Environmental Law

Announcements Top international lawyers to draft definition of 'Ecocide': International lawyer Philippe Sands QC and international judge Justice Florence Mumba are to co-chair an expert drafting panel on the legal definition of “ecocide” as a potential international crime that could sit alongside War Crimes, Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.  Launching with preparatory work this month, and set to draft the definition...

Events On 21 October 2020, the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute is co-hosting a virtual side event with the UN Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights to mark the launch the following day of her pathbreaking new report to the General Assembly on CLIMATE CHANGE AND CULTURAL EXTINCTION: A Human Rights Crisis. The negative impacts of climate change on the enjoyment...

[Maria Antonia Tigre is the Director for Latin America at the Global Network for the Study of Human Rights and the Environment.] In September 2020, the Brazilian Supreme Court held the country’s first public hearing on climate change. For the first time, a climate litigation case reached Brazil’s highest court, marking an historic landmark for the country’s legal system. A broad range of...

[Malcolm Wu is an LL.M. candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science.] Introduction Ioane Teitiota is from the sinking island nation of Kiribati. In 2013, he made a historic application for refugee status in New Zealand on the grounds of risk of life due to the adverse effects of climate change in his home country. Nonetheless, the rejection of his application and appeal by the New...

[Madhav Mallya is a lecturer at the Jindal Global Law School.] When a country dilutes its environmental and human rights protections in a bid to attract more investment, it is then said to be engaged in a “Race to the Bottom” competition.  A reading of India’s new Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification makes it easier to get environmental clearances by excluding several projects from public consultation....

[Tarini Mehta is Assistant Professor of Environmental Law, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Environmental Law and Science Advocacy Forum at Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University, India.] [This symposium was convened by Shirleen Chin, founder of Green Transparency.  Shirleen was inspired by attending an Expert Working Group on international criminal law and the protection of...

[Tarini Mehta is Assistant Professor of Environmental Law, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Director of the Environmental Law and Science Advocacy Forum at Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability, O.P. Jindal Global University, India.] [This symposium was convened by Shirleen Chin, founder of Green Transparency.  Shirleen was inspired by attending an Expert Working Group on international criminal law and the protection of...

[Anastacia Greene is an Immigration Clinical Fellow with the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic (IPVAC) at the Levin College of Law.] [This symposium was convened by Shirleen Chin, founder of Green Transparency.  Shirleen was inspired by attending an Expert Working Group on international criminal law and the protection of the environment at the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law in...

[Shirleen Chin is the Head of Advocacy & Strategic Partnerships for the Stop Ecocide Foundation, based in The Hague, that runs the “Stop Ecocide: Change the Law” Campaign.] [This symposium was convened by Shirleen, who was inspired by attending an Expert Working Group on international criminal law and the protection of the environment at the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School...

[Dr. Joseph D. Foukona is a Pacific Law and History Scholar, an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii Manoa.] [This symposium was convened by Shirleen Chin, founder of Green Transparency.  Shirleen was inspired by attending an Expert Working Group on international criminal law and the protection of the environment at the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law in Spring...

[Tanishk Goyal & Dhruv Gupta are students at The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.] Introduction Of the multiple threats that climate change poses to the word order we live in, the rise in global sea level remains its most significant manifestation. While the rise in sea level has become a growing concern for States all over the world, its implications concern some States more than...

[Mark Nevitt is an Associate Professor at Syracuse University College of Law and affiliated faculty with Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy & Law and a former lawyer in the United States Navy.]    Is the climate-security century upon us?  If so, what are the implications for international legal governance and institutions?  In his recent Opinio Juris essay, based on his provocative and meticulously researched article, Atmospheric Intervention, Professor Martin argues...