Policy Development Initiatives
Costa Rica - Canada Initiative
Costa Rica and Canada share a common desire to contribute to the program of work of the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). They therefore agreed to enter into a partnership to initiate a process to identify possible elements and work toward a consensus on the usefulness of having international arrangements and mechanisms, for example, a legally binding instrument on all types of forests. This project is an example of a successful bilateral policy initiative that has worked to promote sustainable development internationally. The Initiative concluded its activities in 2000.
G8 Action Programme on Forests
The G8 Action Programme on Forests, initiated in 1998, sought to complement the extensive
range of actions being undertaken by the international community at that time and has evolved in tandem with various regional and international processes to which it lent its authority and enthusiasm. While the Action Programme has formally ended, it has increased the political commitment to forests, and advanced individual and collaborative action in monitoring and assessment, national forest programmes, protected areas, private-sector initiatives and strategies to curb illegal logging.
www.nrcan.gc.ca/cfs-scf/national/what-quoi/G8action/index_e.html
International Consortium on Landslides
In January 2002 UNESCO officially launched a new non-profit, NGO organization called the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL) to help promote, coordinate research and information on landslides with the aim to help society globally. This effort took a few years to reach fruition and Canada played an important participatory role in developing this landmark initiative. Canada was one of 33 members to join the consortium as paying full members in 2002. In November 2002 during the First Annual General Meeting of ICL at the UNESCO office in Paris, a scientist from NRCan's Earth Sciences Sector was elected Vice President for a three-year term. One of the key efforts of ICL is the development of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL). The IPL is the applied research arm of ICL and is now being funded in the amount of $1Million USD through the Japanese government.
Kimberley Process for Rough Diamonds – Canadian Trade of Diamonds
The Kimberley Process was developed in response to the troubling linkage between rebel-directed conflicts and trade in rough diamonds in a number of African states. Canada wishes to promote peace and security in African countries that have been devastated by the trade in conflict diamonds. As a diamond-producing country, Canada is also concerned with preventing trade in conflict diamonds from negatively affecting the legitimate diamond trade. Canada hosted a pivotal meeting that produced consensus on the proposals for a new international certification scheme designed to cut the ties between rebel forces in some African countries and the diamond trade that supports them. Simultaneous implementation of the scheme at national levels came into effect on January 1, 2003, accounting for 98% of the global trade in and production of rough diamonds. In Canada, this required the establishment of new rough diamond certification procedures and import and export controls, now embodied in the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act and its regulations.
mmsd1.mms.nrcan.gc.ca/kimberleyprocess/note_e.asp
Mines Ministries of the Americas (CAMMA)
CAMMA is a ministerial-level mining policy forum that provides Ministers and senior mining officials, from 23 member countries, with opportunities to discuss mining policy and program issues, share best practices, develop common approaches to opportunities and challenges faced by the sector, and identify areas for future collaboration and research. CAMMA has served to focus the resources of mines ministries in the Americas and the Caribbean so that advancements can be made on social, environmental and economic issues affecting civil society and local communities in the hemisphere; it has also contributed to the development of common sustainable development approaches and policies in member countries. NRCan hosts the CAMMA Executive Secretariat.
www.camma.org
The Montreal Process
Through the Montreal Process (Working Group on Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Development of Temperate and Boreal Forests), Canada works cooperatively with 11 other countries (Argentina, Australia, Chile, China, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, the United States of America, and Uruguay) to implement criteria and indicators that define key values of sustainable forest management and allow measurement of progress towards sustainability. The Process provides an international reference for developing national policies to conserve and manage a wide array of forest values. Internationally agreed C&I; could form part of an international forest convention.
www.mpci.org/home_e.html
