S., due to lack of pollution control equipment. LRC used ELAW’s analysis to call on the government to approve Mittal`s expansion plans only if the company vastly improves the environmental performance of the Vanderbijlpark plant.

In December 2006, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Environment agreed to allow Mittal to expand operations at its facility in Vanderbijlpark only if it committed to using the best pollution control technology for new production units and if the company agreed to substantially reduce its current emissions.

Protecting World Heritage from global warming

Mount Everest. PHOTO: Brian Roddy

Three years ago, inspired ELAW partners from Peru, Nepal, and Belize filed petitions urging the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to protect glaciers in the Himalayas and the Andes, and coral reefs off the coast of Belize from the disastrous impacts of global warming. These petitions generated many news stories, as people realized that damaging the climate could destroy some of our most treasured places.

Responding to the petitions, the Committee agreed that global warming "does" pose a threat to natural and cultural heritage sites and the Committee would move forward to investigate the impact.

In April 2007, UNESCO released a publication to raise awareness and mobilize support for protecting 830 natural and cultural sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List: "Case Studies on Climate Change and World Heritage."

ELAW is grateful to its pioneering partners for bringing the issue of global warming to the forefront of the UN World Heritage Committee. Special thanks to Peter Roderick at the Climate Justice Programme (www.climatelaw.org), Candy Gonzalez at the Belize Institute of Environmental Law and Policy, Prakash Mani Sharma at Forum for Protection of Public Interest (Nepal), and Carlos Soria of Peru.

We will continue to work with our partners in the year ahead to urge nations to take concrete steps to protect natural treasures from the ravages of global warming.

Clean water for Ukraine

In Ukraine, ELAW partners at Environment People Law (EPL) are helping the residents of Drohobych get clean water. Since the early 1900`s, a petroleum refinery has polluted groundwater in an area where residents still rely on their own wells for drinking water. EPL obtained data showing that groundwater in this section of the city contains elevated levels of phenols. ELAW prepared a health risk assessment showing why these levels of contamination would render the groundwater undrinkable, a document that EPL translated into Ukrainian and submitted to the court.

In December 2006, the local court ordered the city to immediately supply residents with clean water and build central water and sewage systems.

EPL`s lead attorney on the case, Liza Aleksyeyeva, wrote: "I want to express my special thanks to Mark Chernaik who prepared an affidavit on the human health risk of pollutant levels in Drohobych."

Cleaning-up abandoned pesticides

In Argentina, 11 tons of toxic pesticides were stored for more than 30 years in a warehouse 100 yards from an elementary school in Alta Cordoba. The obsolete pesticides (mostly DDT and highly toxic organochlorides) were stored in torn paper bags and leaking drums. Residents near the warehouse were in poor health, with one family suffering two cases of cancer and a child born with congenital malformations.

ELAW helped partners at the Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA) obtain the scientific proof necessary to file a petition requesting an immediate cleanup of the area, medical assistance for residents, and compensation for families with contaminated property.

In November 2006, Argentina`s national ombudsman, Eduardo Molina, met with the residents of Alta Cordoba about the abandoned pesticide stockpiles and formally requested a federal judge to order the responsible government agencies to immediately prepare a cleanup plan.
The University of Cordoba is now working to design the cleanup plan. ELAW will work with its partners at CEDHA to analyze the draft plan.