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Increased investment in large-scale agricultural, forestry, and fishing projects has raised concerns about pressures on lands and natural resources, and the negative impacts these investments can have when poorly regulated and irresponsibly operated. New disputes between investors and states concerning these investments have sparked commentary regarding the potentially chilling effects they may have on effective regulation of inward investment. At the same time, public and private investments in agriculture are identified as global priorities in the sustainable Development goals. Policy-makers are therefore seeking to facilitate investments in agriculture to advance food security, nutrition, equality, climate and other sustainable development objectives.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is currently working on how to reform international investment treaties, focusing in particular on those treaties' provisions enabling investors to sue governments in international arbitration. As an observer organization in this process, CCSI has emphasized that in the context of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform, it is important to first consider what it is that investment treaties aim to achieve, and only then to consider what form(s) of dispute settlement will best advance those objectives. This means not only looking at reform of the existing ISDS mechanism, but also alternatives to it. Having identified various concerns about ISDS, UNCITRAL is now taking stock of potential reform options, and will consider this fall which options to pursue and in what order. To contribute to UNCITRAL's work, CCSI, together with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), submitted this document outlining potential reform options and considerations. UNCITRAL Working Group III on ISDS Reform: How Cross-Cutting Issues Reshape Reform Options discusses at a general level how issues such as regulatory chill, investor obligations and counterclaims, the rights of non-parties, and damages – issues that were recognized by the Working Group as being important for guiding its efforts and outputs – could inform the contours of reform solutions.

The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) is currently working on how to reform international investment treaties, focusing in particular on those treaties' provisions enabling investors to sue governments in international arbitration. As an observer organization in this process, CCSI has emphasized that in the context of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform, it is important to first consider what it is that investment treaties aim to achieve, and only then to consider what form(s) of dispute settlement will best advance those objectives. This means not only looking at reform of the existing ISDS mechanism, but also alternatives to it. Having identified various concerns about ISDS, UNCITRAL is now taking stock of potential reform options, and will consider this fall which options to pursue and in what order. To contribute to UNCITRAL's work, CCSI, together with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), submitted this document outlining potential reform options and considerations. Third Party Rights in Investor-State Dispute Settlement: Options for Reform (also available in Spanish) builds on work highlighting the impact of ISDS on access to justice for third parties, and briefly elaborates on how investor-state arbitrations can affect third parties, while also offering examples of procedural tools that states could use to better safeguard those third parties' rights.