Respecting free, prior and informed consent: Practical guidance for governments, companies, NGOs, indigenous peoples and local communities in relation to land acquisition

The FAO Governance of Tenure Technical Guides are part of FAO’s initiative to help develop capacities to improve tenure governance and thereby assist countries in applying the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. The FAO Governance of Tenure Technical Guides are prepared by technical specialists and can be used by a range of actors.

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The General Assembly, Taking note of the recommendation of the Human Rights Council contained in its resolution 1/2 of 29 June 20061 , by which the Council adopted the text of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Recalling its resolution 61/178 of 20 December 2006, by which it decided to defer consideration of and action on the Declaration to allow time for further consultations thereon, and also decided to conclude its consideration before the end of the sixty-first session of the General Assembly, 1 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Sixty-first S

Phase One Scorecards Report

This first version of the Environmental Justice Scorecard, or the Phase One Scorecard, presents a baseline assessment of actions taken by federal agencies in 2021 and 2022 to help achieve the Biden-Harris Administration's environmental justice goals.The Phase One Scorecard reports on the progress of 24 federal agencies in the following areas:

White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC) Workgroups

The WHEJAC Workgroups were established to develop draft recommendations to assist the WHEJAC in providing independent advice and recommendations to the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and to the White House Interagency Council on Environmental Justice (Interagency Council) on how to increase the Federal Government’s efforts to address current and historic environmental injustice.

‘For You Will (Still) Be Here Tomorrow’: The Many Lives of Intergenerational Equity

This article traces the various legal incarnations of the intergenerational equity principle. Despite its silent proliferation in international and constitutional laws over the past five decades, the principle dwelled mostly at the margins of inquiry and practice. Recent efforts to counteract global warming have allowed intergenerational claims to gain new traction. Building on a comparison of ten climate-related lawsuits, I analyze the latest advances in the representation, conceptualization, and remediation of future generations’ interests.

Green Economy or Living Well? Assessing divergent paradigms for equitable eco-social transition in South Korea and Bolivia

Green Economy' and 'Living Well ('Vivir Bien)' have emerged as contending macro-policies in the search for a future direction that meets human needs whilst respecting environmental limits. There are a number of different interpretations of each concept but the dominant discourses in relation to each are distinct. Green Economy is presented as a fundamentally technological, managerial and market-based approach, whilst Living Well is considered to imply redistribution of wealth, inter-personal and inter-species reciprocity and eco-socialist development in harmony with nature.

Political power and renewable energy futures: A critical review

Inspired by the energy democracy movement, this conceptual review critically explores relationships between concentrated or distributed renewable energy and political power. Advocates assert that because the renewable energy transition is fundamentally a political struggle, efforts to shift from fossil fuels and decarbonize societies will not prove effective without confronting and destabilizing dominant systems of energy power.

Promising Practices for EJ Methodologies in NEPA Reviews: Report of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice & NEPA Committee

The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice (EJ IWG) established the NEPA Committee in 2012 pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898 (2011).

Policies for Achieving Energy Justice in Society: Best Practices for Applying Solar Energy Technologies to Low-Income Housing

Studies indicate that the energy burden — energy costs as a percentage of annual family income — on low-income families is inordinately high, compared to that of the rest of the population. Rising fuel costs exacerbate this problem. Residential solar energy systems can help address this situation by furnishing a price-stable energy source with the added benefit of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, without appropriate incentives, these systems are prohibitively expensive for low-income families.

Response by the White House Council on Environmental Quality to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s Final Recommendations: Justice40, Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and Executive Order 12898 Revisions...

IntroductionA. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Commitment to Environmental Justice 

Public controversies and the Pragmatics of Protest: Toward a Ballistics of collective action

By using long run case studies and comparative analysis, I will address different processes by which alerts and criticisms are taken seriously by different actors and lead them to transform or to defend devices, norms and institutions. To deal with this kind of process, I will present an analytical model which runs on the recent controversies about radioactivity, GMOs and nanotechnologies. For many years, these fields have been marked by struggles in which scientific arguments are seldom dominant but are nevertheless relevant.

Energy Democracies and Publics in the Making: A Relational Agenda for Research and Practice

Mainstream approaches to energy democracy and public engagement with energy transitions tend to adopt specific, pre-given meanings of both “democracy” and “publics.” Different approaches impose prescriptive assumptions about the model of participation, the identity of public participants, and what it means to participate well.

Citizens, amateurs, volunteers: Conceptual struggles in studies of citizen science

The goal of this literature review is to bring together the different concepts, respective definitions and perspectives that have been used to study the participation of non-professionals in scientific activities. We start by presenting a short definition of citizen science and the perceived benefits of such approaches to the production of scientific knowledge. We then clarify the difference between today’s citizen science projects and their ancestors in the field sciences by highlighting technological and social changes.

Embedding Environmental Justice into the Washington State Department of Ecology: Promising Practices for Advancing Equity and Environmental Justice

The purpose of this report is to equip the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) with evidence-based recommendations to further equity and environmental justice (EJ) efforts within their capacity as the state’s environmental regulatory agency, in service of advancing EJ for those who live, work, and play in Washington. This report is intended to share promising trends and tools, acknowledge common barriers and ideas for overcoming those barriers, elevate successes, and amplify equitable practices for defining, measuring, mobilizing, and sustaining meaningful EJ work.

Progress Report on Incorporating Environmental Justice into Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Work

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14008 and Administrator Regan’s directive to “strengthen enforcement of violations of cornerstone environmental statutes and civil rights laws in communities overburdened by pollution,” OECA issued four policies.1 These policies provide direction to the civil regulatory, compliance assurance, criminal, and cleanup enforcement programs to incorporate environmental justice (EJ) considerations throughout the enforcement process. The key elements of these strategies and preliminary successes are described below.

Reset of America's Nuclear Waste Management Strategy and Policy

The U.S. nuclear waste management program has labored for decades at a cost of billions of dollars each year, and yet there is still no active disposal program either for spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors or for the high-level radioactive legacy waste and spent nuclear fuel from defense programs.

Sense of Place In Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism: An Evaluation and Assessment of Research Findings

Understanding sense of place and related concepts often presents challenges for both managers and researchers. Inconsistent application of terms, questions regarding their origin, and a lack of awareness of research findings contribute to the ambiguity of these concepts. This integrative review of research provides relevant, current information on the role of sense of place in natural-resource based recreation and tourism.

Department of Energy General Guidance for Justice40 Implementation

On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order (E.O.) 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, which established the historic Justice40 Initiative (the Justice40 Initiative, or Justice40). The Justice40 Initiative establishes a goal that 40% of the benefits of climate and clean energy investments flow to disadvantaged communities, which for too long, have faced disinvestment and underinvestment.

Final Recommendations: Justice40 Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool & Executive Order 12898 Revisions

About the WHEJAC:

Free Prior and Informed Consent: An indigenous peoples’ right and a good practice for local communities

This Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Manual is designed as a tool for project practitioners (herein referred as project managers) for a broad range of projects and programmes (hereinafter to be referred to as projects) of any development organization, by providing information about the right to FPIC and how it can be implemented in six steps.

Advancing Racial Equity: A Framework for Federal Agencies

Systemic racial inequities pervade all areas of life in the United States, more than five decades after the legal gains secured by the civil rights movement. The federal government has both the power and the responsibility to address and end these inequities that burden our country. Toward this end, the Biden-Harris administration has mandated federal agencies to embed racial equity across the breadth and depth of government. This requires nothing less than reshaping how the federal government serves its people.

How the Concept of Dignity Is Relevant to the Study of Energy Poverty and Energy Justice

Since the concept of energy poverty first emerged, studies have combined normative orientations, analytical approaches and policy review to engage with energy deprivation as a problematic feature of contemporary societies. Over the past decade, this scholarship has aimed to conceptualize the normative grounds for critique, empirical work and policy design when engaging with the interplay of social life and energy systems.

Addressing Environmental Justice Through NEPA

Some Members of Congress and the Biden Administration are exploring how to use the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure that environmental laws and policies fairly treat and reflect input from all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. This principle is commonly referred to as “environmental justice.” Congress enacted NEPA in 1969 to require federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of proposed federal actions prior to making decisions.

U.S. Nuclear Plant Shutdowns, State Interventions, and Policy Concerns

The United States has the largest nuclear power plant fleet in the world, with 93 reactors that can generate approximately 95,522 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Nuclear power has accounted for about 20% of annual U.S. electricity generation since the late 1980s; in 2020 it was 19.7%. However, the U.S. nuclear power industry in recent years has been facing economic and financial challenges, particularly plants located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices. Twelve U.S.

Justice in 100 Metrics: Tools for Measuring Equity in 100% Renewable Energy Policy Implementation

This report reviews existing literature and compiles equity metrics for the implementation of 100% renewable energy policy. We created this literature review for energy regulators and communities engaged in energy rulemaking proceedings in particular. The content may also be adapted to address equity initiatives within utilities, and used by advocates in independent efforts to hold utilities accountable to equity standards.