Law Commons^™

Arctic Warming: Environmental, Human, And Security Implications, Mary B. West

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Arctic warming has myriad implications for the Arctic environment, residents, and nations. Although definitive predictions are difficult, without question the scope and rapidity of change will test the adaptive capacities of the Arctic environment as well as its residents. Warming is affecting marine ecosystems and marine life, terrestrial ecosystems, and the animals and people who depend on them. Human impacts include effects on access to food and resources; health and well being; and community cohesion, traditions, and culture. Increased shipping and resource activity create the need for additional maritime presence and security; better environmental and safety regulations; peaceful resolution of …

Establishing An Aggressive Legal Framework For The Future Of Wind Energy In Europe, Tyler Hagenbuch

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Europe is the world's frontrunner in wind energy, and European governments are committed to aiding renewable energy entrepreneurs and investors. In April 2009, the EU passed a new Climate Action Directive. The Directive set goals for both increased use of renewable energy and decreases in greenhouse gas emissions. Despite this legislative success, the Climate Action Directive was widely criticized as insufficient and ineffective. Indeed, there are numerous substantive concessions given to industry in the emission reduction portion of the Directive. Dissenters argued the weaknesses of the emissions reduction Directive squandered the EU's opportunity to be a world leader in energy …

The Arctic In World Environmental History, Jonathan D. Greenberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

For millions of years, the Arctic has been the world's most important "barometer of global change and amplifier of global warming." For twenty thousand years, the Arctic has been the homeland of modern human settlement, and it has played a central role in the interplay between global climate change and human migration throughout Eurasia and the Americas. Since the late fifteenth century, Arctic aboriginal peoples, lands, and seas have been thoroughly integrated into the international history of European trade, capitalism, and colonization; the territorial expansion of modern nation states; and the transnational strategic history since the outset of the Cold …

The Arctic: An Opportunity To Cooperate And Demonstrate Statesmanship, Dr. Hans Corell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Article discusses in four distinct parts disputes relating to maritime boundaries in the Arctic; "gaps" in the legal regime in the Arctic; environmental and security concerns; and the administration of the Arctic.

Regarding the first item, the Article maintains that the point of departure is that the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea applies also in the Arctic. Overlapping claims by the coastal states are perfectly legitimate and thus should not be dramatized. What matters is how such differences are resolved.

Referring to suggestions that there are "gaps" in the Arctic legal regime and that a …

Symposium Introduction, Peter C. Marshall, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The last ten years have been the warmest on record. During 2007, Arctic sea ice dropped to the lowest levels since measurements began in 1979. Valuable natural resources in the Arctic, including gas and oil, are becoming more accessible to exploitation. The Northwest Passage--a highly desirable shipping route connecting Europe and Asia--is increasingly navigable during the summers. These changes have highlighted new and unresolved legal issues as the nations bordering the Arctic vie for control of these new waters and the resources that lie beneath them.

In February 2009, the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law invited some of the most …

Who Controls The Northwest Passage?, Michael Byers, Suzanne Lalonde

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

From Martin Frobisher in 1576 to John Franklin in 1845, generations of European explorers searched for a navigable route through the Arctic islands to Asia. Their greatest challenge was sea-ice, which has almost always filled the straits, even in summer. Climate change, however, is fundamentally altering the sea-ice conditions: In September 2007, the Northwest Passage was ice-free for the first time in recorded history. This Article reviews the consequences of this development, particularly in terms of the security and environmental risks that would result from international shipping along North America's longest coast. It analyzes the differing positions of Canada and …