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Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law

Is Climate Change A Threat To International Peace And Security?, Mark Nevitt Jun 2021

Is Climate Change A Threat To International Peace And Security?, Mark Nevitt

Michigan Journal of International Law

The climate-security century is here. Both the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“IPCC”) and the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment (“NCA”) recently sounded the alarm on climate change’s “super-wicked” and destabilizing security impacts. Scientists and security professionals alike reaffirm what we are witnessing with our own eyes: The earth is warming at a rapid rate; climate change affects international peace and security in complex ways; and the window for international climate action is slamming shut.


The Trees Speak For Themselves: Nature’S Rights Under International Law, Samantha Franks Jun 2021

The Trees Speak For Themselves: Nature’S Rights Under International Law, Samantha Franks

Michigan Journal of International Law

This note argues that the United Nations should center nature’s rights in the upcoming Global Pact on the Environment, solidifying the patchwork of international environmental law and encouraging domestic protection of the environment. Part II explores the current state of international environmental law, outlining the ways in which the doctrine remains incomplete. Part III establishes that Earth jurisprudence is an effective method to fill the gaps existing within traditional international environmental law. Part IV emphasizes the importance of soft law in international law. It draws a parallel between the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human’s Rights and a potential …


The Possibility Of Prosecuting Corporations For Climate Crimes Before The International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead To The Rome Statute?, Donna Minha Jan 2020

The Possibility Of Prosecuting Corporations For Climate Crimes Before The International Criminal Court: All Roads Lead To The Rome Statute?, Donna Minha

Michigan Journal of International Law

Due to rapid developments in climate science, scientists are now able to quantifiably link significant greenhouse gas emissions caused by major oil and gas corporations to specific climate impacts. These scientific advances have been accompanied by the publication of documents and studies suggesting that the oil and gas industry allegedly had knowledge of climate change as early as sixty years ago, and yet it actively worked to promote climate change denial and to delay governmental regulation on this matter. Though climate-related litigation is proceeding against the industry in different jurisdictions, proceedings brought against oil and gas corporations mainly focus on …


International Law In The Anthropocene: Responding To The Geoengineering Challenge, Karen N. Scott Jan 2013

International Law In The Anthropocene: Responding To The Geoengineering Challenge, Karen N. Scott

Michigan Journal of International Law

From The Odyssey to The Tempest and beyond, the control and deliberate manipulation of the weather constitutes an enduring and universal theme in myth and literature. In the twenty-first century, it is scientists and engineers rather than authors and artists who dream of weather and climate control, and their story, as described by James Rodger Fleming, "is not, in essence, a heroic saga about new scientific discoveries that can save the planet, as many of the participants claim, but a tragicomedy of overreaching, hubris, and self-delusion." This notwithstanding, the argument that we should deliberately manipulate earth systems and natural processes …


The New International Law-Makers? Conferences Of The Parties To Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Annecoos Wiersema Jan 2009

The New International Law-Makers? Conferences Of The Parties To Multilateral Environmental Agreements, Annecoos Wiersema

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article adds to a nascent and still limited awareness that something important is afoot in international law: the activity of Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Some of this activity-such as formal amendments to a treaty or protocol- requires a state party's consent before it will be binding on that state. This activity fits easily within traditional categories of the sources of international law and gives rise to new obligations for states that are identifiable as hard law. However, other activity by COPs does not require the consent of every state party to the treaty …


Regional Projects Require Regional Planning: Human Rights Impacts Arising From Infrastructure Projects, Abby Rubinson Jan 2006

Regional Projects Require Regional Planning: Human Rights Impacts Arising From Infrastructure Projects, Abby Rubinson

Michigan Journal of International Law

Regional projects require regional planning to avoid potentially disastrous environmental and human rights abuses. Focusing on the Rio Madeira project in Brazil as a case study in the impacts of infrastructure projects, this Note identifies the harm anticipated from these projects and highlights the need for verification of official predictions of such harm. It then proceeds to a legal analysis, addressing the applicable international law, Brazilian law, and regional legal frameworks and outlining the negative legal consequences arising from inadequate impact assessments. In light of these negative legal implications, the Note concludes by illustrating the need to proceed with planning …


International Treaty Enforcement As A Public Good: Institutional Deterrent Sanctions In International Environmental Agreements, Tseming Yang Jan 2006

International Treaty Enforcement As A Public Good: Institutional Deterrent Sanctions In International Environmental Agreements, Tseming Yang

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article approaches the issues through the lens of two general questions. First, what are the functions of treaty enforcement and institutional deterrent sanctions? Second, what are the obstacles to the effective deployment of institutional deterrent sanctions in response to noncompliance? This Article elaborates on the instrumental purposes of enforcement as well as its independent normative function. Much of the analysis follows the recent stream of works that combines both international law and international relations theory. These works offer a rich understanding of the conduct of states and the functioning of international legal regimes.


Lessons From The Protracted Mox Plant Dispute: A Proposed Protocal On Marine Environmental Impact Assessment To The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea, Maki Tanaka Jan 2004

Lessons From The Protracted Mox Plant Dispute: A Proposed Protocal On Marine Environmental Impact Assessment To The United Nations Convention On The Law Of The Sea, Maki Tanaka

Michigan Journal of International Law

Although the ITLOS order attempted to facilitate dialogue between the parties, the Tribunal was incapable of addressing the root cause of the MOX plant controversy, namely the lack of an adequate mechanism for transboundary environmental impact assessment at the onset of the conflict under UNCLOS. Similarly, the OSPAR and Annex VII tribunals have failed to bring about the efficient resolution of this procedural environmental dispute. This Article addresses the prevention of similar incidents by proposing the creation of a marine environmental impact assessment protocol to UNCLOS to make assessment procedures operational from the initial stage of controversial projects.


Prescriptive Treaties In Global Warming: Applying The Factors Leading To The Montreal Protocol, Jasmine Abdel-Khalik Jan 2001

Prescriptive Treaties In Global Warming: Applying The Factors Leading To The Montreal Protocol, Jasmine Abdel-Khalik

Michigan Journal of International Law

In order to combat the ever-increasing problem of global warming, developing nations need technology that will limit emissions while allowing for economic growth. This paper will first examine the problem of global warming. In Part II, the paper will explore the reasons developing nations currently are unable to reduce their emissions. In Part III, the paper will look at the factors leading to the success of the Montreal Protocol and examine the global warming debate in light of these factors.


Racing The Rising Tide: Legal Options For The Marshall Islands, J. Chris Larson Jan 2000

Racing The Rising Tide: Legal Options For The Marshall Islands, J. Chris Larson

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note first describes the threat posed by accelerated sea-level rise. A review of scientific data shows that global warming causes ocean levels to rise and that RMI may need to be evacuated. The current diplomatic efforts to decrease global warming offer few assurances to RMI. In fact, the countries that have obligated themselves to reduce global warming are actually increasing emissions of gases that cause global warming.


The International Convention To Combat Desertification: Drawing A Line In The Sand?, William C. Burns Jan 1995

The International Convention To Combat Desertification: Drawing A Line In The Sand?, William C. Burns

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this article is to assess the potential efficacy of the Convention in the face of devastation of the world's dryland resources. In this pursuit, I will: 1) Outline the causes and implications of desertification; 2) Present a brief history of past efforts to battle desertification; 3) Discuss the contours and the Convention; and 4) Assess the prospects for the Convention to make a meaningful difference in the struggle to save the world's land.


Multidisciplinary Perspectives On The Improvement Of International Environmental Law And Institutions, Linda C. Reif Jan 1994

Multidisciplinary Perspectives On The Improvement Of International Environmental Law And Institutions, Linda C. Reif

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Environmental Change and International Law: New Challenges and Dimensions (Edith Brown Weiss ed.), Institutions for the Earth: Sources of Effective International Environmental Protection (Peter M. Haas, Robert O. Keohane, & Marc A. Levy eds.), and The Uncertain Promise of Law: Lessons from Bhopal. by Jamie Cassels


Participation And Litigation Rights Of Environmental Associations In Europe: Current Legal Situation And Practical Experience, David A. Wirth Jan 1993

Participation And Litigation Rights Of Environmental Associations In Europe: Current Legal Situation And Practical Experience, David A. Wirth

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of the book edited by Martin Führ and Gerhard Roller.


Basic Documents Of International Environmental Law, Ludwik A. Teclaff Jan 1993

Basic Documents Of International Environmental Law, Ludwik A. Teclaff

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of the book edited by Harald Hohmann.


The Role Of Risk Analysis In The 1992 Framework Convention On Climate Change, Martin J. Lalonde Jan 1993

The Role Of Risk Analysis In The 1992 Framework Convention On Climate Change, Martin J. Lalonde

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note examines the role that risk analysis played in fashioning the Framework Convention on Climate Change and argues that risk analysis should play a significant part in implementing the Convention.


Soft Law And The International Law Of The Environment, Pierre-Marie Dupuy Jan 1990

Soft Law And The International Law Of The Environment, Pierre-Marie Dupuy

Michigan Journal of International Law

Because the existing body of international environmental law has, in part, emerged on the basis of "soft" norms, it provides a good field for observing the general sociological and juridical phenomenon termed "soft" law. The 1972 Stockholm Declaration adopted by the UN Conference on the Human Environment, for example, constitutes the normative program for the world community 'in this field. Although, from a formal point of view, the Declaration is only a nonbinding resolution, many of its "principles," particularly Principle 21, have been relied upon by governments to justify their legal rights and duties. The subsequent State practice has been, …