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September 2018 Newsletter

Dear Colleagues,

The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI) is pleased to update you on several events, recent publications and projects at the Center. Please check our website for more information about these and other activities.

Announcements Upcoming Events Publications Past Events In The News Training Alumni Profile
Announcements

CCSI Releases its 2017-2018 Annual Report
We are pleased to release our 2017-2018 Annual Report, highlighting our work and accomplishments from July 2017 through June 2018. During that time, while continuing our work to strengthen national and international legal and policy frameworks, we also: explored the power imbalances that communities face in negotiations with investors; expanded our research on economic linkages from investment; took a closer look at how political factors impede desired impacts of good governance interventions; and continued to consider how states might rethink their international investment commitments to better align international economic governance to the sustainable development goals. The Annual Report illustrates the range of research, events, advisory projects, and trainings that CCSI hosted over the 2018 fiscal year.


Massive Open Online Course on Natural Resources for Sustainable Development 
CCSI is pleased to announce that the new semester for the free, popular massive open online course (MOOC) on Natural Resources for Sustainable Development: The Fundamentals of Oil, Gas and Mining Governance has begun!  Now in its fifth edition, this joint course was developed by CCSI, the Natural Resource Governance Institute, the World Bank, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network and has enrolled thousands of participants from all over the world. This year's MOOC has been updated with new content, and course materials are available in new languages. The semester began on September 10, 2018, but it is not too late to enroll! Watch the trailer here.
New Guidance on Community-Investor Contracts
Deciding whether or not to allow an investor to use community lands and natural resources is one of the most important decisions a community can make. If an investment project is carried out in a respectful and inclusive way, it may help community members to achieve their development goals. But investments come with risks, and may even violate community members’ human rights, or result in communities completely losing their lands. Given these challenges, CCSI partnered with Namati to produce two guides aimed at supporting communities and their advisors in their interactions with land-based investors.
Guide 1 sets out practical guidance to help communities and their advisors to prepare before potential investors arrive, and after an investor has approached a community.
Guide 2 provides practical guidance on the issues to consider when negotiating and drafting community-investor contracts.
Call for Papers: Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy
CCSI is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 2018 edition of the Yearbook on International Investment Law and Policy, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). The Yearbook monitors current developments in international investment law and policy. Original contributions to be considered for publication in the Yearbook are accepted on a rolling basis until February 1, 2019; please send submissions to Lisa Sachs (lsachs1@law.columbia.edu). More information is available on our website.
Over 100 New Documents Published on OpenLandContracts—DRC, Cameroon, Cambodia
CCSI’s OpenLandContracts.org repository now has over 300 publicly available documents from 17 countries, with over 100 contracts and associated documents added in July, 2018. The new documents include investor-state concession agreements (with plain language summaries prepared by CCSI), community agreements, and decrees. They come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Malaysia, Cambodia, South Sudan, Brazil, and Liberia. Watch this space: we hope to add investor-state contracts from other countries very soon.
New Support Provider on the Negotiation Support Portal
CCSI’s Negotiation Support Portal provides resources and tools to assist host-governments in negotiations related to investment projects, and features external organizations that users can directly connect with to receive support for their specific needs. The CONNEX Support Unit was added to the Support Providers section of the portal. The CONNEX Support Unit is an implementing body of the CONNEX Initiative that was launched at the G7 Summit in Brussels in 2014. Its objective is to strengthen advisory support to developing and transitioning country governments in their negotiation of complex investment contracts, initially focusing on the extractive sector.
Upcoming Events

September 24, 2018: Renewable Energy and the SDGs: Exploring Links with Extractives, Agriculture, and Land Use
CCSI, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, GIZ, the World Bank, and the International Council on Mining and Metals are co-hosting a strategic meeting to discuss opportunities and challenges arising at the intersection of renewables and extractives, agriculture and land use, as relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The participatory event, intended for practitioners, will begin with a few short presentations on new research projects, followed by thematic small group discussions. More information is available on our website. Contact nathan.lobel@law.columbia.edu if interested in attending.

September 26, 2018: The Global Pact for the Environment: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives on the Future of International Environmental Governance
CCSI is co-organizing a conference to discuss progress toward the creation of a Global Pact for the Environment. The Global Pact was proposed to strengthen and unify international environmental governance and codify a right to environment in international law. This conference brings together a group of distinguished experts to discuss the opportunity that such a pact would present from legal, diplomatic, economic, and moral perspectives. More information is available on our website. Registration is required.


September 26, 2018: Climate Change, the Courts, and the Paris Agreement 
In recent years citizens, sub-national governments and NGOs have turned to litigation to hold governments and corporations accountable for their contributions to climate change. This conference brings together leading lawyers and practitioners to discuss the status of and prospects for climate change litigation, challenging both governments and companies to promote climate justice and deep decarbonization. More information is available on our website. Registration is required.

September 27-28, 2018: Columbia International Investment Conference: “Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century”
CCSI’s 13th Annual International Investment Conference, "Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century,” seeks to articulate principles for a progressive investment agenda that harnesses investment to meet our global objectives. It will reflect on the current investment regime—a network of over 3,000 investment agreements—and the extent to which the regime aligns with or undermines the principles. We will then re-imagine investment governance, and consider the role that international cooperation could play to advance sustainable, development-oriented investment. Additional information, including confirmed speakers, is available on our website. Registration is free but required.

Fall 2018 International Investment Law and Policy Speaker Series 
This fall, CCSI will host our 13th annual International Investment Law and Policy Speaker Series. Speakers will include: Patricio Grane Labat, Partner, Arnold & Porter; Philippe Sands, QC, Professor of Law, University College London; Eugenio Hernández-Bretón, Partner, Baker McKenzie; Ko-Yung Tung, Former Senior Vice President and General Counsel, World Bank, and Secretary General, ICSID; Colin Brown, Deputy Head of Unit, Dispute Settlement and Legal Aspects of Trade Policy, European Commission; and Ana Novik, Head of Investment, OECD. 

The series is generously co-sponsored by Baker McKenzie LLP and Arnold & Porter. The series is moderated by Grant Hanessian, Maria Chedid and Kabir Duggal. All talks will take place in Jerome Greene Hall, Columbia Law School. Please see our website for the schedule and more details. 
Publications

Here’s How Cameroon Can Achieve Land Transparency

This opinion piece, co-authored by CCSI’s Sam Szoke-Burke and colleagues from the Field Legality Advisory Group, Cameroon, explores the potential for Cameroon’s new transparency law to remove the shroud of secrecy hovering over contracts and concessions the government has signed with natural resource investors.

Avoiding the Vague and the Onerous
To accompany the launch of the Community-Investor Negotiation Guides, Sam Szoke-Burke published a blog on common pitfalls found in community-investor agreements, and how the guides and other CCSI tools can be used by communities and their advisors to protect community interests.

Downstream Linkages Case Studies
As part of the Intergovernmental Forum (IGF) Guidance for Governments on Local Content Policies, CCSI has published 5 case studies that illustrate the policies resource-rich countries have used to support downstream beneficiation in country. The case studies include: Australia’s efforts to develop the steel industry; Botswana’s policies to establish a diamond polishing sector; Indonesia’s recent export ban on unprocessed minerals; Nigeria’s experience in the refinery sector; and Singapore’s development of the refinery and chemicals industry. The guidance and case studies can be accessed here.

Rethinking International Investment Governance: Principles for the 21st Century
Over the course of a week in June, CCSI convened a distinguished group of experts to write a new book on international economic governance. Rethinking International Investment Governance aims to serve as a practical resource for those interested in the elements of an international investment system that promotes sustainable development and achieves legitimacy by providing benefits to all stakeholders. This book rethinks international investment law as a key system in global economic governance that should incorporate principles of transparency, participation, reciprocity, accountability, and subsidiarity. Ultimately, it proposes possible reforms that would realign the governance of international investment with 21st century goals, including reduction of poverty and inequality, and protection of human dignity, the environment and the planet.

Putting FDI on the G20 Agenda
CCSI's Karl Sauvant co-authored an article that encourages rule-making and policy changes with regards to foreign direct investment (FDI) to help avoid costly investment wars. The authors suggest that the G20 keep FDI on its agenda, including by following up on its nine Guiding Principles for Global Investment Policymaking; requesting United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to keep it informed of reform efforts; and supporting the World Trade Organization (WTO) discussions on investment facilitation.

Past Events

July 30, 2018: Curriculum Development Workshop with Makerere University Law School
In partnership with the International Governance Alliance, CCSI’s Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye co-organized and participated in a workshop at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda aimed at supporting the development of a course syllabus for LLM students focused on extractive industries and sustainable development. The draft syllabus was workshopped by academics from the East Africa region.

July 31-August 1, 2018: Training for Judges from Uganda and Kenya
In collaboration with the International Governance Alliance, Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye co-taught a 2-day training program on the extractives sector for judges from Uganda and Kenya.

August 1-3 & August 6-8, 2018: First East Africa Executive Training on Extractives and Sustainable Investments
In collaboration with the Great Lakes Institute for Strategic Studies and alumni of CCSI’s annual Executive Training on Extractive Industries for Sustainable Development (EISD), CCSI’s Nicolas Maennling and Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye taught in a regional echo training of EISD for participants from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Sudan.

September 6-7, 2018: Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Partners Meeting
Nicolas Maennling presented at the 2-day EITI Partners meeting in Oslo, Norway where stakeholders discussed their priorities for strengthening extractive industry governance going forward. CCSI presented on how it may be possible to integrate non-fiscal impacts into cost-benefit analyses of extractive industry projects. More information on the event and the presentations can be accessed here

In The News

Oil companies have identified massive oil reserves off the coast of Guyana. Can the country avoid the resource curse? Lisa Sachs joins the discussion on Al Jazeera TV:  Will Guyana's oil boom benefit the people?

CCSI is partnering with Makerere School of Law in Uganda to support the introduction of a new LLM course on Extractive Industries and Sustainable Development. See here for NTV Uganda's segment on the launch of the program, featuring  CCSI Legal Researcher Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye:  Makerere School of Law Introduces Masters Programme on Extractives

Training Alumni Profile

Leah Mugehera, Program Officer, Women’s Land Rights, Oxfam International  
This month’s alumni profile features Leah Mugehera Khasoha, Women’s Land Rights Program Officer with Oxfam International. As an alumnus of the 2017 CCSI Executive Training on Sustainable Investment in Agriculture, Leah champions women’s land rights and is passionate about addressing the barriers women face in relation to land ownership. Read the full profile here

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