Law Commons^™

Legal Techniques For Dealing With Scientific Uncertainty: The Contribution Of International Environmental Law, Jorge E. Vinuales

Jorge E Vinuales

The article analyzes how scientific uncertainty is handled in international environmental law. The author identifies ten legal techniques used for this purpose (i.e. precautionary reasoning, framework-protocol approach, advisory scientific bodies, law-making by treaty bodies, managerial approaches to compliance, prior informed consent, environmental impact assessment and monitoring, provisional measures, evidence, and facilitated liability) and link them to four different stages of the development of environmental regimes (i.e. advocacy, design, implementation, reparation). These techniques are illustrated by reference to some fifteen environmental treaties and other instruments, as well as through a detailed case-study focusing on the climate change regime.

Trampling The Public Trust, Debra Donahue

Debra L. Donahue

Many ecological problems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem can be traced to livestock production politics. Federal land managers and state wildlife agencies refuse to address the root causes of these problems and seek ecological solutions. They pursue management policies driven, not by science or law, but by an institutionalized relationship with livestock interests. This article describes three pressing ecological issues--predator control, elk and bison supplemental feeding, and climate change--and explains how public land grazing causes or contributes to each problem and frustrates solutions. The article argues that current management policies violate state duties as trustee for the people’s wildlife and …

Environmental Law: The Policy Implications Of The Reaction To Climate Change, Jeffrey Sutton, Jonathan Adler, John Dernbach, Steven Hayward, Jeremy Rabkin

John C. Dernbach

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Litigation: Opening The Door To The International Court Of Justice, Andrew L. Strauss

Andrew L. Strauss

This chapter examines the potential for the International Court of Justice to serve as a forum for climate change litigation. It begins by assessing the potential legal and political implications of an International Court of Justice decision on climate change. It then proceeds to evaluate various jurisdictional basis upon which the Court could agree to hear cases implicating climate change. Finally, the chapter provides an overview of the law the law applicable to climate change litigation before the Court.

Climate Change And U.S. Interests, Andrew T. Guzman, Jody Freeman

Andrew T Guzman

The public policy debate on the appropriate American response to climate change is now in full swing. There are no longer significant voices disputing that climate change is real or that it is primarily the result of human activity. The issue today is what the United States should do about climate change given the risks the country faces and the likely economic impacts. The question is whether putting a price on carbon domestically is worth the cost.

In this Article we make the case that the United States should act aggressively to mitigate the effects of climate change. In doing …

The Emerging Constitutional Challenge Of Climate Change: India In Perspective, Deepa Badrinarayana

Deepa Badrinarayana

India’s rapidly growing economy naturally demands increasing energy needs from the industrial scale down to the personal. Mindful of potential negative impacts of economic development, India is making efforts to encourage growth while preserving and protecting the environment and human rights. India’s Integrated Energy Policy sets out the roadmap for how the country plans to achieve the balance among development, environmental protection, citizens’ rights, energy security, and a host of other priorities and concerns. Though ambitious and broad in scope, the Policy may prove inadequate in mitigating environmental impacts of development, and thus inadequate in balancing India’s needs, particularly in …