The Application of International Environmental Law Principles in Latin America. Compilation of a Database of Superior Courts Case-Law, and Initial Findings.

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Sanfelice ◽  
Geert van Calster ◽  
Leonie Reins
Author(s):  
Ghosh Shibani

This chapter focuses on international environmental law (IEL) in the courts of India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Review of the case law reveals that Indian courts have led the adoption of the IEL principles in this region, with occasional references to IEL by Bangladeshi and Pakistani courts. This appears to follow the trend of non-environmental cases, where also the Bangladeshi and Pakistani judiciary is more reluctant than the Indian courts to turn to international law. Although courts in the three countries have engaged with IEL, it has mostly been at a superficial level. Their reliance on IEL is not always accompanied by strong judicial reasoning, making it difficult to determine their content and scope, and even their relevance in particular scenarios. Given development imperatives in these countries, courts are often faced with the ‘economy/development versus environment’ question. In such situations, the courts rely on IEL in an instrumental fashion in support of the final outcome of the case, rather than engaging with the substantive content of the IEL principle.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle

AbstractThis presentation starts out with an overview of the environmental jurisprudence of international tribunals and courts in the last decade. The author then examines the jurisprudence of the ITLOS and considers four issues that have arisen: the precautionary principle; environmental impact assessment; environmental co-operation; and jurisdiction over marine environmental disputes. Concluding, he asks what the jurisprudence tells us about the Tribunal's role in the LOSC dispute settlement system. First, the Tribunal's provisional measures cases have established the utility of the Article 290 procedure as a means of protecting the rights of other States but also the marine environment in general. Second, there is evidence in the case law of a desire to settle disputes between the parties in a way that contributes to the development of a consistent jurisprudence and of a willingness to interpret and apply Part XII of the Convention in accordance with the contemporary state of international environmental law. The Tribunal's record on marine environmental disputes is a positive one.


2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Mehling ◽  
Anja Lindroos

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.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thilo Goeble

In this book, the author discusses the questions of whether and how international legal barriers already limit the power of states on the Internet today and what these might look like in the future. In particular, he focuses on access to the Internet being a human right. One focus is freedom of expression and information at the level of the United Nations and the Council of Europe, which are examined from the perspective of various dimensions of intervention. For this purpose, a detailed evaluation of the existing documents and case law in this respect is carried out. Subsequently, the author provides his own proposal for access to the Internet being a human right de lege ferenda. Due to the qualification of the Internet as an international (super)space, international legal barriers, which arise in particular from the area of international environmental law, the rules of international relations and humanitarian international law, are also examined with regard to their transferability.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-218
Author(s):  
Marie-Catherine Petersmann

This contribution aims to identify the numerous conflicts that arise between environmental protection regulations and specific human rights. By focusing on the case law of regional human rights mechanisms, it highlights the “positive” and the “negative” integration of international environmental law (IEL) within the human rights law (HRL) regime. It argues that these supposedly separate bodies of law are in reality intertwined. The case law analysis of the negative integration of IEL within the HRL regime teaches us that HRL adjudicators have done more than neutrally measure conformity of environmental protection regulations with the HRL regime. While some cases add specific procedural requirements to these environmental protection regulations – Xàkmok Kàsek case – others establish a hierarchy between IEL and HRL – Fredin and Turgut cases – and yet others engage in defining and arguably even producing environmental rights – Herrick and Chapman cases. This contribution provides specific insights into how regional human rights adjudicators resolve conflicts and what consequences result from the judicial techniques in terms of both the content of the respective legal regimes and their hierarchical relationship. It argues that both content and implementation of IEL cannot be understood without integrating HRL adjudicators into the analytical framework.


2019 ◽  
pp. 494-524
Author(s):  
Gleider Hernández

This chapter studies the development of international environmental law. A significant proportion of international environmental law obligations is contained in treaties, which often provide for institutional mechanisms or procedural obligations for their implementation. There exists a dense network of treaty obligations relating to environmental protection, and to specific sectors such as climate change, the conservation of endangered species, or the handling of toxic materials. Indeed, though customary international law knows of no general legal obligation to protect and preserve the environment, certain customary rules nevertheless have been found in specific treaties, case law, and occasionally even soft law instruments. The most significant such rule is the principles of prevention, often taking the form of the ‘good neighbour’ principle. States are required to exercise due diligence in preventing their territory from being used in such a way so as to cause significant damage to the environment of another state.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 578-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Ong

Doctrinal approaches to the South China Sea island and maritime jurisdiction disputes have traditionally invoked the international law on territorial sovereignty acquisition and the law of the sea for their resolution. However, neither of these two fields of international law and their established institutions has succeeded in settling these disputes. This paves the way for consideration of other, related but less historically and politically significant international legal developments establishing constraints against the activities undertaken on and around many of the South China Sea insular formations. In this paper, the potential for international environmental law to resolve the South China Sea disputes will be examined. Specifically, international environmental law governing ‘shared’ water bodies and their application in relevant international case law will be assessed. These obligations will be mapped onto the South China Sea disputes, with a view to providing the means for co-operation towards the resolution of these disputes.


2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwenaele Rashbrooke

AbstractThis article examines the role of the ITLOS established by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention. It considers the extent to which principles of international environmental law are reflected in the 1982 Convention. It then reviews the relevant jurisprudence of the tribunal including the Southern Blue-fin Tuna case between Japan and Australia and New Zealand, the MOX case between Ireland and the UK, and the Land Reclamation case between Malaysia and Singapore to determine the extent that the ITLOS case-law has indeed contributed to the development of certain key principles of international environmental law, including Stockholm Principle 21/Rio Principle 2, the principle of preventative action, cooperation and precaution.


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