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Success By 1000 Cuts: The Use Of Environmental Impact Assessment In Addressing Climate Change, Caleb W. Christopher
Success By 1000 Cuts: The Use Of Environmental Impact Assessment In Addressing Climate Change, Caleb W. Christopher
Caleb W Christopher
EIA has traditionally been used to address more obvious and localized ecological impacts. In practice, EIA has had an increasing tendency to operate at an “autopilot” setting, producing voluminous amounts of technical data, but often not taking advantage of the process as an opportunity for creative decision-making. This practice has led to the mistaken presumption that EIA is unable to tackle the complex challenges of climate change. Climate change is a non-traditional environmental topic in that there is an immense volume of cumulative contribution of pollutant gasses, but that there are few, if any, major contributing sources responsible for a …
Mr. Smith Goes To Nairobi: The Unwritten Role Of Local Actors Within International Environmental Law, Caleb W. Christopher
Mr. Smith Goes To Nairobi: The Unwritten Role Of Local Actors Within International Environmental Law, Caleb W. Christopher
Caleb W Christopher
This article first describes the existing participatory landscape of international environmental law. Local or regional governments, under a traditional federal model of domestic environmental law, are often responsible for undertaking some degree of discretionary enforcement of national policy. In addition, a variety of other tools, including citizen suits, public hearings and rulemaking comment, afford local communities with some degree of direct participation. However, under traditional international law, local communities often lack meaningful participatory mechanisms. Local government’s role includes very limited regulatory abilities and international business solicitation. Local communities may have a limited role during public comment periods of environmental impact …