Normandy Chair for Peace – Making peace with Nature – Mohonk

An International Peace Conference at the Mohonk Mountain House
In Cooperation with
The International Council of Environmental Law
And the Global Center for Environmental Law of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

18-21 April at Mohonk

UNEP Report “Making Peace with Nature”

Preconference Consultations: 
15-16-17 April 2022 :

NCP Strategic Analysis, Research and Future Event Planning; NCP September 2022 Course Curriculum Discussions ; NCP informal discussions on collaborative programs between NCP, University of Caen Normandy, Kent State, and the UN-Mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica); invited participants arrive at Mohonk Mountain House as travel permits.

Conference: 

International Peace Conference:
18-21 April at Mohonk

An Agenda of Research and Teaching and Capacity-Building:
22 April “Earth Day” at the United Nations

The Normandie Chair for Peace will hold a symposium with invited key representative from the Missions of Member States to the UN and from the UN Secretariat, and key leaders from the indigenous peoples in NY who led the adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to consult on diplomatic and legal and cultural means to advance “making peace with nature” (www.unep.org/resources/making-peace-nature ) from April 18-20 and morning of April 21, at Mohonk.

Conferences: 

Monday, April 18^th 

• 9:30 – 12:30 Open Round-table Conference :  
  Acknowledgement : Lenapi and Lenapehoking 
  Greeting & Introducing Each Participant 
  Antonio Oposa (NCP) and Emilie Gaillard (NCP)
  Nicholas A. Robinson – ICEL
  Louisa Finn – Mohonk Consultations

Overview of conference – Exploring Transformative Action Toward Human Harmony with Nature [Participants invited to select topics in each thematic session to open the sharing of insights for this a round-table consultation ; some interventions will join via ZOOM.] 

Luncheon Break – Informal discussions among participants

• 15:00 – 17:00 – Critique of Contemporary Legal and Policy Responses to the Crises produced by business as usual practices, set forth in UNEP’s report “Making Peace With Nature” (February 2021)
  Contrasting the motivational effectiveness of: 
  • traditional academic education;
  • General Principles of International Law (the fate of the Global Pact for the environment, and UNGA Res. 73/333))
  • continued legal reforms (such as the multilateral environmental agreements and environmental laws, like EIA or quality controls);
  • adjudication in law suits in national and regional and international courts and tribunals ; 
  • rallying around the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
  •  recognizing universal RIGHTS (such as the Human Right to the Environment); 
  •  invoking ethical/religious norms  (such as the Earth Charter);
  • finding new legal norms with sanctions (such as Ecocide); 
  • civil disobedience (such as the Extinction Rebellion); 
  • empowering traditional Indigenous Wisdom through co-stewardship (implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples);
  • inspiring via the arts (such as poetry, music, painting  and film) ; 
  • drawing on human instincts through positive psychology (such as a  Nobel Prize, Haub Award, or the NCP Good Stories movement); 
  • what other responses deserve noting (?). 

Dinner Break – Informa discussions among participants

Evening Program –From fragmentation to Holistic Frameworks – Learning from Indigenous widom, Recognizing Lenape sself-determination ; Transgenerational Human Rights & « Our »  Future Generations ; the « One Health » response to Pandemics ; the Journey of the Universe 
(Guided Discussion)

Making Peace with Nature: an International Peace Conference, convened at the Mohonk Mountain House from April 18th to 21st.

Tuesday, April 19^th

• 10:00 – 13:00 –  The Rights Based Approach – The capacity of rights to up-end « business as usual » Environmental Degradation  – Why and how ? In what context ?
  • A Transcultural Appoach to rights of nature, [people, and future generations
  • Humanitarian Law – From the Martens Clause to ICRC to IUCN’s Amman the Amman Clause (The lessions of wars, including the Ukraine War) 
  • The UN Human Right to the Environment (77th Session UN General Assembly)
  • Basic Rights to Water, to air, to food, to cultural heritage
  • Indigenous Rights – Renouncing the “Doctrine of Discovery”
  • Rights of Nature and Pace Mama – Restoring “Mother Nature” to find “Harmony with Nature”
  • New York’s Constitution’s Bill of Rights, Article 1, Clause 19 : The right to clean air and water and a healthful environment (adopted 2 November 2021)

Luncheon Break – Informal discussions among participants 

• 15:00 – 17:00 – « Making Peace with the Earth » – Launching transformative, practical change (now, despite heads winds like ignorance, political opposition, lack of funds, and other kindred excuses)  
  • Stabilizing human/Nature relations across 70% of the Earth (Peace Parks ; wildlife corridors ; « One Health » & zoonosis; WCPA & subnational actions (Grand Traverse des Alpes and Adironack/Catskill/Shawangunks examples) 
  • Planting 4 billion trees and other plants
  • Humanizing the urban environment as habitat for all (food, water, shelter)
  • Restoring ecosystems (e.g., Manila Bay)
  • Relearning insights of Indigenous wisdom – scaling up costewardship across the Earth – Lessons from the South Pacific and elsewhere
  • How to navigate the United Nations system and strengthen international cooperation – Biodiversity as the essential pathway to Climate Stabilization (in contrast to the techno-fix and GHG emission and energy policy approaches)

Dinner Break – Informal discussions among participants 

Evening Program – Unleashing a powerful force for Stimulating  Earthcare Through The «  Good Stories » Movement : Becoming Good Ancestors for Future Generations – What good stories have emerged from discussions in this Conference’s previous five sessions ? What sources for more Good Stories might be enlisted?  How do good stories « go viral ? » (Guided Discussion)

April 19th at Mohonk Conferences report

Wednesday, April 20^th

• 10:00 – 12 :30  – Enlisting an historic moment (3-4 June 2022) : The 50th Anniversary of the UN 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment  and 30th Anniversary of the 1992 Rio « Earth Summit » & Rio Declaration & Agenda 21
  • Drawaing upon Lessons from the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Preparedness & Response
  • Moving beyond incremental change to transformative change, using the Political Declaration adopted at the Special Session in Nairobi,  3 March 2022,  of the UN Environment Assembly  (UNEP/EA.SS.1/4 8 March 2022 : « Encourages the meaningful engagement of all relevant stakeholders, including Indigenous peoples and local communities » in UNEP  
  • Deploying the NCP & CIDCE « Legal Indicators » & the UN SDG Indicators – Demonstrating how a « business as usual » approach has failed 
  • What sort of « side-event » should ICEL and NCP convene, with others, at the UNGA 77th Session ? What are the priority topics to share, as an agenda for implementing the Human Right to the Environment and attaining the SDGs ?  What is attainable by 2030 ?

Lunch Break – Informal discussions among participants

• 14:00 – 15:00 – Still Not enough?  Brainstorming Beyond the horizon of « business as usual » time-frames 
  • Finding Optimistic pathways among the four future scenario models of the 2005 Millenium Ecosystem Assessment  (https://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/Scenarios.html )
  • Revenge of the Mad Hatter’s tea party : Have we depleted our reservoirs of time itself ? 
  • The alternative : « Good Stories » & Replicating Tony Oposa’s Recognitions
  • How the Normandy Chair for Peace is pioneering new avenus for trsnsformative change –
  • Preview of the NCP’s Earth Day Event, 22 April 2022 (Friday) at One UN Plaza, New York City

Dinner Break – Informal Discussions among participants 

Evening Program – A deeper look at multuinational coopertion in a world both « at war » and in a « war with nature » : The UN As A Forum for Mediating Ecological Transformation – « The UNEP We Want » civil society expectations  (Guided Discussion)

April 20th at Mohonk Conferences report

Thursday, April 21^st

• Depart from Mohonk Mountain House for New York City
  • Option for a morning session,  if participants desire
  • Dinner with Judiciary at United Nations Headquarters (by invitation) 

Friday, April 22

• “Earth Day” at the United Nations – Highlights of the NCP Research and Recognition Events for the Good Stories Movement