Law Commons^™

Protecting Vulnerable Environments In International Humanitarian Law, Michaela Halpern

Michaela S. Halpern

The North-South Divide In International Environmental Law: Framing The Issues, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

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, …

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, …

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor: The Legal Framework For An Integrated, Regional System Of Protected Areas, Thomas T. Ankersen

Thomas T Ankersen

This article first briefly examines the historical basis for the recent movement toward regional environmental integration in Central America. Part II discusses the biological, economic and cultural rationales for a regional, protected-areas system. With this background, Part III reviews the current international law framework for biodiversity conservation. Part IV examines the extent to which existing models of international and regional cooperation incorporate modern scientific principles of conservation biology, such as island biogeography, into their legal framework. Finally, Part V surveys alternative international law approaches for an integrated, regional, protected-areas system to achieve the region's stated goal of preserving an “effective …

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 …

A Hydrogeological Approach To The Status Of Transboundary Ground Water Resources Under International Law [Abstract], Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

2 pages. Contains footnotes.

Water Scarcity, Conflict, And Security In A Climate Change World: Challenges And Opportunities For International Law And Policy, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Although climate change is expected to have major consequences that affect the global environment in its broadest sense, one of the earliest and most direct impacts will be on Earth’s fresh water systems. While some regions will experience increased precipitation, others will suffer serious scarcity. Among others, consequences are likely to include severe flooding, extreme droughts, and meandering border-rivers. This, in turn, will affect human migration patterns, population growths, agricultural activities, economic development, and the environment. This article explores the impact that climate change will have on regional and global freshwater resources and the resulting legal and policy implications that …

Application Of International Water Law To Transboundary Groundwater Resources, And The Slovak-Hungarian Dispute Over Gabcikovo-Nagymaros, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

The growth in global population and economic development has resulted in tremendous pressures on existing sources of fresh water. Human water use over the past three centuries increased by a factor of thirty-five and is growing by four to eight percent annually. Coupled with recurring international disputes over water resources, poor water management, and the realization that water is an indispensable but finite resource, these trends have propelled the use and management of transboundary groundwater resources to the forefront of legal debate.

Until recently, matters relating to groundwater resources were relatively ignored in the context of international law applicable to …

Protecting A Hidden Treasure: The U.N. International Law Commission And The International Law Of Transboundary Ground Water Resources, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water is the most extracted natural resource in the world. It provides more than half of humanity's freshwater for everyday uses such as drinking, cooking, and hygiene, as well as twenty percent of irrigated agriculture. Given the world's considerable reliance on this precious resource, it is reasonable to assume that international attention to, and especially legal consideration of, ground water would be substantial. Nothing is further from the truth. Despite the growing dependence, legal and regulatory attention to ground water resources have long been secondary to surface water, especially among legislatures and policymakers and above all in the international …

A Hydrogeological Perspective Of The Status Of Ground Water Resources Under The Un Watercourse Convention, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

When the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses in 1997, it took a decisive step in recognizing the important role that transboundary ground water resources play in human progress and development. In so doing, it also acknowledged the need to establish principles of law governing this "invisible" but valuable natural resource. Transboundary ground water historically has been neglected in treaties, ignored in projects with international implications, and cursorily misunderstood in much of legal discourse. While the Convention provides substantial clarification on the status of ground water under international law, it also leaves considerable …

Commentary On The U.N. International Law Commission's Draft Articles On The Law Of Transboundary Aquifers, Gabriel E. Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water is the most extracted natural resource in the world. It provides more than half of humanity's freshwater for everyday uses such as drinking, cooking, and hygiene, as well as twenty percent of irrigated agriculture. Despite our increasing reliance, ground water resources have long been the neglected stepchild of international water law; regulation and management of and information about ground water resources are sorely lacking, especially in the international context. Presently, there is no international agreement squarely addressing ground water resources that traverse an international boundary. Moreover, there is only one treaty in the entire world pertaining to the …

A Hydrogeological Approach To Transboundary Ground Water Resources And International Law, Gabriel Eckstein, Yoram Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Ground water resources have long been the neglected stepchild of water law. While agreements focusing on transboundary rivers and lakes have been relatively common, there is a paucity of treaties and international norms squarely addressing shared ground water resources. As a result, the rules governing the use, management, and conservation of transboundary ground waters is unclear at best.

This dearth is, in large part, the result of a deficit of scientific understanding among legislators, policymakers, and the judiciary. This is evidenced in many international and domestic laws and policies that have little or no scientific underpinning. Accordingly, there is a …

The International And Domestic Law Of Climate Change: A Binding International Agreement Without The Senate Or Congress?, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

This Article asserts that neither Senate advice and consent nor new congressional legislation are necessarily conditions precedent to the United States' becoming a party to a binding agreement to be adopted at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is to be held in Paris in December 2015. Depending on the form of such an agreement, which is presently under negotiation, the President's Climate Action Plan could provide sufficient domestic legal authority for the conclusion of all or part of such a binding international instrument as an executive agreement, as well as …

Accounting For Taste: Trade Law Implications Of Taxing Meat To Fight Climate Change, Marya Torrez

Marya Torrez

Global climate change threatens to have disastrous consequences for life as we know it. Animal agriculture makes a tremendous contribution to climate change. While largely ignored in the policy arena, in recent years, scientists have suggested a tax on meat to begin to address this issue. This article looks seriously at this proposal and addresses some of the potential international trade law implications. Assessing such a tax on imports would be vital in order for the tax to have any impact. Moreover, rebating the tax on exports would likely be necessary in order for the tax to gain political support. …

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 …

Energy Poverty And The Environment, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

Nearly 3 billion people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (the Energy Poor) face daily hardships due to lack of modern energy for cooking, heating, sanitation, lighting, transportation, and basic mechanical power. Despite their minimal greenhouse gas emissions, the Energy Poor will be disproportionately burdened by the floods, droughts, rising sea levels, and other disturbances caused by climate change. Although climate change has been framed as an issue of climate debt and climate justice, the plight of the Energy Poor has received short shrift in the climate change negotiations. Will efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions consign the Energy Poor …

Looking To The Practices Of Transnational Corporations To Protect The Global Environment: A New Theory Of Custom In International Environmental Law, Matthew Thurmer

Matthew A Thurmer Mr.

To a large extent, international environmental law has been unsuccessful. As a result, new and creative thinking is needed to protect the global environment. This paper, in particular, considers an approach to customary international law that is based on the practices of transnational corporations (TNCs) rather than the practices of states. Of course, many TNCs are harming the Earth. Thus, the state must regulate these multinational companies to establish practices that are environmentally sound. If enough states pass and enforce such laws, then at some point a rule of custom will arise that can protect the global environment.

Anticipating The Storm: Predicting And Preventing Global Technology Conflicts, Sabrina Safrin

Sabrina Safrin

This article helps lay the foundation for a new field of international law — International Law and Technology — and opens novel avenues of inquiry in law and technology and intellectual property more broadly. It analyzes as a starting point why some technologies generate global conflicts while others do not. Technologies that face international resistance can trigger a barrage of international legal responses, ranging from trade bans and WTO disputes to international regulatory regimes and barriers to patenting. Agricultural biotechnology triggered all of these legal flashpoints, while the cellphone, a technology that grew up alongside it, triggered none. Why?

Understanding …

Engineering The Climate: Geoengineering As A Challenge To International Governance, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

The challenge of global climate change has attracted recommendations for remediation from a number of professions, including engineering. The possibilities suggested for “geoengineering” the climate generally fall into one of two categories: (1) carbon capture and storage; and (2) solar radiation management. Specific and often controversial proposals include the aerial dispersion of aerosols, launching reflective gratings into orbit around the Earth, and seeding the oceans with iron filings. These proposals share a number of characteristics, including the following: (1) they can often be undertaken within the territorial jurisdiction of a single state or in areas beyond national jurisdiction; (2) they …

Book Review, The Law Of Adaptation To Climate Change: U.S. And International Aspects, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

No abstract provided.

Using Sustainability Criteria In Law, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

The purpose of the article is to raise interest for using sustainability criteria as a means to promote and safeguard sustainability for traded products and their production. The focus is put on how sustainability criteria can be efficiently used in legal constructions. Practical examples from the biofuel sector are provided.

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 …

Book Review, Environmental Law And Sustainability After Rio, David Wirth

David A. Wirth

Review of an accessible collection of essays from around the world, offering insights into legal and political issues surrounding environmental law and sustainability.

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

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.

Rio + 20: What Difference Has Two Decades Made To State Practice In The Regulation Of Invasive Alien Species?*, Sophie Riley

Sophie Riley

Invasive alien species (IAS) are alien species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or other species. Article 8(h) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires the contracting parties to ‘prevent the introduction of or control or eradicate those alien species that threaten ecosystems, habitats or species’. Members are also required to lodge National Reports with the secretariat of the CBD, specifying how they are fulfilling their international obligations with respect to IAS. While the threats to biodiversity posed by IAS have been extensively documented, to date, no study has examined States’ perceptions of their IAS regimes. This paper collects and analyses …

China's Engagement With Latin America: Partnership Or Plunder?, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez

The emergence of China as a significant economic force in Latin America has sparked both optimism and alarm. With titles such as 'The Coming China Wars' and 'The Dragon in the Backyard,' recent books and articles depict China as a rising imperial power scouring the globe for natural resources and as a competitive threat to Latin America. Other studies applaud China’s pragmatic, unorthodox development strategies and portray China as a successful model for developing countries. The competing narratives about China’s rise do agree on one thing: China has become a formidable force in the developing world whose influence merits careful …

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

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 …

The International Organization For Standardization: Private Voluntary Standards As Swords And Shields, David A. Wirth

David A. Wirth

Private voluntary standards such as the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO’s) 14000 series have played an increasingly important role in encouraging corporations to adopt more sustainable business models on their own initiative and not in direct response to governmentally mandated requirements. ISO standards have a number of benefits, including promoting international uniformity; elevating environmental issues within an enterprise; promoting international trade; and providing a minimal level of environmental performance in countries with less than adequate regulatory infrastructure. Concerns about ISO standards include the relationship to public regulation; and ISO 14001’s essentially procedural, as opposed to performance-based, character. International trade agreements …