International Law Commons^™

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

Faculty Scholarship

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 …

Biodiversity Conservation V. Hydropower Dams: Can Saving The Fish Save The Mekong River Basin?, Samantha G. Pottenger

Global Business & Development Law Journal

No abstract provided.

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 …

Valuing Foreign Lives And Civilizations In Cost-Benefit Analysis: The Case Of The United States And Climate Change Policy, David A. Dana

Faculty Working Papers

This Article explores the case for including losses of foreign (non-U.S.) lives and settlements in the estimated cost to the United States of unmitigated climate change in the future. The inclusion of losses of such foreign lives and settlements in cost benefit analysis (CBA) could have large implications not only for U.S. climate change policy but also for policies adopted by other nations and the practice of CBA generally. One difficult problem is how to assess U.S. residents' willingness to pay to prevent the losses of foreign lives and settlements. This Article discusses internet-based surveys that are a first step …

Adaptation, Economics, And Justice, Robert R.M. Verchick

Robert R.M. Verchick

No abstract provided.

It's Time: Petroleum Policy Change For Sustainable Development In The Australian Offshore Upstream Petroleum Sector, Tina Hunter

Tina Hunter

This paper argues that Australia’s present petroleum policy does not encourage the sustainable development of State-owned offshore petroleum resources. It outlines the development of Australia's petroleum policy, highlighting the current commercial policy focus on international competitiveness, which fails to contribute to the sustainable development of the petroleum resources for present and future generations. In order to generate policy options for Australia to encourage sustainable development of its petroleum resources, this paper examines the petroleum policy framework of Norway, which is viewed as an example of best practice in the sustainable development of petroleum resources for the benefit of present and …

Wind Power, National Security, And Sound Energy Policy, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Wind-generated electricity in the United States has grown by more than 400 percent since 2000. According to the Department of Energy, 6 percent of US land could supply more than one and a half times the current electricity consumption of the country. Yet, challenges remain in matching demand for electricity with supply of wind as well as achieving grid parity. Careful wind turbine and transmission line siting can occur through cooperation between federal, state, tribal, and civil society participation in decision-making. Tribal wind initiatives have shown that developing wind power can also benefit rural communities. Congress should pass a national …

Energy Security, Green Job Creation, And Youth Innovation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Global energy demand is likely to increase by 45 percent by 2030. Climate change will threaten existing employment and necessitate new green jobs. Funding has gone towards such renewable energy technologies as wind and solar; such fuel economy options as second-generation hybrids, plug-in electrics, and fuel cell vehicles; increased appliance efficiency; and such water-efficient farming methods as drip irrigation. Youth innovation can play a powerful role in achieving sustainable development. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated how micro finance in the form of small loans can help poor people start or expand entrepreneurial endeavors. Government funded research …

Energy Policy, Intellectual Property And Technology Transfer To Address Climate Change, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

A weather beaten economy has become a wake up call. The International Energy Agency predicts that carbon emissions will rise 130 percent and oil demand will rise 70 percent by 2050. A sound energy policy that addresses climate change relies upon widespread transfer and implementation of environmentally sound technology. Multilateral cooperation can achieve environmentally sound technology transfer within in a meaningful time frame to address climate change.

Jumping The Pond: Transnational Law And The Future Of Chemical Regulation, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

Just as domestic pollution can cause transnational externalities, domestic environmental regulation can create transnational ripple effects in other jurisdictions. In this Article, I show how chemical regulation-long a weak link in the network of U.S. environmental laws-is about to be reshaped and reformed through the extraterritorial ripple effects of new European Union legislation. Contributing to both international law and environmental law scholarship, this Article shows how transnational information flows can be harnessed to end the longstanding drought of data on chemical toxicity in the United States. ·

Part I of this Article critiques the U.S. chemical regulatory regime, arguing that …

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 …

The Role Of International Forums In The Advancement Of Sustainable Development, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Climate advocates are increasingly raising specific climate change concerns before domestic courts, human rights tribunals, international commissions and other national and international decisionmaking bodies. Win or lose, these litigation strategies are significantly changing and enhancing the public dialogue around climate change. This article discusses the awareness-building impacts of climate litigation as well as related impacts such strategies may have on the development of climate law and policy. The article argues that litigation's focus on specific victims facing immediate threats from climate change has increased the political will to address climate change both internationally and nationally. It has also shifted the …

Case Study: Climate Change Adaptation Planning Guidance For Local Governments In The United States, Edna Sussman

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Mongolia: A Case For Economic Diversification In The Face Of A Changing Climate, Nathan Borgford-Parnell

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Intellectual Property Rights To Enhance International Clean Tech Transfers, Anastasia Lewandoski

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Emerging Global Environmental Governance, N. Brian Winchester

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Environmental thinking and activism are steadily gaining widespread, even global acceptance, but are often in conflict with economic interests and international politics. Environmental priorities are further challenged by scientific uncertainty involving effects that in some cases will only become manifest far into the future. Nonetheless, accompanying this global environmental awakening has been an extraordinary number of international agreements on a wide range of critical environmental issues. While many of these environmental regimes lack adequate financial support and sanctions for non-compliance, they involve a variety of non-state actors, suggesting meaningful movement towards an evolving, complex form of global environmental governance. Indeed, …

Pain, Gain, Or Shame: The Evolution Of Environmental Law And The Role Of Multinational Corporations, Michael Ewing-Chow, Darryl Soh

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The evolution of environmental law in the past century has been linked to the growing acceptance of the notion of collective global responsibility, which entails the notion of sustainable development. At the turn of this century, the focus in environmental law has shifted from the creation of a global framework to deal with environmental problems to that of compliance with these frameworks. As a result, the primary actor of environmental policy has shifted from the state to the corporation. How has environmental law developed so as to encourage compliance by this new primary actor? Conversely, how has the corporation been …

Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Integrating Global Health Into The International Response To Climate Change, Lindsay Wiley

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The potentially groundbreaking negotiations currently underway on the international response to climate change and national implementation of commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) include a number of hotly contested issues: (1) what degree of climate change is acceptable as a basis for emissions targets, (2) to what extent and in what ways climate change mitigation should incorporate emissions reductions or increased sinks for developing countries, (3) whether the legal regime governing mitigation can take advantage of the huge mitigation potential of changed practices in the land use and agricultural sectors, (4) how adaptation should be …

International Climate Negotiations: Opportunities And Challenges For The Obama Administration, David Hunter

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article is a discussion of the international dimensions of climate change policy facing the newly-elected Obama Administration, focusing on the Kyoto Protocol and subsequent Bali Road Map and Bali Action Plan. The Bali Action Plan set out a framework for negotiating a post-Kyoto agreement with binding commitments on all parties. The agreement is due to be finalized at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Copenhagen in December 2009, leaving the Obama Administration less than a year to shape its international climate policy and promote that policy effectively in the international negotiations.

The article addresses …

An Overview Of This Issue: Climate Change In 2009, Perry Wallace

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Resolving The Climate Wars, Alan D. Hecht

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Pozna´N Climate Conference 2008, Kyle Ingram, Matt Irwin

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Planning For Adaptation To Climate Change: Landmark Cases From Australia, Jacqueline Peel, Lee Godden

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

European Union Coherence In Unfc Negotiations Under The New Treaty Of Lisbon (Reform Treaty), Stavros Afionis

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Climate Change, Energy, And Sustainable Development In South Africa: Developing The African Continent At The Crossroads, Edson L. Meyer, Kola O. Odeku

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The World Bank Clean Technology Fund: Friend Or Foe To The Unfccc?, Addie Haughey

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Perspective: Technology Transfer And Human Rights: Joining Up The Dots, Stephen Humphreys

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To This Issue: Climate Change And Technology Transfer, Dalindyebo Shabalala

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Border Adjustment Measures In Proposed U.S. Climate Change Legislation – “A New Chapter In America’S Leadership On Change?”, Stephen Kyo, Bernd G. Janzen, Holly M. Smith

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Clean Technology Fund And Coal: A Cautionary Tale For Copenhagen, Steve Herz

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.