During its closing session on 25 August 2006, the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human rights recommended to the recently established UN Human Rights Council the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the legal implications of the disappearance of States and other territories for environmental reasons. The decision follows studies undertaken by the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and the Sub-Commission, which note that, as opposed to issues of State succession, the question of the extinction of a State, without there being a successor, is unprecedented. Questions related to the forced relocation of extinct States populations have been highlighted by the Sub-Commission, in States that will totally disappear, mostly island States, but also for States with a significant proportion of whose territory will disappear, leaving only such territory as will be unable to support the existing population.
Link to further information
UN press release
(25 August 2006)
We are entering the last days of the BCSC 2020, with insightful discussions on a number of climate security challenges still to come, as well as the launch of our “21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy Is Climate Policy” essay series. Building on the high-level political Part I of BCSC 2020 back in July, this second part aims to bring together the field’s various actors in the realm of climate, development and security policy in one digital space to meet the strategic goals of sharing good practice on what works on the ground and help inform policy processes.
The novel corona virus has had the world in its grip for months. Most countries’ immediate response was to focus on internal issues: they resorted to nationalistic approaches, closing borders and even competing for equipment, even though a multilateral approach was necessary. In the longer term, will this crisis strengthen the ties between nations? Or exacerbate the flaws of today’s multilateralism?
The pandemic and racial justice protests call for justice and crisis preparedness – an opportunity also to act on climate change. Successfully taking advantage of this momentum, however, requires a climate strategy that ensures everyone has a voice and a stake. Here, Paul Joffe builds on a previous correspondence about how to begin that effort in this time of crisis.
Now in its second decade, the ambitious African Union–led restoration initiative known as the Great Green Wall has brought close to 18 million hectares of land under restoration since 2007, according to a status report unveiled by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) at a virtual meeting on Monday, 7 September.