scholarly journals The Limitations on Military Activities by Third States in the EEZ Resulting from Environmental Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-165
Author(s):  
Pascale Ricard
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Marine Resources ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Preservation ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract In the EEZ, the supposed freedom of states to conduct military activities encounters the rights and duties of coastal states regarding conservation of marine resources and environmental preservation. This article focuses on the relationship between these two specific but not always compatible interests and asks: how should they be combined? Could international environmental law rules be interpreted as a limitation to the conduct of military activities in the EEZ? What are the concrete obligations of states to fulfil their environmental duties, and how far are they compatible with the conduct of other activities? The ‘due diligence’ obligation to protect the marine environment is interpreted as going further than the ‘due regard’ standard enshrined in Articles 56 and 58 of the LOSC. Accordingly, this article assumes that it is a positive obligation, implying specific consequences, such as the conduct of environmental impact assessments when the activity risks causing damage.

The Contribution of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to the Protection of the Marine Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 354-369
Author(s):  
Tomas Heidar
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Marine Environment ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
International Tribunal ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Precautionary Approach ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Law

Abstract In its 25 years’ history, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has dealt with a number of environmental cases. This has primarily occurred in the context of proceedings relating to the prescription of provisional measures and in advisory proceedings. This article explains how the Tribunal has reaffirmed and developed the basic environmental principles in Part XII of the Law of the Sea Convention, including the obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment, the precautionary approach, the duty to conduct environmental impact assessments, and the duty to cooperate, as well as the duty of due diligence, thereby contributing to the protection of the marine environment. Part XII of the Convention is a product of the 1970s and its provisions therefore reflect the state of international environmental law at that time. However, the Tribunal has interpreted and applied the aforementioned principles consistently with the contemporary state of international environmental law.

Part III Conceptual Pillars, Ch.16 Harm Prevention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brunnée Jutta
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Significant Harm ◽  
Actual Harm ◽  
The Face ◽  
Harm Prevention ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter addresses how international environmental law originates from and revolves around the harm prevention rule. It focuses on three points of contention, each related to the role of due diligence in harm prevention, and each highlighted by recent judicial engagements with the harm prevention rule. First, it is generally accepted that a state's obligation to prevent environmental harm is not absolute, but requires due diligence in the face of risk of significant harm. However, it is unclear whether a failure to act diligently to avert harm on its own—absent actual harm—can amount to a breach of the harm prevention rule. Second, the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions of the harm prevention rule remains ambiguous. Third, there is some uncertainty as to where the line runs between the harm prevention obligation and the precautionary principle, given the focus of both notions on risk. These inter-related conceptual questions affect the harm prevention rule's function as a reference point for international environmental law.

Protecting Natural Resources

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérémie Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Conservation Of Natural Resources ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Do So

This chapter focuses on the connection between the international legal framework governing the conservation of natural resources and human rights law. The objective is to examine the potential synergies between international environmental law and human rights when it comes to the protection of natural resources. To do so, it concentrates on three main areas of potential convergence. It first focuses on the pollution of natural resources and analyses how human rights law offers a potential platform to seek remedies for the victims of pollution. It next concentrates on the conservation of natural resources, particularly on the interconnection between protected areas, biodiversity, and human rights law. Finally, it examines the relationship between climate change and human rights law, focusing on the role that human rights law can play in the development of the current climate change adaptation and mitigation frameworks.

Part VII Inter-linkages with Other Regimes, Ch.44 Investment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miles Kate
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Multilateral Environmental Agreements ◽  
International Investment Law ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Environmental Protection Policies ◽  
New Generation ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter discusses the relationship between international investment law and international environmental law. The contestation between the fields that emerged in the context of investor-state arbitration was blunt and initially resulted in the rules of international investment law being prioritized over the obligations of states under multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), domestic environmental protection policies and decision-making, and the host state's public welfare regulatory space. Responding to that contest, the new generation bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and free trade agreements (FTAs) reflect the desire of states to work within a more balanced version of the environment/investment nexus. It is not yet, however, at a point where it can be said to be equally balanced in the engagement of international environmental law and international investment law, and there is evidently still room for significant improvements in the way in which environmental issues are understood and interpreted by arbitrators in investor-state disputes. But the culture and context in which the environment and investment are meeting is most definitely shifting and it is hoped that the trajectory continues still further in that direction.

From Autonomy to Integration? International Law, Free Trade and the Environment

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mehling ◽  
Anja Lindroos
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
International Treaty ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
International Trade Law ◽  
Trade And The Environment ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractOur current understanding of so-called “self-contained regimes” is based on an overly simplistic appreciation of how such regimes interact with each other and with the larger body of international law. Drawing on an analysis of WTO case law, this article highlights two distinct normative relations, addressing the relationship of international trade law vis-à-vis general international law and international environmental law. As the analysis reveals, further differentiation of normative relationships is needed to better understand how such seemingly independent regimes operate in a fragmented legal system. It also shows that a recently proposed interpretative tool, systemic integration, raises new questions and challenges traditional conceptions of international treaty law.

scholarly journals Automated Decision-Making and Environmental Impact Assessments: Decisions, Data Analysis and Predictions

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoe Nay ◽  
Anna Huggins ◽  
Felicity Deane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Data Driven Decision Making ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Automated Decision Making

This article critically examines the opportunities and challenges that automated decision-making (ADM) poses for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) as a crucial aspect of environmental law. It argues that while fully or partially automating discretionary EIA decisions is legally and technically problematic, there is significant potential for data-driven decision-making tools to provide superior analysis and predictions to better inform EIA processes. Discretionary decision-making is desirable for EIA decisions given the inherent complexity associated with environmental regulation and the prediction of future impacts. This article demonstrates that current ADM tools cannot adequately replicate human discretionary processes for EIAs—even if there is human oversight and review of automated outputs. Instead of fully or partially automating EIA decisions, data-driven decision-making can be more appropriately deployed to enhance data analysis and predictions to optimise EIA decision-making processes. This latter type of ADM can augment decision-making processes without displacing the critical role of human discretion in weighing the complex environmental, social and economic considerations inherent in EIA determinations.

International Environmental Law and Community Interests

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jutta Brunnée
Keyword(s):  
Preventive Measures ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Strong Emphasis

Strong procedural elements are indispensable for international environmental law’s capacity to serve community interests. Procedural obligations can strengthen the rule concerning the prevention of environmental harm and flesh out its due diligence standard. Procedural obligations can also serve useful purposes when states, or judges, are reluctant to entertain substantive arguments, or find it difficult to establish that environmental harm has been caused. Violations of procedural obligations are more easily established and states can sometimes be prompted to correct harmful conduct or to take more effective preventive measures. Unfortunately, the operation of procedural rules is constrained by the dearth of practice and the continued struggle to define the substance of community obligations and the legal effects of erga omnes norms. Treaty-based approaches have proven better suited to accommodating community concerns, perhaps because they place such strong emphasis on procedural elements and employ increasingly diverse formal lawmaking and informal standard-setting approaches.

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