Environment & Health
The United Nations is actively pursuing an agenda of global regulation in the areas of economic and social rights, particularly as they pertain to environmental rights and the right to health. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) facilitate the development of networks for the promotion and protection of these rights. The UN relies on a Matrix of Human Rights Governance Networks to create and manage the global regulation of environmental rights and the right to health. The ten human rights governance networks comprising the Matrix work in successive stages: the advocacy networks generate the idea for an emerging right; the research networks conduct research to support the right; the policy networks design policy; the standards-setting networks adopt the right as standard; the interpretive networks determine the nature and scope of the right; the explanatory networks explain the right; the implementation networks promotes legislation to protect the right; the assessment networks encourage respect for the right; the enforcement networks penalize the violators; and the funding networks help sustain one or more of the human rights governance networks comprising the Matrix.
Click on the focus areas for more information.
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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
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| UN Climate Conference Promotes Global Environmental Governance |
| Governments conclude the recent UN climate change conference in Durban, South Africa with the adoption of the Durban Platform, a package of decisions that includes the creation of the Green Climate Fund, an Adaptation Committee designed to improve the coordination of adaptation actions on a global scale, and a Technology Mechanism. |
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| WIPO Publication Explains Global IP Landscape |
| The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published "World Intellectual Property Report 2011-The Changing Face of Innovation," which examines the present global intellectual property landscape and offers insights on how best to cope with the growing demand for the protection of intellectual property rights. |
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| NGOs and High-Tech Companies Adopt Silicon Valley Standard |
| At the recent Silicon Valley Human Rights Conference (also known as rightscon.org), 500 attendees adopted the Silicon Valley Standard, a statement including 15 principles relating to how the high-tech sector can better manage the human rights implications of new technologies. |
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SUSTAINABILITY
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| UN and EU Spend 5.3 Million Euros on "Climate Smart" Farming |
| The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and the European Commission are partnering to help developing countries transition to a "climate-smart" approach to agriculture that they claim better resists climate change and reduces carbon emissions. |
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| UN, OECD, and World Bank to Shape Economic and Environmental Strategies |
| In an attempt to steer developing countries into "green growth" strategies, the Global Green Growth Institute, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Bank, are implementing a Green Growth Knowledge Platform to influence local, national, and global economic and environmental policy-making around the world. |
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| Ecuadorian Appellate Court Rejects Chevron Appeal |
| An appellate decision issued by a panel of three judges in the Provincial Court of Justice of Sucumbios in Lago Agrio, Ecuador has upheld an $18 billion trial court judgment that, if upheld on further appeal, would hold Chevron Corp. responsible for damages relating to the alleged spilling of chemicals in the Amazon River basin by a predecessor company more than 20 years ago. |
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| UN Report Links 'Social Issues' and Climate Change Policies |
| A new report from the International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, and other UN agencies concludes that the goals of a transition to a "green" world must also include the enjoyment of human rights, gender equality, health, equity, social protection, decent work, equal participation, and good governance. |
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