Powered byIP2Location.com
The list of potential calamities that are like to become more frequent as a result of climate change seems to be growing by the day. Climate change has the potential to affect the enjoyment of human rights and is estimated to affect the most vulnerable populations the most. For some time now, discussions have taken [...]
Filed under: Africa, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
A number of newspapers report this morning that a UNEP report examining oil spills in the Niger region of Nigeria is set to argue that the main proportion of spills causing widespread environmental damage and human suffering in the region is caused by criminal activity. The report (to be published later this year) points out [...]
Filed under: Africa, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, United Nations | 1 Comment »
Yesterday’s NY Times reports that eight former executives of Union Carbide India Limited (a subsidiary of the American chemical company Union Carbide) were convicted of negligence as a result of their failure to stop the explosion at the Union Carbide India factory which killed more than 2500 people in 1984. The NY Times reports that [...]
Filed under: Corporations in International Law, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | 1 Comment »
The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is composed of a group of low-lying islands situated in middle of the Indian Ocean. The largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, is only 30 km2 in area. The islands are subject to British control, although sovereignty over the islands is also claimed by Mauritius. The British Government entered [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, Human Rights, International Environmental Law, Law of the sea, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »
The following is a guest post by Jennifer Kelleher, LLB Law with European Studies (German and History), LLM in Comparative and European Laws. Jennifer previously interned at the Office of the Co-Investigating Judges in Cambodia and is currently working with the International Council of Environmental Law on Arctic Law and Policy. Next month, 191 countries [...]
Filed under: Conference, Environmental Law, Guest Blogging, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
By Graciela Chichilnisky The global summit in Copenhagen in December will decide the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only international agreement we have ever had to combat the dangers of climate change. But the Protocol expires in 2012 and – like Cinderella – it will become a pumpkin as the clock strikes 12. The Danish [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, Guest Blogging, International Environmental Law, Public International Law | 4 Comments »
An issue related to Innocent’s post on environmental rights and Michele’s on “climate refugees” is the question of to what extent does climate change affect human rights in general? This is a question which is undergoing a lot of scrutiny not least since the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was, in 2008, charged with [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, Europeam Court of Human Rights, Human Rights, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
Professor Douglas Cassel’s commentary “Do we Have a Human Right to a Healthy Environment?” critique the existance of the right to a healthy environment in the international law discourse. The author argues that the matter has complex underlying legal challenges that have to be unmasked for it to be clearly comprehended. He brings an interesting dimension regarding the relationship [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, Human Rights, International Environmental Law, Regional Human Rights | Leave a Comment »
No week passes without a newspaper article, television news or a documentary describing the plight of “climate refugees”. In this post, I would like to explain why, in my opinion, “survival migrants” is a more adequate term than “climate refugees” from a humanitarian and legal protection perspective. Secondly, I would like to examine to what [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, Guest Blogging, Human Rights, International Environmental Law, International Humanitarian Law | Leave a Comment »
According to the Environment News Service (ENS), the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, a protocol to the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, achieved universal ratification this week when the prime minister of Timor-Leste ratified the Protocol. This is the first time ever that a multinational [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, History of International Law, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
This is the controversial question asked by BBC Radio 4’s Richard Black in a programme broadcasted on Thursday evening. Links to radio programme available here and news feature here. In the programme, Black speaks to a number of different environmental campaigners who all describe how more traditional environmental issues like nature and species conservation have [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
While the build-up to this year’s important climate conference in Copenhagen (where the international community is to hammer out a successor to the Kyoto Protocol) has been going on for years, the diplomatic grandstanding is now starting to reach new peaks (or rather lows if the international community is to have any success in setting [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
The overarching consideration that the belligerent parties in armed conflicts should adhere to must be the need to avoid unnecessary civilian casualties. This, however, is not the sole concern. In addition to taking into consideration the plight of civilians, belligerent parties will also have to take into account the environment. Environmental issues are linked to [...]
Filed under: Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, International Humanitarian Law, Peacekeeping, Public International Law, Publications | 1 Comment »
As environmental law as a legal discipline comes of age, it becomes appropriate to subject it to critical appraisals of various shapes and forms. One such appraisal is undertaken in “Environmental Law and Justice in Context”, edited by Jonas Ebbesson and Phoebe Okowa of Stockholm University and Queen Mary University respectively, with special reference to [...]
Filed under: Book review, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law, Relevant Literature, international justice, literature | Leave a Comment »
If you hold an interest in international environmental law, you might find the special rapport in this week’s Economist on waste interesting. Although waste does not at first sight concern international law and related areas, the rapport fascinatingly describes many of the challenges and problems which waste gives rise to. Given that, on average, each [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, ECJ, Environmental Law, Human Rights, International Environmental Law, Law of the sea | Leave a Comment »
The EU Observer reports that the European Commission and the Swedish government (which takes over the rotating EU presidency in July), are contemplating plans for strengthening political cooperation in the Baltic Sea region in an attempt to address the problem of serious pollution in the area as well as the issue of energy supplies to [...]
Filed under: EC-Law, EU/EC Law, Environmental Law, International Environmental Law | Leave a Comment »
The Secretary-General of the United Nations announced today that he was appointing two new Special Envoys on Climate Change: Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana, and Srgjan Kerim, former Foreign Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The role of the Special Envoys will be to support the Secretary-General in his efforts to promote [...]
Filed under: International Environmental Law, Public International Law, United Nations | Leave a Comment »
On 31 March 2008, Ecuador seised the International Court of Justice in a dispute with Colombia regarding alleged aerial spraying of toxic herbicides over Ecuadorian territory. Relations between Ecuador and Colombia have been somewhat strained in recent months. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were cut following a border incursion by Colombian troops who mounted [...]
Filed under: ICJ, International Courts, International Environmental Law, Public International Law | Leave a Comment »
Global warming is melting the arctic polar ice cap at an alarming rate. At the same a race is on for the natural resources, such as gas and oil, which previously have been inaccessible because of the ice. The more oil and gas consumed, the faster the arctic polar ice cap will melt. The five [...]
Filed under: International Environmental Law, Law of the sea, Public International Law | 2 Comments »
On Friday (12 October 2007) the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Al Gore (the former vice president of the USA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be rewarded with this year’s Nobel Peace Price. The motivation presented by the committee was the following: “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater [...]
Filed under: International Environmental Law, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
Today is the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the 16th September the Ozone Day in commemoration of the date, in 1987, on which the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of [...]
Filed under: International Day, International Environmental Law, Public International Law | 1 Comment »
