Volume 4: Issue 1 (2008)
Climate Change Migration, Refugee Protection, and Adaptive Capacity-Building
Robert McLeman
Abstract: This article describes the potential for large-scale population displacements and migration as a result of climate change. Migration is one of many ways by which households exposed to climatic stresses may adapt. Given current trends in climate change, increased rural-to-urban migration in developing regions and increased levels of international migration along pre-existing social networks may be expected. Two international policy instruments that may be relevant for managing climate change-related migration are the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). People displaced by climate change would not qualify for protection as Convention refugees under the former convention, and there is little evidence this situation will change in the near future. The international community is, however, committed under the UNFCCC to assisting vulnerable developing nations build capacity to adapt to the impacts of climate change. This commitment provides an opportunity for developed nations to prevent future climate-related migrations by expanding the range of adaptation alternatives.
Bio-fuels in Canada: Normative Framework, Existing Regulations, and Politics of Intervention
Ngo Anh-Thu, Paule Halley & Peter Calkins
Abstract: In 1994, Canada became a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol. This international agreement commits each country to reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases in order to control global warming. At the national level, Canada is developing a policy of sustainable development based primarily on promoting the production and consumption of bio-fuels as a means to reducing greenhouse gases and meeting Canada’s Kyoto targets. Canada has begun arming itself with laws at the national level and in some provinces. The purpose of this paper is to identify an appropriate legal framework that could promote the production and consumption of bio-fuels in Canada. It seeks out an efficient GHG reduction strategy from among three approaches: mandatory (laws and regulations); economic incentives (taxes and subsidies); and voluntary (on the parts of both fuel refiners and consumers). The results of the study suggest that the legislative decision-making process is strongly influenced both by concern for the effective use of natural resources and by the priorities of economic development at the local and provincial levels. Government regulations at the provincial level tend therefore to reflect the socioeconomic characteristics of each province.
Gisèle Belem, Emmanuelle Champion & Corinne Gendron
Abstract: Over the last few years, transnational mining companies’ investments in developing countries have been the object of intense debate. As well, civil society in both industrialized and developing countries condemn the effects of these investments on the economic, social, and environmental situations of host countries. Called out, a number of actors in the mining industry and international organizations have been proposing for the past few years a broad range of recommendations and procedures aimed at ensuring greater control over the industry. These recommendations are, generally speaking, of a unilateral nature. In effect, with globalization and the decentralization of business, national regulation has become obsolete. This makes room for a soft law that is particularly appreciated by the private sector, indeed promoting a form of corporate social responsibility that is reduced to voluntary and unilateral initiatives. However, in the face of the clear deficiency of this approach, new instruments are emerging. These instruments implicate a multitude of actors and propose an articulation of regulations, private and public, national and international. International frameworks, as one such instrument, are in the opinion of the authors a means to articulate the initiatives of corporate social responsibility and supranational norms under a binding agreement adhered to by the industry.
Book Review: "War and Peace and Development"
Rohinton P. Medhora
Reviewed: Oli Brown et al., eds., Trade, Aid and Security: An Agenda for Peace and Development (London: Earthscan, 2007)
