An accessible, up-to-date and legally rigorous introduction to contemporary international environmental law. Detailed references combined with numerous figures and tables provide a conceptually clear understanding of the law in this area.
The international community has long grappled with the issue of safeguarding the environment and encouraging sustainable development, often with little result. The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development was an emphatic attempt to address this issue, setting down 27 key principles for the international community to follow. These principles define the rights of people to sustainable development, and the responsibilities of states to safeguard the common environment. The Rio Declaration established that long term economic progress required a connection to environmental protection. It was designed as an authoritative and comprehensive statement of the principles of sustainable development law, an instrument to take stock of the past international and domestic practice, a guide for the design of new multilateral environmental regimes, and as a reference for litigation. This commentary provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the principles of the Declaration, written by over thirty inter-disciplinary contributors, including both leading practitioners and academics. Each principle is analysed in light of its origins and rationale. The book investigates each principle's travaux préparatoires setting out the main points of controversy and the position of different countries or groups. It analyses the scope and dimensions of each principle, providing an in-depth understanding of its legal effects, including whether it can be relied before a domestic or international court. It also assesses the impact of the principles on subsequent soft law and treaty development, as well as domestic and international jurisprudence. The authors demonstrate the ways in which the principles interact with each other, and finally provide a detailed analysis of the shortcomings and future potential of each principle. This book will be of vital importance to practitioners, scholars, and students of international environomental law and sustainable development.
Les juridictions internationales ont vu, dans te domaine de l'environnement, leur intervention longtemps marginalisée. Pourtant, ces dernières années, le juge international est sollicité de manière croissante s'agissant des questions environnementales (Cour internationale de Justice, Tribunal international du droit de mer concerne l'environnement, organes de règlement des différends de l'OMC, Cour européenne des droits de l'homme). L'arbitrage se développe également, dans des cadres très différents (CCI, CIRDI, ALENA, interprétation et application de conventions internationales). De son côté, la Cour de Justice des Communautés européennes a développé d'assez longue date une volumineuse jurisprudence dans le domaine de l'environnement, qui oriente efficacement l'application d'un droit communautaire de l'environnement à l'origine de l'essentiel des cadres réglementaires nationaux. Les juges nationaux ont également pris une part significative dans ce développement. Alors que te rôle de protecteur et promoteur a, de manière plus ou moins audacieuse, incombé originellement aux juges ordinaires, les considérations environnementales ont pénétré le contentieux constitutionnel par diverses voies, y compris celle de la consécration de normes constitutionnelles spécifiques. Dans une perspective comparatiste ou limitée à un pays, l'appui pris sur des principes et règles de valeur constitutionnelle ou sur des droits fondamentaux, comme sur ces normes de caractère et de portée nouveaux, méritait une analyse particulière. La Journée annuelle de l'UMR 6201, une équipe composée de juristes de droit public internistes, européanistes et internationalistes, a dès lors fourni un cadre stimulant pour cerner par des " regards croisés", par-delà la grande diversité de ces juridictions, la contribution du juge/ des juges au développement du droit de l'environnement. Cette recherche a bénéficié du soutien de la Mission de recherche Droit et justice.
The absence of a globally recognized right to a healthy environment has not prevented the development of human rights norms relating to the environment. Indeed, one of the most noteworthy aspects of human rights law over the last twenty years is that UN treaty bodies, regional tribunals, special rapporteurs, and other human rights mechanisms have applied human rights law to environmental issues even without a stand-alone, justiciable human right to a healthy environment. In The Human Right to a Healthy Environment, a diverse set of scholars and practitioners, all of whom have been instrumental in defining the relationship between human rights and the environment, provide their thoughts on what is, or should be, the role of an international human right to a healthy environment. The right to a healthy environment could be a capstone to this field of law, could help to provide structure to it, or could move it in new directions.
Giulia Parola’s Environmental Democracy at the Global Level: Rights and Duties for a New Citizenship can be seen as a manifesto that is both traditional and revolutionary at the same time. It calls for the construction of a new civilisation centred on the environment, while drawing on the traditional notions of democratic government. It adopts an approach that is focused on the power of individuals rather than governments, as ways to protect and improve the environment. It proposes that environmental rights and ecological duties are self-evident and inalienable, and should be treated as the cornerstones of a new democracy. Parola’s book is a thought provoking and intriguing work that will be of interest to scholars of environmental studies as well as to legal practitioners and non-specialists. Giulia Parola has studied Environmental Law at the University of Torino, at the University of René Descartes in Paris, (where she obtained PhD in Public Law) and at the University of Iceland ( LLM in Natural Resources Law and International Environmental Law). In 2011, she was appointed by the University of Laval (Canada, Quebec) as a researcher and a lecturer in Environmental Law.
S’inscrivant dans le cadre des activités de l’Observatoire juridique Natura 2000, le thème du présent ouvrage porte sur les questions juridiques que soulève l’application par le juge national – constitutionnel, administratif et judiciaire – des dispositions relatives à Natura 2000, en vue d’évaluer la contribution du juge à l’effectivité de ces dernières. Corps de règles complexe, technique, faisant appel à des concepts scientifiques ardus à interpréter pour un non-scientifique, le régime Natura 2000 n’est guère aisé à appliquer pour un juge non spécialisé. Le recours à l’expertise est souvent indispensable pour déterminer dans quelle mesure tel ou tel standard – par exemple le caractère « significatif » d’un impact – a été respecté ou non. Pour cette raison, les solutions trouvées par le juge aux différents problèmes que pose l’application du régime Natura 2000 dans les différents États membres méritent l’attention et sera enrichissante tant pour le chercheur que pour le praticien. As part of the activities of the Legal Observatory Natura 2000, this book focuses on legal issues arising from the implementation by the national courts – constitutional, administrative and judicial ones – of the provisions relating to Natura 2000, in order to assess the contribution of the judge to the effectiveness of this regime. The enforcement of this legislation, which encompasses a complex body of technical rules, grounded on scientific concepts difficult to interpret for a non-scientist, is not easy to apply by a non-specialized judge. The use of expertise is essential to determine how a particular standard – for example the «significant» character of an impact – has been met or not. For this reason, the solutions found by the judge to the various problems arising from the application of the Natura 2000 provisions in the different Member States deserve attention and will be rewarding for both researchers and practitioners.
This book examines the legality, adequacy and efficacy of using the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) for commercially-exploited fish species and assesses whether the existing institutional cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs) is efficient. This case-study also provides an interesting lens to approaching wider international law issues. Indeed, finding ways to achieve effective governance of transboundary or global natural resources is central to the peaceful use of oceans and land. Furthermore, the role of science in advising decision-makers is a sensitive issue, which deserves scrutiny and is similar in many regimes. Finally, the complex problem of fragmentation of international law is acute in various fields of environmental law, as in all rapidly developing areas of international regulations.
Cassese's International Law is a new edition of an established classic. Authors Gaeta, Vi�uales, and Zappal� have built on the legacy of international law luminary Antonio Cassese to offer a thought-provoking and lucid account for today's undergraduates and postgraduates. The authors have refreshed Cassese's original approach, ensuring the book continues to compare the traditional legal position with the developing and evolving law. Advancing areas such as the law of the sea, territorial matters, and international environmental law have been expanded to give proper place to their evolving development, while brand new chapters on international trade and foreign investment have been written to reflect the advancements of these areas. In maintaining the broad structure and approach but providing new material, the authors bring fresh context to Cassese's thinking and provide students with an up-to-date, compelling account of the landscape of international legal thinking.
The Challenges of Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development from Rio to Rio+20 and Beyond is an innovative and original book which addresses in an analytical and critical way the issues raised by Rio+20. Its content offers a wealth of information from world leading experts in the fields of international law, international environmental law and international health law. The book provides a unique insight in issues which are at the core of the contemporary management of social, environmental and economic questions and thus represents a very important contribution to our further understanding of the concept of sustainable development. It is aimed at a global audience and at anybody interested in the future of our Planet and the fate of future generations. Contributors are: Pia Acconci, Estelle Brosset, Francesco Buonomenna, Lucien Chabason, Carina Costa de Oliveira, Angela Di Stasi, Jérôme Dubois, Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Leonardus Gerber, Elizabeth Hodson de Jaramillo, Sophie Lavallée, Antonio Leandro, Sandrine Maljean-Dubois, Panos Merkouris, Claudia Napoli, Stefania Negri, Anna Oriolo, Rossana Palladino, Teresa Russo, Ingrid Schuler, Francesco Sindico, José Manuel Sobrino Heredia, Hélène Tigroudja, Valentina Vadi, Anna Vigorito