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CISDL/GEM Working paper Series on Public Participation and Climate Governance

Call for PapersS

Deadline for submission of abstracts: rolling until May 15, 2014

The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) and the Governance, Environment & Markets Initiative at Yale University (GEM) are calling for papers for their new Working Paper Series on “Public Participation and Climate Governance.” The series will be edited by Sébastien Jodoin (GEM / CISDL); Sébastien Duyck (University of Lapland), and Katherine Lofts (CISDL).

The principle of public participation has long been recognized as paramount for effective and equitable climate policy and governance. Article 6 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) thus outlines States\’ responsibilities to promote and facilitate, inter alia, education and public awareness, public access to information, public participation, training, and international cooperation with respect to addressing climate change and its effects. The Work Programme on Article 6, initially adopted by the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in 2002, encourages governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations to collaborate in matters of access to information and public participation. Under the Doha Work Programme adopted in 2012, a formal dialogue covering access to information, public participation, and public awareness is scheduled to take place in 2014.

With this Working Paper Series on \”Public Participation and Climate Governance,\” CISDL and GEM aim to encourage new and rigorous research of compelling interest to scholars and policy-makers active in climate law, policy, and governance at multiple levels. Contributions are encouraged from legal scholars, social scientists, and practitioners from several fields, including international law, comparative law, international relations, comparative politics, public policy, political economy/ecology, and environmental studies.

Contributions are most notably sought on the following themes and topics:

• Analysis of the legal developments, practices and discourses associated with public participation within the UNFCCC and other multilateral fora focusing on climate change;
• Case studies of the development and application of the concept of public participation with respect to particular sectors and mechanisms of climate governance (mitigation, adaptation, carbon trading, CDM, REDD+, etc.);
• Case studies highlighting best practices and challenges in the operationalization of the concept of public participation in the policy-making processes and governance mechanisms addressing climate change in particular countries or regions around the world;
• Analysis of experiences with public participation in other fields of environmental governance and how lessons learned might apply to climate governance;
• Theoretical and critical reflections on the notion of public participation and the opportunities and challenges it presents for equitable and effective climate governance.

Full papers (ranging between 6,000 and 8,000 words) should be submitted by 15 August 2014. The drafts of the working papers may also be discussed during a session of the 3rd Yale/UNITAR Conference on Environmental Governance and Democracy, \”Human Rights, Environmental Sustainability, Post-2015 Development, and the Future Climate Regime,\” which will be held in New Haven, Ct., 5-7 September 2014. Prospective authors interested in participating in this conference are encouraged to submit an abstract.

The final versions of the working papers will be posted on the CISDL and GEM websites and will be launched at a side-event organized during the 20th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC to be held in Lima, Peru in November 2014. Selected working papers may also be collected into a book or special journal issue to be published at a later date.

Submissions of abstracts (of approximately 500 words) will be accepted on a rolling basis until 15 May 2014. Authors are encouraged to submit abstracts as soon as possible to ensure paper eligibility and avoid overlap between different papers in the series. While papers should not have been published elsewhere before being submitted to the series, inclusion in the series does not preclude future publication elsewhere.

Abstracts submitted for inclusion in the working paper series should be submitted as Microsoft Word Documents and should include a 500 word abstract and a 50 word biography of the author. All abstracts should be submitted to Ms. Katherine Lofts (CISDL) at klofts@cisdl.org.

\”Child Poverty, Youth (Un)employment and Social Inclusion\” – Workshop

Organized by the Comparative Research Program on Poverty (CROP), the Institute of Labor, and Democritus University of Thrace

Athens, November 19-21, 2014

Call for Papers

Poverty reduction has been high on the international agenda since the start of the millennium. Worldwide progress, however, has been slow and limited. Social protection responses to the crisis have been marginal or with mixed results in developing countries, while poverty and social exclusion have exacerbated in many developed countries. Within this context, the workshop will focus on the crucial issue of child and youth poverty and critically raise the question of what policy strategies can break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty transmission.

The number of unemployed youth has been rising globally and put a whole generation at risk. The number of youth broadly classified as NEET (not in employment, education or training) is alarmingly high, as is the persistently high proportion of young people “trapped” into conditions of in-work poverty across developed and developing countries.

This level of child and youth deprivation, as well as the socio-political conditions that allow this situation in the 21st century, has not been effectively embraced in the international dialogue on combating poverty. The lack of protection against child poverty not only constitutes a violation of basic human rights but it also entails high social and economic costs. Disadvantaged and poor children face very limited opportunities to achieve an adequate level of personal development and social integration. Living in poverty has a negative impact on their current family and social life as well as on the long-term, particularly if they remain in this situation for a long period of time.

A precarious labour market insertion is one of the ways through which socioeconomic difficulties extend into adulthood. These experiences create a vicious cycle in which the disadvantages faced in early stages of life significantly limit the possibilities of obtaining a decent job that would provide them with enough income to escape from the situation of vulnerability. Hence, developing a long-term strategy to tackle the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages is a critical priority to combat the structural causes of present and future poverty.

Considering the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the proximity of the Millennium Development Goals’ expiration date in 2015, it seems opportune to critically assess the progress made in terms of child (and youth) poverty reduction and the improvement of access to decent labour conditions. This kind of evaluation can be enriched by discussing new theoretical approaches on both the short and long-term causes and consequences of child and youth poverty, with a particular emphasis on decent labour as a main factor of social inclusion.

Papers to be submitted for this seminar should address one or several of the following suggested questions, issues or topics:

• What are the different conceptualisations on child and youth poverty and what are the debates around their specificities? How do these conceptualisations relate to social inclusion through labour?
• What are the long-term impacts of child poverty? How should we measure them? To what extent does child poverty reduce the probability of future accomplishments in terms of education, occupation and income? To what extent are factors like race, ethnicity or gender relevant to explain these relationships?
• How does the interface between education and work currently operate? How do gender and other issues affect that relation and transition? How can an early entry into the labour force, that interrupts education and harms future careers, be avoided? What are the best strategies to reduce the structural influence that sustain the inter-relations among child poverty, youth unemployment and informality, and poverty in adulthood?
• Have the conditional cash transfer programmes been effective in eradicating poverty, child labour and the inter- generational transmission of disadvantages? What are the theoretical arguments supporting this kind of public policy? To what extent are these policies integrated into comprehensive social protection schemes that assure universal access to quality basic services?
• What is the most effective strategy to tackle informality, instability and unemployment among young workers, especially poor young people?
• To what extent do training programmes or direct public employment improve the employability of poor young people and reduce youth unemployment? How should these programmes be designed in order to achieve these objectives based on available empirical and comparative research?

The organisers welcome papers from all over the world containing preferably (but not exclusively) comparative approaches to the above issues. They expect to publish the contributions in English (CROP-series, Zed Books, London) after a thorough process of peer review

The event’s Academic Committee will choose a maximum of 18 participants from across a variety of academic disciplines. The call is open to researchers around the world. Chosen participants will participate actively in presentations and discussions of all papers throughout the workshop.

Participants are responsible for their own travel expenses and medical insurance. Event support will cover room and board expenses during the days of the event. A limited number of travel subsidies are available based on relevance, quality and originality of submitted abstracts. For co-authored papers, one author only may apply for a grant.

Deadline for the Submission of Abstracts: May 30th, 2014

The abstract must not exceed 500 words (one page) and must include: the title of the proposed paper, the presentation of the subject, the central argument, the research question and/or hypothesis and the main bibliography. In addition, a CV no longer than one page must be submitted clearly indicating the name, title, nationality and contact information as well as a list of recent publications.

The abstract and the CV must be submitted by email to crop@uib.no. Any submission exceeding two pages will not be considered. The Academic Committee will notify accepted participants of their selection and about guidelines and format of the final paper, which must be submitted by October 13th, 2014.

The Global Justice Program at Yale University is seeking to hire a postdoctoral fellow or equivalent research fellow to strengthen its intellectual work on global justice, world poverty, human rights, and global health. The successful applicant will be asked to teach one course per academic year and will work closely with the founding Director of the Global Justice Program, Professor Thomas Pogge. S/he will also contribute research and coordination to projects based at the Global Justice Program, including Incentives for Global Health and Academics Stand Against Poverty. This position is particularly suitable for individuals interested in both academic and advocacy work.

The successful candidate will begin work as soon as possible, ideally in early January, 2014. A short period of working remotely at the beginning of the fellowship may be permitted. The initial appointment is for one year, but there is sufficient funding to extend the appointment for another two years at least. The salary will be competitive and adjusted to the successful applicant\’s qualifications.

Qualifications

Applicants from all suitable academic disciplines will be considered, including political science, economics, philosophy, law and public health. Fluency in English is required. An ideal candidate will hold a Ph.D. or other graduate degree, but individuals are currently enrolled in graduate programs and have not yet completed their degree are also eligible to apply.

How to Apply

Applicants are asked to provide: a cover letter; curriculum vitae, including publications; one relevant writing sample of about 20 double-spaced pages; a syllabus of an undergraduate seminar the applicant might wish to offer at Yale; undergraduate and graduate school transcripts; three evaluation letters, sent directly by the evaluators.

All of these materials should be submitted by e-mail to Rachel Payne at rachel.payne@yale.edu. To be assured of full consideration, applications must be received before January 1, 2014.

Please contact Rachel Payne at rachel.payne@yale.edu with questions regarding the position or application process.

Contribute to ASAP project sharing information and best practices from academic efforts at influencing poverty policy and civil-society efforts.

ASAP Oceania\’s first project is to conduct and disseminate a \’poverty audit\’ on the policy platforms of the three major political parties in Australia, as part of the build-up to the Australian federal election on September 14. In order to collect the data for this audit, we are seeking two kinds of input.

1. We are seeking input from academics in Australia and beyond concerning what their research shows about the poverty implications of the policies of the Labour Party, the Coalition, and the Greens. Policy areas might include (but are not limited to):

• Indigenous policy
• Welfare policy (parenting benefits, child benefits, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, old age pensions)
• Labour policy (unions, conditions, pay)
• Housing policy and homelessness
• Health policy
• Education policy
• Refugee/asylum policy
• Migration
• International aid and development
• International trade (e.g. extractive industries, free trade agreements)
• Intellectual property law
• Environmental policy (e.g. forestry certification standards, environmental safeguards on international development projects)
• Climate change
• Illicit financial flows
• International labour standards

We are inviting you to send us a summary, of up to one page, of what you see as the implications for their impact on poverty of a policy position (in your area of expertise) of the three parties. It may be that they have no policy, or no stated policy and it would also be good to know this, as well as any indication from previous policies.

The deadline for these submissions is May 6.

2. We also wish to ask the three major 15 \’litmus test\’ questions that will provide us with indications of how their policies will impact poverty.

To this end, we are inviting you to send us one or two questions that you would like to ask each party to test how their policies will impact poverty.

Examples of such questions might be:

• Do you support Australia\’s foreign aid being raised to the UN target of 0.7% of GDP by 2020?
• Do you have policy ideas for how to ensure that the production of goods imported into Australia meet fair labour and environmental standards?

The deadline for sending responses is May 1, so that we can send out the survey and get answers back in time.

In addition, it would be helpful if you could suggest to us any colleagues or people in your field who you think could be interested in being members of ASAP Oceania and/or contributing to this project. If you send us names, we can add them to our database if we have not already contacted them. You might also make personal contact with them (always better) but please do put us in touch with them also.

At the same time as collecting this data, we will be working on a dissemination plan. One key question here is who is our target audience? The executive thinks that it is both political parties (to put them on notice) and the general public (so that they can be alive to this dimension of policy promises).

We are thinking about an event one month before the election where we will ask a few prominent people to speak and attract some media attention. We will also use the ASAP Oceania website to get the findings on the web and we hope that our members will write op-eds and do other media. If you have good ideas for dissemination please do let us know.

Please send input, suggestions, or requests for further information, to Associate Professor Danielle Celermajer (danielle.celermajer@sydney.edu.au) or Dr Keith Horton (khorton@uow.edu.au)

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If you would like to join ASAP Oceania or receive updates about our activities please contact Reyilai Maimaiti (reyilai.maimaiti@sydney.edu.au).