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Full-Text Articles in Law
International Environmental Law And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez
International Environmental Law And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The unprecedented degradation of the planet’s vital ecosystems is among the most pressing issues confronting the international community. Despite the proliferation of legal instruments to combat environmental problems, conflicts between rich and poor nations (the North-South divide) have compromised the effectiveness of international environmental law, leading to deadlocks in environmental treaty negotiations and non-compliance with existing agreements. Through contributions from scholars based in five continents, International Environmental Law and the Global South examines both the historical origins of the North-South divide in European colonialism as well as its contemporary manifestations in a range of issues, including food justice, energy justice, …
Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht
Developing An International Carbon Tax Regime, Steven Specht
Steven Specht
As atmospheric CO2 remains in the range of 400 ppm, it is necessary to find new international coordination to deal with climate change. The best way forward is an international regime of harmonized domestic carbon taxes. By agreeing to a minimum amount of taxation on domestic, point-source producers, money can be set aside for adaptation costs and alternative means of energy production. Finally, such a plan will overcome the problem of non-participation of countries in agreements like the Kyoto Protocol. As this is a treaty dealing with economics and trade, countries can place taxes on imports of non-participatory countries under …
Environmental Justice, Human Rights, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Environmental Justice, Human Rights, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
From the Ogoni people devastated by oil drilling in Nigeria to the Inuit and other indigenous populations threatened by climate change, communities disparately burdened by environmental degradation are increasingly framing their demands for environmental justice in the language of environmental human rights. Domestic and international tribunals have concluded that failure to protect the environment violates a variety of human rights (including the rights to life, health, food, water, property, and privacy; the collective rights of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands and resources; and the right to a healthy environment). Some scholars have questioned the utility of the human rights …
Bridging The North-South Divide: International Environmental Law In The Anthropocene, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Bridging The North-South Divide: International Environmental Law In The Anthropocene, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The failure of international law and institutions to address global environmental degradation has significant implications for law and society as the planet’s ecosystems approach irreversible tipping points. According to a recent study published in the journal Science, the global economy has transgressed four of the nine “planetary boundaries” critical to the planet’s self-regulating capacity. Climate change, deforestation, species extinction, and the runoff of phosphorus and nitrogen into regional watersheds and oceans have exceeded safe biophysical thresholds. Scientists refer to the current geologic era of human-induced environmental change as the Anthropocene. These environmental problems are inextricably intertwined with patterns of trade, …
Environmental Justice And International Environmental Law, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Environmental Justice And International Environmental Law, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
Environmental justice lies at the heart of many environmental disputes between the global North and the global South as well as grassroots environmental struggles within nations. However, the discourse of international environmental law is often ahistorical and technocratic. It neither educates the North about its inordinate contribution to global environmental problems nor provides an adequate response to the concerns of nations and communities disproportionately burdened by poverty and environmental degradation. This article examines some of the root causes of environmental injustice among and within nations from the colonial period to the present, and discusses several strategies that can be used …
Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Human Rights And The Evolution Of Global Environmental Law, Robert V. Percival
Robert Percival
Environmental problems that jeopardize the health of humans increasingly implicate concerns that have played an important role in the development of international human rights. While some have questioned the wisdom or effectiveness of focusing human rights concerns on environmental problems, it seems an inevitable response to the failure of many countries to protect their citizens adequately from harm caused by environmental degradation. This paper reviews efforts to apply human rights concerns to environmental problems. It describes how these developments illustrate the growth of a kind of “global environmental law” that blurs traditional distinctions between domestic and international law and public …
Book Review: Environmental Protection And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Book Review: Environmental Protection And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
This article reviews Environmental Protection and Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, New York 2011), a textbook co-authored authored by Donald K. Anton and Dinah L. Shelton. The book examines the growing recognition by scholars, activists, governments, and international and domestic tribunals of the linkages between environmental protection and human rights. Although intended for use as a law school textbook and accompanied by five online problem-oriented case studies, this comprehensive volume will also serve as a valuable reference for scholars and practitioners as well as an excellent survey for newcomers to the field.
The Global Food System, Environmental Protection, And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
The Global Food System, Environmental Protection, And Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
The global food system is exceeding ecological limits while failing to meet the nutritional needs of a large segment of the world’s population. While law could play an important role in facilitating the transition to a more just and ecologically sustainable food system, the current legal framework fails to regulate food and agriculture in an integrated manner. The international legal framework governing food and agriculture is fragmented into three self-contained regimes that have historically operated in isolation from one another: international human rights law, international environmental law, and international trade law. International trade law has taken precedence over human rights …
Organismos Genéticamente Modificados (Ogm) Y Justicia: Implicaciones De La Biotecnología Para La Justicia Ambiental Internacional, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Organismos Genéticamente Modificados (Ogm) Y Justicia: Implicaciones De La Biotecnología Para La Justicia Ambiental Internacional, Carmen G. Gonzalez
Carmen G. Gonzalez
En septiembre del 2006, un panel de resolución de controversias de la Organizacón Mundial del Comercio (OMC) emitió su fallo a favor de los Estados Unidos en la disputa entre EE.UU y la Unión Europea sobre los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM). El fallo se basó en limitadas determinaciones procedimentales, y no abordó el tema de la seguridad de los OGM, el derecho de los países de reglamentar los productos genéticamente modificados más rigurosamente que sus equivalentes convencionales, ni la coherencia de la legislacion europea con las obligaciones del OMC. El continuo conflicto entre los Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea …
Green Laws For Better Health: The Past That Was And The Future That Maybe - Reflections From The Indian Experience, Shubhankar Dam
Green Laws For Better Health: The Past That Was And The Future That Maybe - Reflections From The Indian Experience, Shubhankar Dam
Shubhankar Dam
No abstract provided.