First anniversary of the Normandy Chair of Excellence for Peace

The Normandy Chair of Excellence for Peace is an initiative of the Normandy Region and the CNRS. Its purpose is to bring together international researchers to promote an ideal of peace with the Earth and to further the rights of future generations. It is supported by the Normandy Region, the CNRS and carried by the MRSH CNRS of the University of Caen Normandy. On Friday, June 5, 2020, with speakers from several continents, the Chair presented for its first anniversary a panorama of actions carried out in France, in several regions of the world and on the occasion of several major international events.

Opening message from Antonio Oposa Jr. (Chair Leader) for the first anniversary of the Normandy Chair of Excellence for Peace.

The Atupama project, supported by the Normandy Chair for Peace, aims to raise awareness among students in the Normandy region about the Sapara cause, an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon, classified as a UNESCO intangible heritage. An educational kit is currently being prepared to accompany a future intercultural meeting between a young Sapara indigenous leader, students and the general public through a cultural exhibition in the Normandy Region. Agathe Neveu, at the origin of the project, shares her story.

WAYS TO A JUST WORLD IN PEACE WITH NATURE

Professor Nicholas A. ROBINSON is Professor of Environmental Law at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Pace University, USA. Since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment, Professor Robinson has been a leader in the environmental law programs of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He edited the UN preparatory work for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, served on the drafting team for the UN World Charter for Nature, and was IUCN’s legal advisor and chair of the World Commission on Environmental Law. He led the creation of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. He has specialized in environmental impact assessment law since 1969 and founded the Environmental Legal Education Programs at Pace University in New York. He is Chair Emeritus of the Normandy Peace Chair on Law and Future Generations.

Professor and Doctor Honoris Causa Antonio Benjamin is a judge at the Brazilian High Court (STJ) and at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE). He is also President of the Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Secretary General of the International Advisory Council for Environmental Justice of UNEP.

Lucas Taffin is president and co-founder of the Human Conet association. Like many young people of his generation, it is important for him to be able to take his destiny into his own hands and become an actor of his own future. The climate issue is a global issue, and our response must be up to this challenge. The world is globalized, we know it, we are interdependent, we learn it, we must move forward united, it is the only solution.