Final Report

A report on the IDRC support to develop a project proposal for “Integrated Eco-Health Assessment in the Americas: A Hemispheric Research Partnership to Evaluate and Strengthen Health and Environmental Impact Assessment Laws and Policies”

March 20, 2006

Mrs. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, CISDL Director,
Prof. Maria Leichner Reynal, Executive Director, Fundacion Ecos (Argentina),
Prof. Carlos Murillo, Researcher, CINPE (Costa Rica),
Dr. Oscar Betancourt, Director, FUNSAD (Ecuador), and
Mr. Lyndon Roberson, Programme Director, CEHI (Saint Lucia)
Also, as associates:
Lic. Soledad Salvador, Researcher, CIEDUR (Uruguay),
Lic. Hernan Blanco, Executive Director, RIDES (Chile).

Introduction

Canada and the countries of the Americas are proceeding with a track of Summits and hemispheric cooperation negotiations, which, if realised, will transform the political, environmental, social and economic geography of the Western Hemisphere. In the 2001 Third Quebec City Summit of the Americas Plan of Action, 34 leaders committed to more integrated social, environmental and economic policy-making, in support of the objective of sustainable development.

The 2005 Fourth Mar del Plata Summit of the Americas took special note of the results of the Meeting of Ministers of Health and Environment of the Americas (HEMA), which was held in Mar del Plata June 16 – 17, 2005. States agreed that there is a need to encourage public policies on sustainable development, by strengthening synergies between health and environmental sectors in the Americas, building capacity and “providing tools and resources that will assist decision-makers at all levels to better link and integrate environment and health factors.”

Ecologically, closer cooperation in the Americas makes perfect sense. The Americas are a chain of diverse but interconnected ecosystems, stretching from the Yukon to Patagonia. In terms of health policy, hemispheric linkages have been established by the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), and more recently, by a process of cooperation between Health and Environment Ministers of the Americas (HEMA). The HEMA process has the potential to provide a helpful first step. Although it still lacks the full participation of the Americas research community, especially civil society institutions, the recent meeting in Mar del Plata recognised the “importance of the role that Civil Society… must play in shaping national and regional action to mitigate and prevent threats to human health and the environment”, and committed to expand their participation in the HEMA process.

This movement toward closer environment and health cooperation also takes place in a context of ongoing regional and sub-regional trade negotiations, and other economic development projects. These processes could either support sustainable development, or detract considerable effort and resources from its realisation. As recognised by the 34 Ministers in the first HEMA meeting, effective and integrated health and environment impact assessments have the potential to help mitigate serious health and environment risks of new trade and economic development policies, and open space for greater public participation. Only a few governments in the Americas even apply impact assessment guidelines to their large-scale economic policies (such as trade policy), and even these do not yet understand how to integrate health aspects into the environmental impact assessment analysis. There are also very few impact assessment laws or policies being adequately implemented in the region. As such, there is an important need to strengthen laws and policies in this respect, and to build awareness of, and compliance with, these laws. There is a need to refine and develop methodological approaches to carry out impact assessments of trade and other related measures that could have effects on health and environment, and to enhance institutional and legal capacity to sustain and enforce this process, including by identifying and developing elements of new laws on integrated health and environmental impact assessment in the Americas.

To fill the gap, an inter-disciplinary coalition of eight research institutes from across the Americas, who have a demonstrated track record of successful collaboration, received support to develop a project proposal for an initiative to jointly refine and develop an essential new tool – health and ecological impact assessment laws and guidelines - through a four year research and capacity-building project with the IDRC and other partners. The four year project has three objectives.

- First, through joint multi-disciplinary field research and information exchange, the research partners will investigate and analyse how IA laws and policies are functioning in practice.
- Second, the research partners will organise and host joint capacity building and awareness-raising workshops to build expertise and knowledge in LAC developing countries on health and environment IA research methods and laws.
- Third, the research partners will provide recommendations to hemispheric policy-making, through side events at Americas Health and Environment Ministerials, Americas Trade Ministerials, and other upcoming opportunities for consultation with policy makers related to the Summit of the Americas process.

In essence, the new four-year innovative hemispheric research project builds on, monitor and analyse existing experiences with integrated health and ecological impact assessment in Americas laws and policies. The partnership seeks to refine and strengthen a crucial new tool for Americas communities and authorities – integrated health and ecological impact assessment law. The research will be used to influence policy-makers, and can make a significant difference toward protection of eco-health objectives and priorities in the Americas integration process. The research will be sensitive to gender considerations, and the pressing needs of most vulnerable groups, such as indigenous peoples and the urban poor. It will be conducted with active collaboration between the partners; and will seek to incorporate the relationship between all components of an ecosystem, for recommendations on how impact assessment laws and policies can better identify priority impacts on the health of people and sustainability of their ecosystems.

The initial project development support from the IDRC, added to other resources contributed by the CISDL and partners, permitted the preparation of a full project proposal on ‘Integrated Eco-Health Assessment Law in the Americas’, which was submitted to the IDRC Eco-Health Programme in January, 2006. Between the initial preparation of the project idea, and the current proposed start-date, research proposal support activities took advantage of the international meetings of policy-makers in the field this year, and also sought to maintain and strengthen the momentum of the partners.

These research support activities provided solid foundations for the project. As such, this report details the activities and outcomes achieved thanks to a small grant to support further development of the research project proposal, in an effort to build momentum for cooperation between the partners, to allow them to meet together for joint planning, and with policy-makers from their countries, and to build solid foundations for the project.

Goal and Objectives

The research support activities contributed to the overall goal of the larger research initiative, by developing a sound research proposal to identify, analyse and reduce health and environment risks from economic integration for the communities and ecosystems of the Americas, by facilitating the integration of health and environment issues in assessment laws and policies of the Americas.

In particular, the support activities achieved the following specific objectives:
- Permitted partners to undertake international outreach with policy-makers and health and environment experts, in order to broaden the network of collaborators engaged in the project, reaching out to the IDRC Eco-Health Community of Practices, health experts and policy-makers, and others.
- Permitted partners to host consultations with each other, and with high level policy-making forums in the Americas, where partners were able to build links with senior policy-makers and international experts who can assist with the project, and ensure that the research to be undertaken is linked-into, and relevant to, current regional integration processes.
- Supported the organization of a panel event and planning meeting for preliminary discussions, sharing of perspectives and identification of priorities, case studies and potential workplans among research partners, contributing to the development of a substantively stronger research proposal.

Support for Activities to Develop the Research Proposal

The research support funded preparatory activities in 2005, where the partners undertook joint scoping, information exchange, substantive discussions and planning for the project. The partners discussions focused on the links between health impact assessment law and environmental impact assessment law in the Americas, within a context of sustainable development. They co-organised a series of consultations at the HEMA meetings in Mar del Plata, Argentina in June, 2005 and at the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina in November, 2005. They hosted an International Panel Event, Book Launch Reception and Research Partners Retreat to decide on methodologies, case studies, cooperative work-plans and other aspects of the research project proposal in Corrientes and Mercedes, Argentina in November, 2005, serving to develop and strengthen the research proposal, and prepare for launching of the collaborative research project. They held a set of consultations with key project leaders and advisors at the Trade and Development Symposium parallel to the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong in December, 2005 (funded by the partners and other contributors), and they carried out site visits with the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) and the University of West Indies Faculty of Law in early 2006.

The Methodology and Timing of Proposal Research Support

In particular, the proposed activities were based on three specific strategies, which provided significant support to help the partners further jointly develop the proposal and plans for research project:

1) Project Participation in HEMA Meetings & Fourth Summit of the Americas
(June 16-17 & Nov 4-5, 2005, Mar del Plata, Argentina):

The partners sent a southern research partner representative, Dr. Maria Leichner Reynal (ECOS, Argentina), to the meetings of the Health and Environment Ministers of the Americas (HEMA), from June 16 – 17, 2005 in Mar del Plata, Argentina.
There, she discussed the project with senior policy-makers, and ensured that the research will be linked into the priorities and ongoing government initiatives in the region. The CISDL and partners contributed the resources for this activity.

Activities at the HEMA included interviewing senior officials from LAC countries, making links between the southern partners and the other experts in the field, and identifying potential members of an international advisory council for the project. Successful meetings were held by the partner representative with Dr. Roberto Bazzani (IDRC). Consultations were also held between Dr. Leichner Reynal and representatives of several international organisations and country delegations working on health and environment issues in this field, including the UNEP ROLAC, the OAS, the PAHO and various sub-regional institutions and research centres. Based on these meetings, a preliminary list of potential international advisors was prepared, and will be finalised in San Jose, Costa Rica, in the first project meeting of the project partners. Based on these meetings and consultations, a working paper was also prepared and circulated in Spanish and in English, in order to provide a preliminary substantive basis for the research project. (See Appendix 1: Legal Concept Paper, in Spanish and English).

The partners also participated in activities surrounding the upcoming Fourth Summit of the Americas Summit in Mar del Plata, Argentina, from November 4-5, 2005. Due to concerns regarding security and participation, as well as much higher-than-expected costs of travel logistics, the partners sought and received permission from the IDRC not to organize a major event at the Summit itself as originally planned (moving this event to the end of November in Argentina, instead). However, they sent a delegate to the Summit and its parallel activities, Lic. Soledad Salvador, (CIEDUR, Uruguay), who participated in the meetings and built further links with the social (especially gender, health and human rights community representatives and experts) involved in the debates surrounding the Americas integration process.

2) Project Planning Meeting & Seminar at Universidad del Nord Este (UNNE), Argentina
(November 28-30, Corrientes & Mercedes, Argentina):

After reviewing the joint concept paper and holding successful discussions with international experts, the project partners hosted a three days of meetings in Corrientes and Mercedes, Argentina, from November 28 – 30, 2005. This meeting was originally proposed to take place at the University of Costa Rica from January 2-6, 2006), but was moved to the earlier date after approval was received from IDRC. In spite of a wildcat strike with Aerolineas Argentinas, which made travel logistics challenging, the activities were quite successful. They included an International Panel Event, a Book Launch Reception, a Project Planning Retreat of the partners, and field visits to the operations of ECOs, a core research partner, in Mercedes and the Ibera reserve in the far north-eastern corner of Argentina with Paraguay and Uruguay.

The International Panel Event was held on November 28 in Corrientes, featuring presentations from Dr. Maria Leichner (ECOS, Argentina), Lic. Soledad Salvador (CIEDUR, Uruguay), Dir. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (CISDL, Canada), Dr. Oscar Betancourt (FUNSAD, Ecuador), Prof. Carlos Anibal Rodriguez (UNNE, Argentina), and Dr. Markus Gehring (CISDL, Cambridge).  The Event gathered over 70 local and international participants, and brought core partners, advisors and other potential collaborators together in a forum of where initial ideas and case studies were shared, and a common base of information and knowledge began to be developed.

The International Panel Event served to lay foundations for efforts to start compiling existing environmental impact assessment laws and guidelines in the region, with an emphasis on the manner that they integrate health considerations and indicators, from across the Americas, and helped to refine the ideas behind the proposal for comparative research and analysis. The event was particularly successful at attracting advice and engagement from local organizations and researchers, leading to an invitation for core partners to speak on a national radio show on the evening of the panel, and many newspaper articles on health and environment impact assessment. Announcements were sent to members of the IDRC Eco-Health Community of Practice, to government and other experts, to university researchers, health and environment experts and civil society organisations operating in the region, and to the media. The event was also featured on the websites of the research partners. (The papers given, and a collection of newspaper articles which resulted from the panel event, are attached in Appendix 3 to this report).

After the International Panel Event, participants also joined the partners to launch their new book, 'Beyond the Barricades' (600pp, Ashgate Press, 2005), which the IDRC supported with a small partnerships grant two years ago.

The book launch provided profile for the research partners in the region, and generated increased greater support for the project.

The core research partners and associate partners then retreated to the village of Mercedes, to the ECOS headquarters there, for a day-long Joint Planning Session which was attended in person or by Skype / teleconference by Dr. Maria Leichner (ECOS, Argentina), Lic. Soledad Salvador (CIEDUR, Uruguay), Dir. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (CISDL, Canada), Dr. Oscar Betancourt (FUNSAD, Ecuador) and Dr. Markus Gehring (CISDL, Cambridge), Mr Lyndon Robertson and Mr. Vincent Sweeney (CEHI, St. Lucia), and Mr. Greivin Hernández González and Prof. Carlos Murillo (CINPE, Costa Rica). The retreat provided an opportunity for the partners to jointly agree on the project approach and goals, to jointly plan the project methodology and outcomes, and to identify further health experts, as well as professionals with expertise in health and environment impact assessment, who will be invited to become involved in the research project. (See Project Retreat Report, attached in Appendix 2 of this Report).

Comments had been compiled in advance from project advisors including Mr. Scott Vaughan (OAS), Mr Ricardo Sanchez Sosa and Mr Enrique Leff (UNEP), Mr. Roberto Bazzani (IDRC), and others. In the meeting, the partners agreed on the methodology, characteristics of potential case studies, and work plans for the five year project research. (The meeting report, the final programme of the International Panel Event, Book Launch Reception and Partners Retreat, and a list of project partners that participated, in Spanish and English, are attached in Appendix 2 to this Report).

3) Partner Meetings & Consultations at Trade & Development Symposium, Hong Kong, and at Univ. West Indies Law Faculty & Caribbean Enviro Health Institute (CEHI), Caribbean.
(Dec – Mar, 2006, Hong Kong, Bridgetown & Castries)

Individual consultations with each institution were determined to be essential to develop clear ideas for case studies and the structure and workplans of the project, at the meeting in Corrientes. Fortunately, many of the project partner institutions were invited by other institutions to the December WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong, including RIDES (Lic. Hernan Blanco), CINPE (Prof. Carlos Murillo), CEMDA (Lic. Gustavo Alanis), ECOS (Dr. Maria Leichner Reynal), CISDL (Dir. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Dr. Markus Gehring), and other helpful trade, impact assessment and health experts, including leaders from the European Commission (Mr. Rupert Schlegelmilch), the Canadian government (Mr. Keith Christie and Mme Rachel McCormick), the ICTSD (Mr. Ricardo Melendez-Ortis), the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (Prof. Simon Tay), the RIIA (Mr. Richard Tarasofsky), the FIELD (Mme. Alice Palmer), the IISD (Mr. Mark Halle), and the World Health Organization (Mr. Ross Duncan). As such, it was possible for the partners to arrange meetings and consultations without using funds from the IDRC. However, consultations were also needed with the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute, who were not able to be present in Hong Kong, and did not have direct access to a law faculty with legal researchers from the region. As such, approval was sought and granted from the IDRC to arrange site visits.

The site visits went extremely well, as the project partners were received with warm hospitality by the CEHI staff. Dir. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (CISDL), Dr. Markus Gehring (Cambridge / CISDL), and Lic. Soledad Salvador (CIEDUR) held meetings with core staff at the CEHI in Castries, and with Professors at the University of West Indies Law Faculty in Bridgetown. The site visits began with a visit to the UWI Law Faculty and personal meetings with Professor Ralph Carnegie (environmental law, and former Dean) and Lecturer Chantal Ononaiwu (public international law, and economic law), resulting in a commitment to pass information to students interested in forming a legal working group to assist with the project database and case studies at the UWI. The CEHI meetings included sessions for project planning, discussion of financial and administrative arrangements, and identification of potential case studies with the CEHI, especially Mr. Lyndon Robertson, Mr. Vincent Sweeney, Ms. Patricia Aquing and Mr. Christopher Roberts. After the meetings, a press conference took place in which the project was announced and discussed on the St. Lucia television station.

Project Coordination and Management

The research support activities were carried out by the CISDL, as coordinating partner of the proposed four-year initiative, in collaboration with ECOs, the Mercosur-based core partner, and the CIEDUR, the Uruguayan-based associate partner. The four year project will be carried out by a trans-disciplinary coalition of nine research institutes from across the Americas (1 coordinating partner, 5 core research partner organizations and 3 associate partners).

These researchers, and their institutions, have a demonstrated track record of successful collaboration, as they have jointly organised workshops, side events and seminars, and have collaboratively published law journal articles and books together in the past. They spent eleven months in initial preparations for the project throughout 2004 - 2005, jointly authoring a 400 page study which identifies sustainable development capacity gaps and key areas of intervention in the hemispheric integration process. An international council of advisors, which includes representatives from the UNEP, OAS, PAHO and IISD, as well as high-level individuals in this field, provided mentorship and guidance to the partners.

The Research Support Activities were conducted with active collaboration between the partners; personal and email ‘check-ins’ (using adaptive management techniques), consultations were carried out parallel to meetings of trade, environment and health Ministers, and in project partners meetings parallel to the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial, and through site visits. Further associate partners and international advisors were identified and engaged through the project proposal development activities.

These meetings provided lost-cost opportunities to inform students, local citizens, and policy-makers from Latin America and the Caribbean about the partners experiences and discoveries, highlighting the potential of an eco-health approach toward current environmental impact assessment methods, in domestic laws and policies, and in new bi-lateral, sub-regional and regional treaties.

 Throughout the project development activities, the partners made a special effort to reach out to international and national health experts, and to identify professionals with experience in integrating health and environmental impact assessment methods, who become engaged with the project.

Results and Outcomes

The contribution to support the research proposal directly supported laying the foundations for the project and developing the proposal that was presented in January, 2006, and resulted in:

1) a foundational joint paper and report which supports a stronger proposal,
2) stronger engagement of international advisors for the proposal,
3) greater regional outreach and profile for the southern research partners engaged in the project, allowing them to mobilize further resources, and
4) direct links between the research project, and the policy-making process that is currently ongoing in the region.

Concrete deliverables are included in the Appendixes to this Report, which are organised as follows:

Appendix 1:     A copy of the joint paper in Spanish and English, which references the regional policy-making processes,
Appendix 2:     A copy of the Corrientes / Mercedes international panel event and partners planning retreat report, which includes the final programme and list of participants, and has been reviewed to include evaluations of southern research partners,
Appendix 3:     Copies of articles and press reports from the international panel event,
Appendix 4:     A copy of the agreed research project proposal, approved by the research partners and advisors, and containing annexes with project workplans, details of methodologies to be used, and characteristics of potential case studies, as well as a final draft list of international advisors for the project, including health experts as well as professionals with expertise in health and environment impact assessment.

These outcomes contribute to a much stronger starting point for the project in 2006, and helped the partners significantly to further develop the proposal.

Project Partners (Participating Institutions)

In the Retreat, it was agreed that the four year research project will be carried out by a trans-disciplinary coalition of eight research institutes from across the Americas (5 core research partner organizations and 3 associate partners). Each core partner coordinates the research and workshops in their sub-region. One of the core partners is also coordinator, the CISDL, and is responsible for general project management and reporting. The CISDL organises the hemispheric events in collaboration with the hosting partner. All are advised by the associate partners, who work on specific issues across all three regions and are responsible for authoring cross-cutting papers, and undertaking legal analysis.

The five core research partners (participating institutions) are:

1) The Fundacion ECOS from Argentina,
2) The International Centre of Economic Policy for Sustainable Development (CINPE), Universidad Nacional of Costa Rica,
3) The Fundacion para el Salud y el Desarollo (FUNSAD) from Ecuador,
4) The Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) in Saint Lucia, and
5) The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) in Canada.

There are also three associate partners:

1) Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies (CIEDUR) in Uruguay,
2) The Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) from Mexico
3) Recursos e Investigacion para el Desarrollo Sustentable (RIDES) in Chile.

These institutions have a strong history of collaboration, founded on trust, mutual support and professional respect. They have worked together for over eight years, and produced four joint books on the environmental, social and economic regimes in the Americas, with particular attention to indigenous peoples, health and environment issues.

The CISDL also proposes to link closely with four ‘mentor’ organisations, the United Nations Environment Programme ROLAC, the Organisation of American States, the Pan-American Health Organisation and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Measurement & Assessment Programme. An international council of advisors, which includes representatives from the mentors, as well as high-level individuals in this field, provides guidance and advice to the partners.

Partners backgrounds, biographies of key researchers and information about their institutions, were included in the Full Proposal. (See Appendix 4, the final proposal that was submitted to the IDRC in December, 2006, and was revised in January, 2006 for approval in February, 2006).

:: Links Relacionados ::