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This briefing serves as a 'Thought Starter' for the sixth session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS). It examines whether the international trade of lead and cadmium—as commodities, products, and wastes—creates environmental and health risks that necessitate a coordinated international response rather than isolated national actions.

This meeting report details a capacity-building workshop held on January 18, 2008, in Geneva, aimed at preparing indigenous peoples for the sixth meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Working Group on Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS). The workshop focused on the relationship between the CBD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), specifically regarding the development of an international regime on access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

This report, published by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, examines the complex relationship between international trade and climate change. It presents perspectives from political representatives and environmental organizations on how trade policy can either hinder or support climate goals, arguing for a paradigm shift that prioritizes environmental standards and global solidarity over market liberalization.

This briefing, published by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, examines the tensions and potential synergies between international trade policy and climate change mitigation. It features contributions from the Socialist Group, Friends of the Earth, and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), arguing that while trade can drive emissions through transport and unsustainable consumption, it can also support climate goals through the liberalisation of environmental goods, the implementation of high energy efficiency standards, and the alignment of WTO rules with multilateral environmental agreements.

This briefing, published by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, examines the complex relationship between international trade and climate change. It presents diverse perspectives on whether trade is a solution or a driver of the climate crisis, discussing the role of the European Union (EU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the impact of trade policies on developing nations.

This report, published by the Socialist Group in the European Parliament and featuring contributions from the Center for International Environmental Law and Friends of the Earth, examines the tensions and potential synergies between international trade policies and climate change mitigation. It argues that while the current trade regime often promotes unsustainable consumption and production, trade can be leveraged to support climate goals through the liberalization of environmental goods, the implementation of high energy-efficiency standards, and the alignment of WTO rules with international climate agreements.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) evaluates the World Bank's pilot projects using 'country systems' (CS) for environmental and social safeguards. CIEL argues that the approach fails to create permanent improvements in borrower countries' laws, weakens safeguard standards, lacks transparency, and creates barriers for communities seeking accountability through the Bank's Inspection Panel. The report warns that the Bank's plan to expand to 'country-wide' pilots is premature and recommends an independent public review and significantly increased transparency.

A 2007 request submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by FENACOCA, IBC, and CIEL, urging the Peruvian State to immediately suspend hydrocarbon exploration in the traditional territory of the Cacataibo indigenous people in isolation to prevent grave and irreversible harm.

This document consists of a series of annexes supporting a request for urgent precautionary measures to suspend hydrocarbon exploration in the territories of the Cacataibo indigenous people. It provides extensive ethnographic evidence, including over 100 testimonies from 2002 to 2006, to prove the existence of Cacataibo groups living in voluntary isolation. The report details the physical characteristics, diet, and housing of these isolated groups, their historical conflicts with other ethnic groups and rubber tappers, and the environmental and health risks posed by seismic exploration in 'Lote 107'. It also outlines the legal status of Cacataibo communal lands and the chronological process of requesting territorial reserves for the isolated populations.

This research paper by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) argues for the revision of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules to better accommodate the public dimensions of investor-State arbitrations, specifically regarding transparency and public participation.

This report analyzes the relationship between the CBD Working Group on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and the WIPO and WTO, specifically regarding patent disclosures of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, as the ABS group meets in Geneva in January 2008.

The document examines the controversy surrounding fisheries access arrangements in WTO negotiations, noting the conflict between Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that rely on access fees for development and the sustainability concerns regarding the practices of Distant Waters Fishing Nations (DWFNs) like Japan and the EU.

This document is a request for urgent precautionary measures submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and other organizations. It seeks the immediate suspension of hydrocarbon exploration activities in the traditional territories of the isolated Cacataibo indigenous people in Peru, arguing that seismic exploration poses an imminent threat of forced contact, disease, and death.

A statement by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) proposing specific amendments to the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules to increase transparency and public participation in investor-State arbitrations.

The Male’ Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change is a statement adopted on 14 November 2007 by representatives of Small Island Developing States. It asserts that climate change poses a fundamental threat to human rights and calls for urgent international action to stabilize the global climate and assess the human rights implications of environmental degradation.

Four international organizations requested that the WTO web-cast the hearings for the EC-Bananas III dispute (WT/DS27) in November 2007 to ensure that citizens and government officials from developing countries, particularly in the ACP regions, could observe the proceedings without needing to travel to Geneva.

The Center for International Environmental Law petitions for amicus curiae status in the ICSID arbitration between Biwater Gauff Tanzania Limited and the United Republic of Tanzania, arguing that the dispute involves critical issues of sustainable development, basic human rights, and the privatization of water services.

This amicus curiae brief, submitted by a coalition of NGOs including the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), supports the WTO Panel's finding that Brazil's import prohibition on retreaded tyres is necessary under Article XX(b) of the GATT. The brief argues that the Panel correctly identified the health and environmental risks associated with tyre waste accumulation and that the measure is capable of reducing these risks, emphasizing a life-cycle approach to environmental policy and the prerogative of member states to set their own levels of protection.

A statement from the Center for International Environmental Law and the WWF European Policy Office urging the European Commission to withdraw or narrow its appeal of a WTO Panel report regarding Brazil's import ban on retreaded tyres, while calling for greater transparency in the proceedings.

This research paper analyzes the first practical application of the August 2003 Decision for the import and export of pharmaceuticals produced under compulsory license, specifically focusing on the process where Rwanda imported a pharmaceutical product from a generic manufacturer in Canada.