Digital Commons Network^™

Protecting Public Land From Trespass: Why The Six-Year Statute Of Limitations In 28 U.S.C. § 2415(B) Is Appropriate For All Trespass Cases On Federal Land, Zach Fader

Pace Environmental Law Review

The United States has the authority to bring claims for trespass on federal land under the statutes of the state in which the trespass occurs. Many states have statutes that codify and often alter the elements of common law trespass while also providing for double or treble damages. Thus, in cases of trespass on federal lands, the government is incentivized to bring claims under state trespass statutes. Doing so adds an alternate theory of liability and maximizes the opportunity to recover adequate damages. 28 U.S.C. § 2415(b), in part, sets a six-year statute of limitations for when the United States …

Indigenizing The Right To A Healthy Environment, Elisabeth Parker, Heather Tanana

Pace Environmental Law Review

The most severe impacts resulting from environmental degradation are experienced by already-vulnerable populations, including Indigenous peoples. A growing number of countries are formally recognizing the basic human right to a healthy environment, which can help realize environmental and climate justice for these communities. On July 28, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution formally recognizing the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. The adoption of this resolution represents a pivotal moment in the understanding and implementation of a human rights-based approach to protecting the environment. However, it is important to recognize that historically, Indigenous …

Regulation Weakness And Lack Of Public Awareness Has Impeded The Implementation Of Environmental Policies In Saudi Arabia, Nada Gurmalla Algamdy

Dissertations & Theses

This research aimed to substantially illustrate that the weakness of environmental regulations and lack of public participation in urban planning alongside poor public awareness in Saudi Arabia has inhibited the implementation of environmental policies across this region. To study these issues, this research compared the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (“KSA”) to the United States (“US”) building on numerous studies to illustrate how the identified weaknesses correlate with weak or ineffective environmental policies. It is well known that it would be better to use a European country “because it's known that the EU has tough environmental measures" as a model for …

Biodiversity Impacts Of Investment And Free Trade Agreements, Lee C. Rarrick

Pace Environmental Law Review

The following Article identifies the myriad ways in which international investment and free trade agreements interact with biodiversity. It categorizes these interactions into three main groups and provides a literature review of the various real-world and policy impacts. The first part analyses arbitration procedures in these agreements that investors and trade partners can invoke to protect their economic expectations from otherwise proper State action, including regulation that is intended to promote biodiversity. The next part evaluates biodiversity provisions that are included directly in the free trade and investment agreements themselves, or in side agreements thereto. Some of these provisions reference …

Seeing The Forest For The Trees: Public And Private Law Tools For Halting Deforestation, Harriette I. Resnick

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Gap In Causation? Punishing Polluters For Contributing To Climate Change & Increasing Violent Crime, Nicolette Pellegrino

Pace Environmental Law Review

Climate change will lead to an increase in violent crime. More rapes and violent felonies occur during the warm summer months than in cooler temperatures. As climate change progresses, there will be longer summers, higher temperatures, and thus, more violent crime. This Note examines whether American sanctions of environmental crimes that contribute to climate change should become more stringent given what we now know about the violent consequences of climate change. Part II of this Note describes the history and scientific evidence which proves that rising temperatures increase the rate of violent crimes. Part III reviews current regulations that deal …

Preventing A Risk/Risk Trade-Off: An Analysis Of The Measures Necessary To Increase U.S. Pollinator Numbers, Camila Acchiardo Vallejo

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Note will proceed in four parts. Part II will discuss the importance of pollinators and the possible reasons for their declining numbers. Part III will delve into the current and proposed actions to increase pollinator populations that are taking place in the United States. Part IV will then discuss the generally desired and widely accepted solution: a ban on neonicotinoids. This Part will introduce the implementation and results of a neonicotinoid ban in the European Union, and the risk/risk trade-off presented by a neonicotinoid ban. Finally, Part V will compile the solutions discussed in Parts III and IV, and …

Environmental Crimes And Imprisonment: Does Prison Work To Prevent And Punish Environmental Criminals?, Rafael Wolff

Dissertations & Theses

Environmental degradation is a global problem. Humans need natural resources to survive and, as those resources are limited, humans’ use of these resources should respect a sustainable pace established by law. There are many approaches to addressing environmental degradation that do not honor the legal limitations and one of them is through criminal law. The question that is posed in this thesis is whether imprisonment, one of the most severe methods of punishment, is a suitable option to repress and prevent environmental crimes.

This thesis is divided in three chapters. The first chapter discusses why environmental crimes are relevant. It …

The Brazilian Amazon Timber Industry And The International Mechanisms Of Timber Trade Control – Combating Illegal Logging And Associated Trade, Juliana Coelho Marcussi

Dissertations & Theses

Illegal logging and its associated trade are one of the main causes of degradation of the Amazonian Rainforest in Brazil. They spring from several deficiencies in the regulatory and monitoring systems. The purpose of this work is to recommend mechanisms to overcome these deficiencies to eliminate illegal logging and its associated trade in the long-term and to enhance the appreciation of the standing forests and the sustainable use of their natural resources.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Brazilian tropical timber market’s trends, and briefly describes the main stages of timber supply chain to build familiarity with the activities …

Animal Agriculture Laws On The Chopping Block: Comparing United States And Brazil, Elizabeth Bennett

Pace Environmental Law Review

Brazil and the United States are among the largest producers and exporters of livestock in the world. This raises important animal rights and environmental concerns. While many of the impacts of industrial animal agriculture are similar in Brazil and the United States, there are key differences in the effects on animals and the environment. The variations between Brazil and the United States are due to ecological, production method, and regulatory differences between the countries. Despite their dissimilarities, however, Brazil and the United States both largely fail to adequately protect farm animals and the environment from the impacts of large-scale animal …

Cooperation Of Amazon Countries: A Comparative Analysis Of Forest Law Towards A Cooperative Effort For The Conservation And (Sustainable) Development Of The Amazon Rainforest, Maria Antonia Tigre

Dissertations & Theses

The Amazon region contains the world’s largest river, the world’s biggest tropical forest, and the world’s richest biodiversity and is shared by nine countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), each with its individual approach as to how to protect this environment. However, due to its unique value in the local, national, regional and global context, cooperation is required to manage this ecosystem. This thesis thus evaluates the approaches of environmental protection in the Amazon region at the national, regional, and international levels through the lens of forest protection.

At the international scale the international …

Challenges To China's Natural Resources Conservation And Biodiversity Legislation, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Despite China's legislative attempts to conserve its natural resources and in turn protect biodiversity, Chinese law in many aspects remains ineffective in pursuit of these goals due to struggles with implementation, enforcement, and insufficient public participation, as well as legislative prioritization of economic values over ecological ones. This Article provides an overview of biodiversity and conservation legislation in China, and suggests that China can improve this legislation by increasing the public's role in conservation efforts, increasing liability and enforcement mechanisms, and improving administrative coordination.

Peace Parks For Mountain Forests: The Law And Policy Of Transforming Conflict To Stewardship, Elaine C. Hsiao

Dissertations & Theses

Peace parks provide a land ethic that transcends borders and seeks to stabilize tensions between bordering States, honoring the unity of biosphere systems in its efforts to achieve peace, conservation and cooperation. In theory, peace parks recognize that humans and the biosphere are one and that natural resources, just as cultural resources, must be collaboratively protected. In the cases of inhabited border regions, peace park principles of holistic conservation, cooperation and peace require that local communities be incorporated into park management. I posit that this is all the more true for frontier communities in regions of conflict, weak governance or …