Law Commons^™

Climate Change And Environmental Crises In Coastal Cities: Charleston Vs New York City, Nolan Rodriguez

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper addresses the increasing vulnerability that coastal communities face regarding climate crises and rising sea levels. Specifically, this paper investigates the environmental crises facing Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City. The geographical location of these cities places a more severe threat upon their environment, as opposed to urban collectives removed from the immediate effect of rising sea levels. A cross-examination of politics and economics is discussed in order to determine the causal relationship of each city’s engagement with its surrounding environment. This paper examines how each city is affected by climate change, what measures are in place to …

Complexities Of Community Consultation In Chile's Lithium Industry, Isabella R. Whelan

Honors Theses

Echoed by November’s COP27 in Egypt, the climate crisis has become an increasingly pressing and global issue, with the need to move away from fossil fuels more urgent than ever. In attempts to decarbonize the global economy, many countries and companies have turned to electrification –particularly within the transportation sector, one of today’s largest contributors of greenhouse gasses. A crucial component of energy storage and batteries is lithium, now considered a “critical mineral.” Demand for lithium has skyrocketed in recent years and is only expected to continue growing. More than fifty percent of the world’s lithium supply is found within …

Looking Out, Looking In: How India Can Respond To A Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism On The Principles Of Justice And Equity In The Net-Zero Transition, Paridhi Srivastava

LL.M. Essays & Theses

The net-zero transition is a curious term. It is multi-dimensional. It must be inclusive, equitable, and just—considering the different realities of various economies and various pathways to achieving net-zero. One of the merits of global climate action since the Paris Agreement in 2015 has been its attempt to balance climate change justice with inter-generational justice and environmental justice. But as evidenced from the international momentum brewing in a post-Paris world leading up to Glasgow, the problems of justice are not abated with a net-zero transition — they are indeed being rendered more poignant by it. While it is just to …

Canada's Customary Obligation To Prevent Transboundary Harm And The Reduction Of Emissions, Tyler Hammond

Master of Laws Research Papers Repository

This paper evaluates Canada’s obligations under customary international law to abide by the duty to prevent transboundary harm. The question asked is whether Canada has obligations stemming from the duty of prevention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Under the duty, states are required to make a due diligent effort to reduce activities that cause harm in other states. This effort does not necessitate an actual cessation of a particular activity. Therefore, this paper argues that the duty of prevention can be applied in the context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions; hence, Canada is obligated to take the necessary steps to …

Establishing State Responsibility In Mitigating Climate Change Under Customary International Law, Vanessa S.W. Tsang

LL.M. Essays & Theses

As acknowledged in the Paris Agreement’s Preamble, climate change is a “common concern of humankind.” To tackle the anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) at source, State governments played a pivotal role in implementing climate change policies. It thus justifies the approach of looking into the solutions to climate change from a state responsibility perspective. As mentioned by James Crawford, “[a]ny system of law must address the responsibility of its subjects for breaches of their obligations.” The finding of state responsibility in mitigating climate change will complement the treaty-based climate change regime, providing grounds for climate change litigations and policy formulation.

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An Analysis Of The Human Rights Approach To Climate Change: The Right To A Healthy Environment, Intergenerational Equity And Climate Litigation, Unwana Emmanuel Udo

LLM Theses

Climate change litigation is a viable tool in the fight against climate change. For the past 2 decades, climate litigation has largely been based on torts and administrative law. However, courts have recently been quite receptive to human rights arguments in climate cases, thereby necessitating recognition of the human rights approach as an important facet of climate litigation. It is important for intergenerational equity to be integrated into the human rights approach to climate change. One of the major benefits of intergenerational equity to the human rights approach is its potential to catalyze the recognition of the right to a …

Game Of Tones: A Twail-Analysis Of The Evolution And Impacts Of The United Nations Framework Convention On Climate Change Technology Transfer Regime In Africa, Adebayo Majekolagbe

LLM Theses

The 1992 Rio Outcome articulates what is arguably, to date, the most ambitious North–South environmentally sound technology (EST) transfer aspirations. Yet, 26 years post-Rio, Africa remains at the lowest rung of the global EST deployment totem. Departing from talking-points like the connection of EST transfer and intellectual property rights, this research focuses on the normative underpinnings of the history, processes and dynamics of UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime. Using a ‘reconsidered’ Third World Approach to International Law approach and its accompanying historical research methodology, the thesis seeks to track landmarks in UNFCCC’s EST transfer regime evolution and the impacts of a …

A Landscape Of Thermal Inequity: Social Vulnerability To Urban Heat In U.S. Cities, Bruce Coffyn Mitchell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A combination of the urban heat island effect and a rising temperature baseline resulting from global climate change inequitably impacts socially vulnerable populations residing in urban areas. This dissertation examines distributional inequity of exposure to urban heat by socially disadvantaged groups and minorities in the context of climate justice. Using Cutter’s hazards-of-place model, variables indicative of social vulnerability and biophysical vulnerability are statistically tested for their associations. Biophysical vulnerability is conceptualized utilizing a urban heat risk index calculated from summer 2010 LANDSAT imagery to measure land surface temperature , structural density through the normalized difference built-up index, and vegetation abundance …

Regional Human Rights Regimes And Environmental Protection: A Comparison Of European And American Human Rights Regimes’ Histories, Current Law, And Opportunities For Development, Don Mccrimmon

PhD Dissertations

This work reviews the Inter-American and European human rights regimes and their abilities to respond to point-source pollution, climate change, and ecosystem conservation. It begins by reviewing leading human rights theories and the development of the relationship between human rights and the environment. It then focuses on European human rights, both under the ECHR and the CFREU, and highlights the ECHR’s ability to respond to instances of point-source-pollution though the right to privacy. The work then looks at the Inter-American human rights regime, its structure, history and ability to respond to environmental challenges. It reviews the regime’s tendency to use …

Regulating For Resilience: Principled Flexibility And Environmental Co-Management In The Mackenzie Valley, Heather L. Potter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The author examines the environmental regulatory regime in the Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories which includes the regulatory structure established by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the private contractual instruments of environmental agreements, impact benefit agreements and socio-economic agreements. The author concludes that these instruments work together to form a complex regulatory system that is sometimes maladapted to the adaptive management framework necessary for effective regulation in an increasingly unstable arctic environment. The author argues that effective environmental management in the Mackenzie Valley requires a regulatory approach grounded in principled flexibility and shared environmental goals across …

“Winds Of Change”: Explaining Support For Wind Energy Developments In Ontario, Canada, Chad Jr Walker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis addresses a major gap in the wind turbine and risk assessment literatures. It explains local support for wind energy in some areas in spite of vocal opposition in others. Findings from Port Burwell and Clear Creek, Ontario indicate that social and contextual forces may help explain much of the difference in opinion between the two communities. The case study was focused through 21 in-depth interviews. The interviews were analyzed verbatim using NVIVO 9 software. The findings were found to be consistent with Kasperson’s theory of the Social Amplification of Risk and seem to explain why Port Burwell is …

An Emerging Triangle: Climate Change, Migration And Human Rights: The Case Of New Zealand,Tuvalu And Kiribati, Sarah Stefanos

Archived Theses and Dissertations

Three important global issues - climate change, migration, and human rights- form an emerging triangle because of their interrelatedness. However, critical analysis of the relationship between these three issues apart from an as yet legally meaningless discourse about an imminent global catastrophe of 250 million 'climate refugees' has been limited. This paper examines the climate change, migration, and human rights triangle through the lens of the Pacific, where some of the states most severely threatened by climate change can be found. Extremely small Pacific states whose inhabitants have lived on coral reef islands (called atolls) for more than 2000 years, …