Climate Law and It’s Skeptics

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Peter H. Sand
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Analysis ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Legal Development ◽  
International Climate ◽  
International Law Commission

‘Climate change law’ is an emergent novel discipline. The question, then, is whether the advent (and future prospect) of climate change has resulted in a coherent autonomous new body of law, be it a nascent one or is it nothing more or less than the application of existing national and international environmental law to climatic problems? It is perhaps worth recalling that international environmental law itself only ascended to the rank of a recognized discipline of its own in the 1990s, over protracted resistance by prominent scholars insisting that ‘the cold-eyed application of legal analysis may be just as fruitful as the invention of a new vehicle such as “international environmental law”’. The episode touches on the core of international climate law and its future evolution. Expressly based on recognition of the intergenerational interest in conserving the quality of the Earth’s atmosphere, the International Law Commission (ILC) project may indeed encourage further legal development of a concept of planetary trusteeship, owed by States as public trustees to present and future citizens as the beneficiaries.

Climate Law and Its Skeptics: Whither Protection of the Atmosphere?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter H. Sand
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Future Prospect ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Common Interest ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Law Commission

‘Climate change law’ is considered by a number of legal scholars as an emergent novel discipline. The question, then, is whether the advent (and future prospect) of climate change has resulted in a coherent autonomous new body of law, be it a nascent one; or is it nothing more or less than the application of existing national and international environmental law to climatic problems? It is perhaps worth recalling that international environmental law itself only ascended to the rank of a recognized discipline of its own in the 1990s, over considerable academic scepticism at the time. Not un-similarly, the ongoing new project of the UN International Law Commission (ILC) for the drafting of guidelines on “protection of the atmosphere” has met with resistance from a few powerful States claiming that there is no need for further codification of international law in this field. Yet, considering our common interest in conserving the quality of the Earth’s atmosphere and climate, the ILC project may indeed encourage further development of a concept of inter-generational “planetary trusteeship”, owed by States as public trustees to present and future citizens as the beneficiaries.

Distributive Justice

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fanny Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Distributive Justice ◽  
International Law ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Unequal Distribution ◽  
Change Context ◽  
International Climate ◽  
People Movement

The chapter moves the analysis to the realm of distributive justice. It explores whether inherent to the climate change and people movement nexus are issues of unequal distribution, for example, of benefits and burdens. The chapter outlines distributional issues and then suggests whether, from a distributive justice standpoint, equity could be achieved through redistribution of costs which may accrue for those under pressure to move. The chapter sketches the extent to which international law is underpinned by distributive justice notions. It then, more explicitly, turns to international environmental law, and in particular the international climate change adaptation and finance architectures, to analyse whether, in combination, they support remedying distributional issues in relation to people movement in the climate change context.

Climate-induced Displacement in Bangladesh: Recognition and Protection under International Law

2013 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Mahmud Naser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Refugee Law ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Legal Frameworks

Climate change and human migration are two cross-cutting issues that demand immediate and appropriate responses from both international and national authorities. This article deals with a number of complex issues under international environmental law, human rights law and migration and refugee law, which have important ramifications for the protection of climate-induced displacement in Bangladesh. It examines these legal frameworks to assess how appropriate they are in regulating climate-induced displacement and underscores current gaps or limitations within the international legal system for effective recognition and protection of climate change migrants. The development of ‘soft guidelines’ suggested in this study would establish an international framework for the specific recognition, treatment and protection of climate change displaced persons and fill the legal gaps with the specificity required by states and communities.

The 2008 United States-India Nuclear Co-operation Agreement and the Work of the International Law Commission on International Liability for Injurious Consequences Arising Out of Acts not Prohibited by International Law

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert P. BARNIDGE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
The Government ◽  
International Liability ◽  
International Law Commission

This article examines the 2008 Agreement for Co-operation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of India Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy [“123 Agreement”] within the context of the International Law Commission's (ILC) work on international liability for injurious consequences arising out of acts not prohibited by international law. Attention is paid to three issues in particular, namely how international environmental law has developed to interact with vaguely worded environmental protection provisions, such as those in the 123 Agreement, and the role of experts in this regard, the issue of civil nuclear liability, and the question of what international law might require for environmental impact assessments under the 123 Agreement to pass muster.

International Environmental Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald K. Anton
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Progressive Development ◽  
The World ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission

International custom “as evidence of a general practice accepted as law”, is considered one of the two main sources of international law as it primarily derives from the conduct of sovereign States, but is also closely connected with the role of the international judge when identifying the applicable customary rule, a function it shares with the bodies in charge of its codification (and progressive development), starting with the International Law Commission. Though mainly considered to be general international law, international custom has a complex relationship with many specific fields of law and specific regions of the world. The editor provides comprehensive research published in the last seven decades, invaluable to everyone interested in the field of customary international law.

scholarly journals International Environmental Law and Protection of the Environment during Military Conflicts (International Legal Aspects)

2017 ◽  
pp. 94-103
Author(s):  
A. Kukushkina
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Military Conflicts ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Short Time ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Made In

The paper raises the problems of developing international environmental law in its military aspects. The author maintains that current norms are insufficient for protection of existing natural resources which support the living of humanity. The efforts being made in this direction by the International Law Commission of the UN General Assembly are analyzed in some details. The author concludes that a special agreement might be currently elaborated in in order to protect the environment in wartime. This agreement should be formulated in such a way that it could be admitted in a short time by as many military developed powers as possible. A proposal concerning elaboration of the Fifth Geneva Convention on protection of the environment in wartime also seems realistic.

scholarly journals A Framework Convention for the Protection of the Environment in Times of Armed Conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-162
Author(s):  
Tara Smith
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Final Outcome ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
First Session

At its seventy-first session in 2019, the International Law Commission (ilc) provisionally adopted twenty-eight draft principles related to the protection of the environment before, during and after armed conflict. This article argues that the ilc ought to consider proposing a framework convention as the final outcome of this project, as this could result in better protection of the environment than draft principles. Framework conventions have featured in international environmental law but they have not yet been used to progressively develop the law of armed conflict. This article argues that the hybrid legal nature of protecting the environment during the conduct of hostilities ought to incorporate solutions from relevant fields of international law. To that end, there are many merits to proposing a framework convention approach in the final outcome of the ilc’s programme of work on this issue.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document