Indigenous Cultural Property Law is a complex and evolving area of law that encompasses a wide range of issues related to the protection of Indigenous knowledge. The laws in this area are designed to recognize the unique relationship that Indigenous peoples have with their cultural heritage and to ensure their rights to their cultural heritage are respected and protected. I developed a particular interest in Indigenous Cultural Property Law at COP 27, which was often mentioned in conversations with Indigenous leaders and environmental activists. As I reflect on the critical takeaways from COP 27, I decided to amplify a set of claims using Indigenous Cultural Property Law as a framework.
Tag: Climate Change
COP27: A reflection on the Role of Business and Environmental Justice in International Climate Policy
What role can and does business play in providing just solutions towards a more sustainable future? I reflect on this in the context of COP27.
COP26: Choosing Hope
Unity, inspiration, invigoration, and hope. These are what I envisioned myself feeling as I left COP26. But rather than feel this way or feel that there had been substantial change, I felt as though COP26 was a leading example of society's faults. Bear in mind that my experience was just a sliver of what COP26 …

Net Zero 2050-A struggling ambitious plan
COP26 at Event Complex, Glasgow, Scotland “Climate Change is not the problem; it is the expression of the problem” was the statement that I heard during the COP26, and it stuck in my mind since then. How obviously true it may sound yet we do not realize this, or at least not deal with this …

The Irony of a Climate Change Conference: COP26
I recently had the opportunity to travel to COP26 as a member of the University of Michigan’s Delegation. What an experience! Attending events and plenaries where the discussions of climate action were taking place was exciting and yet frustrating. Frustrating because the negotiations were not progressing fast enough and were not aggressive enough to combat …
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The Business of Free. Something to learn for climate change?
“We could have saved [the Earth] but we were too damned cheap.” -Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., A Man Without a Country. Recently, I became aware of a Pew Research Center poll that found overwhelming support for requiring better fuel efficiency for vehicles (79%), funding for alternative energy (74%), and strong support for spending more on mass …
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2010 a Top-Three Warmest Year
A press release by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) yesterday, December 2nd, announced that 2010 will rank in the top three of the warmest years on record. The announcement was made as part of COP 16. The press release states that the average global surface temperature for 2010 (Jan to October) is estimated to be …
IPCC Activites Update
Yesterday, members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including Chairman Pachauri, gave an update on IPCC activities and the progress of AR5 to the attendees of COP 16. The first part of the report, "Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis", is due to be released in 2013. Chairman Pachauri states that the …
Ratification of Kyoto Protocol Extension unlikely this week
Photo: Courtesy of Juan Cespedes, The University of Michigan COP 16 Envoy's guest photographer From inside the UN Delegation Hall: Only 132 countries of the expected 190 delegations are present in today's meetings. Only a few delegations - less than 25 by my count - have offered any indication that they will ratify an extension of …
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Adaptation Funding – A Real Need
From inside the UN Delegation Hall - 2:00 pm: Professor Thomas Gladwin, instructor for the University of Michigan's annual Erb Seminar, asked his students to debate the following statement: “Humanity will be able to limit global warming to no more than 1.5-2.0 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and will thus experience abrupt, irreversible, runaway and …