11
Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the
Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971)
“Wetlands: home and destination”
Bucharest, Romania, 6-13 July 2012
Ramsar COP11 DOC. 37
Legal advisor for Ramsar COP11
1. In light of a number of issues anticipated for discussion at the 11th meeting of the
Conference of the Parties (COP11) that might have legal implications, the Secretariat has been extremely fortunate to have been able to engage the services of the well-known authority on environmental treaties and intergovernmental processes, Mr Veit Koester. He is prepared to help the Secretariat and the Parties with any relevant issues that might arise during the COP.
2. Mr Koester has worked for many years with many of the Ramsar Convention’s partner conventions and organizations and, indeed, has played an instrumental role in the proceedings of many COPs of the Ramsar Convention itself, including as Chair of the Extraordinary Meeting of the COP in Regina, Canada, in 1987, where the treaty
amendments were agreed that created the secretariat and defined the competencies of the Conference of the Parties. He was fêted as a “Wetland Person of International
Importance” at Ramsar COP8 in Valencia in 2002.
3. For the benefit of COP11 participants who may not know Mr Koester already, the Secretariat is pleased to provide his curriculum vitae here.
Veit Koester July 2012
Ordrupvej 132 B
2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark Phone: +45 39633621
E-mail: [email protected]
CURRICULUM VITAE
VEIT KOESTER
He was 2003-2011 Chair of the Compliance Committee of the UN/ECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the Aarhus Convention), and 2004-2009 Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Since 2011 he is Chair of the Compliance Committee of the Protocol on Water and Health.
External Professor at Roskilde University Centre (since 1997) and Visiting Professor at the United Nations University, Institute of Advanced Studies in Yokohama, Japan (since 2004).
Working experience
Drafting, implementation and administration of environmental legislation in Denmark for more than 20 years. One of the main authors on the civil servant level of the Danish Nature Protection Act, thus being responsible inter alia for the introduction and implementation of the advanced legal system whereby most of the nature types in Denmark (lakes, watercourses, heaths, bogs, marches and moors, coastal meadows, humid permanent grasslands and uncultivated, dry meadows) are protected per se. Responsible for the introduction and implementation in Denmark of all the global and regional nature protection conventions as well as the EC Directives mentioned below.
After his retirement he has worked inter alia as a consultant on various projects, e.g. in Malaysia and Thailand, dealing mainly with biodiversity-related international law, including biosafety issues and access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing.
Publications
Numerous articles and other publications in Danish and English in the field of nature conservation and international environmental law. See, furthermore, the Annex to the CV.
Achievements
Active contributor to the preparation of several international legal instruments on nature conservation,
notably the World Heritage Convention, the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention), the European Community Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, the Habitat Directive and Community Regulations, inter alia, on the implementation of the Washington Convention (CITES) within the EC.
Head of Danish Governmental delegations to all conferences of the Contracting Parties to the Bonn
order to prepare for the first Meeting of the Parties, as well as head of the Danish delegation to the first Meeting of the Parties (2002).
Head of Danish Governmental delegations to the General Assemblies of IUCN 1981, 1984, 1988, 1990,
1994 and the World Conservation Congresses 1996 and 2000. Member of the Steering Group of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law 2005-2008.
Elected Chair or Vice-chair,inter alia, of:
- The Conference to conclude a Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals 1979 (Committee of the Whole)
- The Steering Committee for Environmental Protection (Council of Europe) 1987 - 1988
- The Standing Committee for the European Wildlife Convention (Bern Convention), 1985 – 1989 and 1991
- Extraordinary Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention 1987 (and vice-chair of the Ordinary Conference) and COP 7 in 1999
- Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Bonn Convention 1988
- UNEP Ad Hoc Working Group on Biodiversity, meetings in December 1988, February 1990, July 1990 and November 1990 preparing for the negotiations of the
Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention on Biological Diversity.
- Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the Convention on Biological Diversity (Vice-chair) and Chair of the Committee's Working Group II February 1991 - May 1992. Co-chair of Panel IV - Expert Panel (on biosafety) established to follow-up on the Convention on Biological Diversity, Dec. 1992 - March 1993. Vice-chair of the
Intergovernmental Committee for the Convention on Biological Diversity and chair of the Committee's Working Group II, 1993-1994. Vice-chair of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity and chair of the Committee of the Whole (Dec. 1994)
- Vice-chair of the International Conference on Biosphere Reserves (Sevilla, 1995)
- Chair (1996 - 1999) of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Working
Group of Experts on Biosafety to elaborate a protocol on biosafety
- Chair (1996 - 1998) of the Council for the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy
- Vice-chair of the Working Group of the Aarhus Convention (2000 – 2002)
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2002) and ICCP 3 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2002).
EU Presidency at inter alia
- COP 6 of CITES (July 1987)
- The first Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention (Oct. 2002)
- COP 12 of CITES (Nov. 2002)
- COP 8 of the Ramsar Convention (Nov. 2002)
Regional Councillor (Western Europe) of the IUCN Council (1988-90 and 1991-1993)
Memberships
Member of the International Council of Environmental Law, the European Council of Environmental Law, and the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law
Awards
Danish Animal Welfare Society, Annual Prize (1981)
UNEP - The Global 500 Award (1996)
Elizabeth Haub Award, inaugurated in 1999 by the International Council of Environmental Law and Pace University, for “Environmental Diplomacy for the year 2000” (2001)
CITES Golden Pin (2002)
Ramsar Convention - designated as a “Wetland of International Importance Person” (Person No.: 3) (2002)
The Order of Knight of the Aarhus Convention bestowed by the NGO Community (2008)
Environmental Law Prize of the Danish Society for Environmental Law (2010)
Annex to CV of Veit Koester April 2012
Non-exhaustive list of publications
Publications in English
Nordic Countries Legislation on the Environment, IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 14,
1980
The Ramsar Convention, IUCN Environmental Policy and Law Paper No. 23, 1989
From Stockholm to Brundtland, in Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 20/1-2, March 1990
Convention on Biological Diversity - Access to Genetic Resources: A legal Analysis (co-author), in
Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 23/6, December 1993
Pacta Sunt Servanda, in Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 26/2/3, May 1996
General Protection of Natural Habitats in Denmark - evolution and perspectives, in A Law for The
Environment, IUCN 1995
The Biodiversity Negotiation Process - And Some Comments on the Outcome, in Environmental
Policy and Law, Vol. 27/3, June 1997 (with erratum in Vol. 27/5 page 430)
The Five Global Biodiversity-Related Conventions, in Environmental Policy and Law Vol. 31/3 2001, 151-156 (with an updated version in RECIEL 11/1 2002)
The Biosafety Working Group (BSWG) process: a personal account from the chair Veit Koester, in
The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (eds. Christoph Bail, Robert Falkner and Helen Marquard),
Earthscan Publications 2002, 44-61
The History Behind the Protocol on Biosafety and the History of the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol Negotiation Process, in CBD News, Special Edition: Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. From Negotiation
to Implementation, CBD Secretariat, 2003
Review of Compliance under the Aarhus Convention: A Rather Unique Compliance Mechanism, in
JEEPL 1/2005
Global Environmental Agreements: Drafting, Formulation and Character, in Environmental Policy and
Law, No. 35/4-5, 2005, 170-183, (translated into French by Tristan Auostin), Le Comité
D’Examen du Respect des Dispositions de la Jurisprudence, in Revue Européenne de Droit de l’environment no. 3/2007
The Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention: An Overview of Procedures and Jurisprudence, in Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 37, No. 2-3, 2007, 83-95
The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention), in Making Treaties Work: Human
Rights, Environment and Arms Control (eds. Geir Ulfstein et al.), Cambridge University Press,
2007, 179 – 217
The Nature of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Application of Components of the Concept of Sustainable Development, in The Italian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. XVI, 2006, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007, 57 – 84
Compliance with Environmental Conventions: The Role of Public Involvement (with Tomme Young), in Environmental Policy and Law, Vol. 37, No. 5, 2007, 399 – 401
The Compliance Mechanisms of the Aarhus Convention and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: A Comparative Analysis of the Negotiation Histories and their Outcomes, in
Non-Compliance Procedures and the Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements (eds.
Tullio Treves et al.), Asser Press, The Hague, 2009, 277-302
The Compliance Mechanism of the Aarhus Convention – Outcomes of the Fourth Meeting of the Parties (Chisinau, Moldova, 29 June – 1 July 2011) and a stock-taking of the work and accomplishments of the Compliance Committee, in Environmental Policy and Law, Vol.
41/4-5, October 2011, 196-205
Review of “Testing Times: The Effectiveness of Five International Biodiversity-related Conventions” by Karen Backman, in RECIEL 21/1 2012, 67-70
Publications in Danish
Naturbeskyttelsesloven med kommentarer (Commentary on the Danish Nature Protection Act), Jurist-
og Økonomforbundets Forlag, 2009, pp. 1491
Many articles on environmental law in the Danish National Encyclopedia (1995-2001) Other articles include inter alia:
Konventionen om den biologiske mangfoldighed (Biodiversitetskonventionen) - en introduktion (the Convention on Biological Diversity - an introduction), in Juristen 1996 (The Lawyer), 272 – 282
Mere om EU's beskyttelse af vilde fugle (More about the protection of wild birds in EU) and Duplik om fuglebeskyttelse (Rejoinder on protection of birds), in Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen 1998, 75-86 and 345-348
Århus-konventionen om “borgerlige rettigheder” på miljøområdet - især i et
menneskerettighedsperspektiv (The Aarhus Convention on citizens environmental rights - especially in a human rights perspective), in Juristen 1999, 87 – 102
Cartagena - protokollen om biosafety - en international aftale i brændpunktet mellem handel og miljø (The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety - an international agreement in the centre of the conflict between trade and environment), in Juristen 2000, 335-348, which was published in
Environmental Policy and Law Vol 31/2, 2001, 82-94 in an enlarged and updated version under
the title “The Cartagena Protocol: A New Hot Spot in the Trade-Environment Conflict”, and translated into Portuguese and included in Organismos Geneticamente Modificados (eds. M.D. Varella and A.F. Barros-Platiau), Del Rey, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 2005, 87-122. A revised version was published in Trading in Genes: Development Perspectives on Biotechnology, Trade and
Sustainability (eds. R. Meléndez-Ortiz and V. Sánchez), Earthscan, London, 2005, 171-198
Contributions to MiljørettenVol. I and II (Law of the Environment) (2001) on Citizens
Environmental Rights (143-165) and International Biodiversity Protection (35-84) and to Miljøretten, Second Edition Vol. 1 (2006) and Vol. 2 (2006)
The Copenhagen Accord – en overvejende juridisk analyse af aftalen som led i en international miljøpolitisk- og miljøretlig proces (The Copenhagen Accord: A predominately legal analysis of the agreement as part of an international environmental law and policy process), in Juristen 2010, 81-88
Nagoya-protokollen om genetiske ressoucer (The Nagoya Protocol on Genetic Resources), in
