Saving Fish Habitat

ELAW Partnership in Belize

Bonefish, permit, and tarpon thrive in the lagoons, estuaries, inlets, and mouths of many rivers in Belize.  This is prime fly fishing territory.  Unfortunately, shortsighted developers don’t seem to care about fish habitat or the health of the marine environment.

Fortunately, people who live in Belize are organizing to protect fish and fish habitat.  Fishing guides, small hotel operators, and citizens are coming together to challenge environmental abuses and work toward a sustainable model of development that protects Belize’s unique marine habitats.

The Ambergris Caye Citizens for Sustainable Development (ACCSD) in San Pedro and the Peninsula Citizens for Sustainable Development (PCSD) in Placencia are young organizations that want to chart a sustainable future for Belize.  They have joined with ELAW to form the Grand Slam Alliance, to ensure that lessons learned protecting fish habitat in Belize are shared around the world through the ELAW network.

Critical habitat has been destroyed and more abusive projects are being planned:

• The proposed South Beach mega-resort on Ambergris Caye would destroy roughly 500 acres of mangroves near Hol Chan Marine Reserve – essential habitat for the many bonefish that live and breed in the area.
• In southern Belize, a proposed development on Big and Little Channel Cayes in the Southwater Marine Reserve, a World Heritage Site, would destroy mangrove, coral and seagrass beds.
• Prime tarpon habitat has already been destroyed by dredging and construction on Rendezvous Caye off the Placencia Peninsula.

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The Grand Slam Alliance is working to:

• Stop the destruction of flats, mangroves, corals, and seagrass beds that are critical for fish;
• Help craft master plans for coastal and island development that will protect valuable habitat;
• Strengthen and enforce laws and regulations aimed at protecting sportfish and their habitat;
• Educate communities about the importance of protecting habitat that is critical to the long-term survival of healthy fish populations; and
• Help communities speak out to protect fish and critical habitat.

Learn more about the Grand Slam Alliance: www.grandslamalliance.org

Raising the Bar in Honduras

IDAMHO founder Clarisa Vega interviewed by media at the conference site.

More than 100 lawyers, students, and community leaders in Honduras joined high government officials at a July 8 conference in Tegucigalpa, co-hosted by the Environmental Law Institute of Honduras (IDAMHO) and the Honduran Bar Association.

The conference explored the environmental challenges facing Honduras and how public interest environmental lawyers can ensure that large-scale investments bring sustainable development. ELAW partner Pablo Fajardo inspired participants with a description of his unprecedented lawsuit against Chevron for contamination of the Ecuadorian Amazon. ELAW Director David Hunter, from American University’s Washington College of Law, shared lessons learned from BP’s tragic Gulf oil spill. ELAW helped launch IDAMHO and is supporting their efforts to attract more lawyers to work on behalf of disadvantaged communities.

Around the World

VICTORIES for clean water, for clean air, and healthy communities

JAMAICA
Fixing a Leaking Sewage Plant
Who spends time thinking about what happens when you flush the toilet? A visit to the Harbour View Sewage Treatment Plant back in the 1980s prompted ELAW partner Diana McCaulay to leave her work in the insurance industry and launch the Jamaica Environment Trust.

“The sewage flowed everywhere, foamy and malodorous, carrying condoms and sanitary pad liners and untreated human excrement right into the sea,” says Diana.

Now, more than 20 years later, residents of Harbour View, a seaside community west of Kingston, can rejoice: the court has ordered the National Water Commission to fix the leaking plant!

Diana writes in her EarthTalk blog: “In 2005 we asked the community, Will you go to court with us? They thought about it. And they said no. Folks were afraid – they or their families worked for the Jamaican government, they feared victimization, they didn’t trust the courts, and they knew it would take years. By then, it had become The Way it Was – if you lived in Harbour View, you smelled sewage, you didn’t use the beach and if your kids disobeyed you and went into the sea, they got sick.”

In 2006, two Harbour View residents decided it was time to go to court – one had a son who got sick after swimming in the sea and the other was incensed when a representative of the National Water Commission said that sewage on the beach was not his concern.

The rest is history. Read more about the long road to this inspiring win in Diana’s post at the Jamaica Environment Trust’s EarthTalk blog: www.jamentrust.org.

SRI LANKA
Getting the Lead Out
Paint being sold in Sri Lanka can have as much as 130,000 parts per million of lead-containing additives – that’s more than 200 times the amount of lead allowed in U.S. paint! After close collaboration with ELAW staff, ELAW partners in Sri Lanka are on the verge of enacting new, more stringent standards. The new Sri Lankan standard will match the standards in the U.S., establish a system for testing paints prior to sale to consumers, and include safe standards for paint on toys and other children’s accessories.

SOUTH AFRICA
Banning a Dangerous Pesticide
Intensive collaboration with Angela Andrews at the Legal Resources Center in Johannesburg helped convince South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to prohibit the sale of chlorpyrifos for residential use – a dangerous pesticide more commonly knows as Dursban. Chlorpyrifos has been linked to neurodevelopment disorders in children and has been banned for residential use in the U.S. for nearly 10 years.

Clearing the Air
Industries in South Africa belching polluting emissions must now adhere to strict new standards. In March, South Africa adopted industry-specific air pollutant emission standards – the first of this type on the African continent. ELAW partner Angela Andrews and other NGO representatives in South Africa worked for many years to put in place this critical protection for community health. The new standards will serve as a model for other countries across Africa.

BELIZE
Protecting the Mesoamerican Reef
Last year, the Westerhaven cargo vessel smashed into the Mesoamerican Reef, near Caye Glory, damaging 6,000 square meters of pristine reef. In April, the Chief Justice ruled that the reef is not property but a living thing, and the shipping company must pay $11 million Belize dollars (U.S. $5.5 million). ELAW staff provided legal and scientific support to partners in Belize, helping to set this fabulous precedent for grassroots advocates all over the world who are working to protect coral reefs.

Maya Land Rights
They have inhabited the area for centuries longer than the current government, but the Maya in southern Belize have had to battle for nearly two decades to re-gain their right to own and manage their lands. Antoinette Moore, the only attorney practicing law in southern Belize, has worked side by side with the Maya community for the last decade to secure this community’s rights to property, equality and life.

Antoinette is part of an international legal team that has carried the Maya’s cause through the Belize Courts, to the Organization of American State’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and back to the domestic tribunals in Belize. The initial victory in the Supreme Court of Belize came in 2007, when the court decisively acknowledged two communities’ customary land rights. In June, Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh issued a decision which extended his judgment to all 36 Maya communities in the Toledo District of Belize.

The decision has a potentially profound impact on development of mineral and petroleum resources in the area.
“The Chief Justice affirmed that the Maya are the indigenous people of Belize and have rights to the lands that they have traditionally occupied for centuries. Although the government has subsurface rights throughout Belize, the Maya people will definitely have something to say with respect to the exploration of resources underneath their land,” says Antoinette.

INDIA
Wetlands Triumph Over Coal-Fired Power Plant
Villagers in Andhra Pradesh are challenging plans to build a coal-fired power plant in local wetlands – which an environmental impact assessment has categorized as “wastelands.” On July 14 things turned violent, with police firing on villagers, killing three people and injuring hundreds.

ELAW partner Ritwick Dutta was before the National Environmental Appellate Authority (NEAA), arguing the case for the villagers, when news of the violence reached the court in Delhi. The NEAA reacted swiftly, canceling governmental approval for the project, noting that the site of the proposed power plant is a wetland of great ecological significance, and the overwhelming opposition to the project by local people. In the 13-year history of the NEAA, this is the first time it provided instant relief to an affected community.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
No Dumping Mine Waste in Basamuk Bay
A bad plan to pipe toxic waste from the Ramu nickel mine into Basamuk Bay has been shelved. ELAW partners at the Papua New Guinea Eco-forestry Forum went to court in April, challenging the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Corporation and a large team of local and international lawyers. In a victory for community health, the National Court ordered a halt to plans for “sub-marine” disposal of mine waste.

HUNGARY
Polluting Project Shelved
A state-owned company wants to build a 440-megawatt power plant near Visonta, close to a protected area. The power plant would be fueled by lignite, a soft brown fuel that falls somewhere between coal and peat. A lignite mine, serving a smaller power plant at the same location, has already depleted groundwater supplies.
The current lignite powered plant is already Hungary’s largest greenhouse gas emitter. The new plant would increase CO2 emissions by 2.5 million tons/year.

ELAW partners at the Environmental Management Law Association (EMLA) send good news: Authorities have revoked permission to build the plant and have required a new environmental impact assessment. EMLA attorney Ágnes Gajdics was in the U.S. earlier this year on an ELAW Fellowship. She worked with ELAW staff to help strengthen the case against the power plant.

Holding Mining Companies Accountable

ELAW is pleased to announce the publication of Guidebook for Evaluating Mining Project EIAs. The Guidebook was produced by ELAW staff and reviewed by a team of experts, including ELAW Board Chair Glenn Miller, Director of the Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences and Health at the University of Nevada at Reno.

ELAW has helped partners around the world evaluate dozens of environmental impact assessments (EIAs) for proposed mining projects. The Guidebook consolidates what we have learned and points to critical resources, to help grassroots advocates and communities understand mining EIAs, identify flaws in mining project plans, and explore ways that mining companies can reduce the public health hazards associated with mining.

“This book is what I really need right now.”
Ma Yan, Center for Legal Assistance to Pollution Victims, China

“Thanks for this marvelous piece of work. Its usefulness cannot be explained by words.”
Rugemeleza Nshala, Lawyers Envi ronmental Action Team, Tanzania

“This document is enormously useful for us.”
Anthony Jo, Asociacion Civil Labor, Peru

Available in English and Spanish at www.elaw.org/mining-eia-guidebook

Protecting the Peruvian Amazon

Oil Development Threatens Indigenous Communities

Yarinacocha Lake

In the city of Pucallpa, on the banks of the Ucayali River, indigenous leaders gathered to discuss the future of lands tagged as oil concessions.  “People are concerned about the impacts of extractive industries.  There is a lot of tension due to a lack of public participation in decisions being made,” says Meche Lu, ELAW Environmental Research Scientist.

“There are 21 leaders and some of them had to travel by boat for six days to get here. One boat tipped. Nobody was hurt, but they lost some belongings.” Meche Lu Pucallpa travel log

At the Pucallpa workshop, participants drew pictures of their ideal village and talked about how things would change if oil companies came.

Meche traveled to Pucallpa in April to participate in a workshop with leaders from the Yine, Shipibo-Conibo, and other indigenous communities living near Cordillera Azul National Park.

About 75 % of the Peruvian Amazon has been divided into oil and gas concession blocks.  Many of these blocks include lands of indigenous communities, protected areas, and protected area buffer zones, including lands in and around Cordillera Azul National Park. 

Communities that have lived in these remote areas for generations are asking for help responding to the arrival of the oil and gas industry.  ELAW is working with partners at Derecho Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) to collaborate with these communities and ensure that oil development in the Amazon does not destroy waterways, the rainforest, biodiversity, and ancient ways of life.

DAR is conducting workshops across the region with local groups, focusing on indigenous and environmental rights related to oil development.  The workshop agenda includes sharing community guidelines to better participate in decisions about proposed energy projects, details on the environmental impact assessment process, community based monitoring programs, and the environmental and health impacts of oil and gas development.  This work is made possible thanks to a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Left to right: S. Rivadeneira (Ecolex, Ecuador), A. Santillan, M del R Sevillano (DAR), Mayer Sanchez (Diobamba community), Meche Lu (ELAW)

Excerpt from Meche’s travel log
April 15, 2010

I have been in Pucallpa since Monday evening.  The workshop is excellent.  The staff from DAR are doing an outstanding job.  I did three presentations on the health and environmental impacts of oil; environmental impact studies; and community based monitoring.

DAR’s team has wonderful techniques for communicating complex environmental law and science topics in ways everyone can understand.  In all of the workshops that I’ve participated in with indigenous communities, these methods are the best.

It is over 100 degrees Fahrenheit – too hot!  The city is full of motorcycle taxis and it is an adventure to move around.  The Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon, is huge.  It is inspiring to see the commitment of these local leaders to defend their social and environmental rights.

Inside ELAW: Fellow Jean André Victor

 “I have mixed
feelings going
back to
my country.
Happy to go
back home, but
sad to leave
home.”

Jean André Victor
ELAW guestbook

“For more than 20 years, Jean André Victor worked as an agronomist in Haiti, trying to solve the riddle of how to fix the centuries of environmental degradation and poverty that has kept Haiti from developing a self sustaining economy and food supply.  But, ‘the main problem is that you can’t solve the degradation of Haiti with projects,’ says Victor.

“This spring, at the age of 68, Victor came to Eugene to discuss law and policy with scientists and other attorneys, write the first textbook on environmental law in Haiti and learn English at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute.   He came through the help of the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide .  .  .

“He will return to Haiti this summer – a country that was struggling even before the devastating January earthquake that killed thousands of Haitians, including Victor’s mother – and try to change his country from within.”

Excerpt from “Healing Haiti: Changing a Country from Within,” by Camilla Mortensen, Eugene Weekly, June 10, 2010.  (www.eugeneweekly.com/2010/06/10/coverstory.html)

ELAW hosted Jean André Victor from Haiti for a three-month ELAW Fellowship (March 29 – June 29).  Jean André is an environmental attorney and an agronomist.

He worked one-on-one with ELAW staff to advance his work to protect biodiversity in Haiti, including launching projects involving tree planting and fuel-efficient cookstoves.  He completed a first draft of the first book of Haiti’s environmental laws and participated in a ten-week intensive English program at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute.  Many thanks to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the American English Institute, for supporting Jean Andre’s Fellowship.

Inside ELAW: Summer Legal Interns

ELAW receives many applications from promising law students who want to volunteer as summer Legal Interns. This summer we are pleased to have Joanna Reilly-Brown and Ashley White working with us.

Joanna (on right)
I am a rising third-year law student in the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law Environmental and Land Use Law certificate program. I am fascinated by the interaction between humans, culture, and the natural environment.

Last summer I spent two months in Costa Rica studying international environmental law and comparative watershed management. This year, I spent the first two weeks of May in Belize working on a project through the UF Law Conservation Clinic involving small farmers converting to more sustainable farming practices in the buffer zone of a protected area.

Ashley
I am a third year student at Willamette University College of Law. I am in the process of completing a certificate in International and Comparative Law. I am interested in contemporary global environmental issues, rights, and environmental compliance.

I worked and studied in China in 2005 and 2007 – including teaching English at the Shanghai Migant Workers School. I will travel to China later this year to study environmental law. My research on the environmental impact of China’s economic rise served as my primary motivation for attending law school.

An Update on CRUDE and the Chevron case in Ecuador

ELAW Partner Pablo Fajardo continues in his quest to hold Chevron accountable for the devastation to the Ecuadorian Amazon.  According to Pablo and his colleagues, at least 345 million gallons of pure crude oil was purposely dumped via ‘produced water’ in the region, and Chevron’s policy of allowing produced water to spill into surrounding land and water was “a deliberate production decision to maximize profits.”

To give some perspective, as of mid July, government estimates of the total BP spill are in the range of 48 to 140 million gallons.  Unlike BP, which has continually asserted that they will pay “all legitimate claims,” Chevron continues to deny responsibility, and continues to fight all efforts to hold it accountable.

In addition, Chevron has subpoenaed more than 600 hours of documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger’s ‘outtakes’ – the film footage that he produced but did not use when making his award winning documentary CRUDE: The Real Price of Oil.  A Federal District Court judge required that the film footage be released, however an appellate court stayed that order until the appeal is decided.  Oral arguments on the appeal were heard in mid-July and it is expected that the appellate court will issue a ruling soon.  Filmmakers and news organizations from all over the country – including Robert Redford, Bill Moyers, Michael Moore and Ric Burns, the Director’s Guild of America, the Writer’s Guild of America, as well as the NY Times, LA Times, CBS, NBC, ABC, Associated Press, Dow Jones, and HBO – have opposed Chevron’s action in court.

CRUDE: The Real Price of Oil is now available on DVD.  If you would like to consider having a house party to show the film, please contact our Outreach Director Rita Radostitz (rita@elaw.org).

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