Environmental Law Commons^™

Persuasion Treaties, Melinda (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

All treaties formalize promises made by national parties. Yet there is a fundamental difference between two kinds of treaty promise. This difference divides all treaties into two categories: treaties that govern the behavior of state parties and their agents fall in one category; treaties in the second category—those I call “persuasion” treaties—commit state parties to changing the behavior of non-state actors as well. The difference is important because the compliance problems for the two sets of treaties sharply diverge. Persuasion treaties merit our systematic attention because they are both theoretically and practically significant. In areas such as international environmental affairs, …

Drafting Model Laws On Indoor Pollution For Developing And Developed Nations Workshop, July 12-13, 2012, Boulder, Colorado: Introduction, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Development And Dissemination Of Clean Cookstoves: A Model Law For Developing Countries, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

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 Chevron-Ecuador Dispute, Forum Non Conveniens, And The Problem Of Ex Ante Inadequacy, Howard M. Erichson

Faculty Scholarship

These opening lines from Chevron's website of "facts about Chevron and Texaco in Ecuador" refer to the latest salvo in a long-running environmental dispute concerning a Texaco subsidiary's Ecuadorian oil-drilling activities. Chevron resisted enforcement in the United States of an Ecuadorian court's $18 billion judgment, and the plaintiffs are seeking to enforce the judgment against Chevron in various courts around the world. Chevron's account suggests that the plaintiffs' lawyers are engaged in improper forum-shopping. The plaintiffs'lawyers, according to Chevron, ought to pursue enforcement of the judgment in the United States.

Multipolar Governance Across Environmental Treaty Regimes: The Ramsar Convention In Its Middle Age, Kim Diana Connolly

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Forest Carbon (Redd+), Repairing International Trust, And Reciprocal Contractual Sovereignty, David Takacs

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Some Pluralism About Pluralism: A Comment On Hanoch Dagan's "Pluralism And Perfectionism In Private Law", Jedediah S. Purdy

Faculty Scholarship

Hanoch Dagan is among “those who think it advantageous to get as much ethics into the law as they can,” in the phrase of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. His pluralism is a perfectionism for polytheists: There are many human goods, and each has its domain, including some portion of the law of property. Depending on where we stand on the property landscape at any time, we may be community-minded sharers, devoted romantics in marriage, or coolly rational market actors, and the local property law will smooth each of these paths for us. Property law is built on the design of …

Getting Ahead Of The Curve: Supporting Adaptation To Long-Term Climate Change And Short-Term Climate Variability Alike, Alexis Saba, Michela Biasutti, Michael B. Gerrard, David B. Lobell

Faculty Scholarship

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has been meeting since 1995, and in recent years, it has increasingly focused on facilitating and funding climate change adaptation in developing countries. Other sources of financing, from multilateral development banks to bilateral and multilateral agreements among countries, are also providing resources for adaptation. Simultaneously, climate scientists around the world are updating their forecasts on the nature of future climate change. This article seeks to examine the scope of funding available for climate change adaptation and how climate change forecasts are used to plan for and evaluate climate change adaptation. We …

Global Environmental Law: Food Safety & China, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article makes the case for food security law and policy as a component of global environmental law in recognition of the global economy, trade liberalization, and concerns for food safety and environmental harm. It further describes rule of law as a significant force in mitigating food safety concerns and pollution in China. Part II explores global food safety concerns in the context of United States-China relations, while Part III discusses the U.S. Food & Drug Administration's on-the-ground presence in China as an example of the emergence of cooperative agreements in global environmental governance. Part IV shows how increased rule …

The Global Land Rush: Markets, Rights, And The Politics Of Food, Smita Narula

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the past five years, interest in purchasing and leasing agricultural land in developing countries has skyrocketed. This trend, which was facilitated by the 2008 food crisis, is led by state and private investors, both domestic and foreign. Investors are responding to a variety of global forces: Some are securing their own food supply, while others are capitalizing on land as an increasingly promising source of financial returns. Proponents argue that these investments can support economic development in host states while boosting global food production. But critics charge that these “land grabs” disregard land users' rights and further marginalize already …

Dynamic Governance Innovation, Elizabeth Burleson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article frames environmentally sound innovation in the context of transnational network theory with the goal of setting forth a preliminary framework for international legal policy coherence. I consider how network dynamics can facilitate broad diffusion of environmentally sound technologies, concluding that what appears to be fragmented trade, environment, and human rights regimes are indeed sustainable development building blocks with which to achieve dynamic governance. Collaborative environmentally sound innovation networking may be able to shepherd whole renewable energy sectors across the innovation valley of death and help turn a global responsibility to ramp up green technology into a global initiative …

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.

Are We There Yet? A Legal Assessment And Review Of The Concept Of Sustainable Development Under International Law, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Some of the most consistently utilized terms in international environmental law are “sustainable development” and “sustainability”. Sustainable development is mentioned in virtually every domestic, regional and international laws on environment, energy and natural resources. This has led to the contentions by some scholars that the concept of sustainable development has matured into customary international law, or at least has become a general principle of international environmental law. Many researchers, however, argue that the idea of sustainable development is vague, elusive and does not add much to the efficient implementation of international environmental law. This article aims to examine and discuss …

Sustainability Of Transport Biofuels From A Legal Perspective, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

The article investigates the notion of transport biofuels, their possible advantages and disadvantages in comparison to traditional fossil fuels, and sustainability requirements that need be stated to their quality and production methods from a legal perspective. The research results indicate that the understanding of what makes the quality and production of transport biofuels sustainable is still unclear. Sustainability parameters for biofuels will differ depending on the types and purposes of biofuel production. There is no clearly agreed definition on what biofuels, and particularly sustainable biofuels are. The task of law in this situation can be to contribute to the sustainable …

Energy And Environment Policy Case For A Global Project, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

A policy case is made for a global project on artificial photosynthesis including its scientific justification, potential governance structure and funding mechanisms.

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 …

Climate Engineering Research: A Precautionary Response To Climate Change?, Jesse Reynolds, Floor Fleurke

Jesse Reynolds

Standard Of Review Of Health And Environmental Regulations By Wto Panels, Lukasz A. Gruszczynski

Lukasz A Gruszczynski