2012 Environmental Law Scholarship Awards

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law scholarship awards were presented at the 10th annual colloquium held in Baltimore, Maryland, July 1-5, 2012.

The prizes are awarded in two categories on the basis of scholarship, defined primarily to include published research such as academic books (edited or authored), journal articles and book chapters, as well as commissioned policy reports and other research studies .

Dr. Margaret A. Young

The 2012 winner in the first category, namely a scholar with less than 10 years academic experience, is Dr. Margaret A. Young from Melbourne Law School. Her reviewers stated the following about her achievements:

“Margaret Young’s key contribution to scholarship on environmental law is her book Trading Fish, Saving Fish: The Interaction between Regimes in International Law (Cambridge UP, 2011). The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of international environmental regimes and in particular to the interaction between regimes. It is a beautifully written work based on extremely thorough research which effectively opens a new area of scholarship. While there has been some discussion of regime interaction prior to this book, Young’s work proposes a novel and potentially very useful framework for regime interaction. Anyone interested in the issues of fragmentation, coherence and interaction in international law must read this book.”

In the second category, for scholars with more than ten years of academic experience, the Academy presented awards to two scholars who have influenced scholarship in different regions of the world and in different languages.

Professor Benjamin J. Richardson

Reviewers of the first recipient, Professor Benjamin J. Richardson of the University of British Colombia, Canada stated:

“Professor Richardson is an inspiring, outstanding and leading environmental law scholar who has significantly contributed over the past few years to the environmental and corporate law discourse at national, regional and international levels. The intellectual depth and influence of Professor Richardson's scholarship and his work on the balancing necessary between economic growth, social development and the protection of the natural resource base have been discussed and verified by means of several excellent reviews of his publications, notably Socially Responsible Investment Law (Oxford UP, 2008), various research awards and scholarships as well as professional distinctions such as his appointment as a Senior Canada Research Chair in 2010 and Distinguished Visiting Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (Faculty of Law) in Australia in 2012.”

Justice Antonio Benjamin

Justice Antonio Benjamin of the High Court of Brazil was awarded the second senior scholarship prize for 2012. As one of his reviewers explains, his scholarship has significantly influenced the content of Brazilian environmental law. In addition, he has developed environmental law through his legal rulings, such as the recent decision that incorporated the principle of non-regression into Brazilian law for the first time. He has influenced a generation of environmental law scholars. To quote one of his reviewers: “it is rare to find an environmental law book, article or judgement that does not have a citiation for at least one of Professor Benjamin’s works between 2007-2011. That is illustrative of the high quality of his published work and of its strong influence on the majority of related scholarly work developed in Brazil.”

Justice Benjamin’s scholarship has a particular resonance for those who study the experiences of the global South. In writing about Brazilian water law and policy, for example, he adopts an historical approach that recognises how the colonial legacy has influenced current patterns of water use and resource exploitation and proposes alternatives to the status quo.

Details
Category: 2012 Environmental Law Scholarship Awards

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law scholarship awards were presented at the 10th annual colloquium held in Baltimore, Maryland, July 1-5, 2012.

The prizes are awarded in two categories on the basis of scholarship, defined primarily to include published research such as academic books (edited or authored), journal articles and book chapters, as well as commissioned policy reports and other research studies .

Dr. Margaret A. Young

The 2012 winner in the first category, namely a scholar with less than 10 years academic experience, is Dr. Margaret A. Young from Melbourne Law School. Her reviewers stated the following about her achievements:

“Margaret Young’s key contribution to scholarship on environmental law is her book Trading Fish, Saving Fish: The Interaction between Regimes in International Law (Cambridge UP, 2011). The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of international environmental regimes and in particular to the interaction between regimes. It is a beautifully written work based on extremely thorough research which effectively opens a new area of scholarship. While there has been some discussion of regime interaction prior to this book, Young’s work proposes a novel and potentially very useful framework for regime interaction. Anyone interested in the issues of fragmentation, coherence and interaction in international law must read this book.”

In the second category, for scholars with more than ten years of academic experience, the Academy presented awards to two scholars who have influenced scholarship in different regions of the world and in different languages.

Professor Benjamin J. Richardson

Reviewers of the first recipient, Professor Benjamin J. Richardson of the University of British Colombia, Canada stated:

“Professor Richardson is an inspiring, outstanding and leading environmental law scholar who has significantly contributed over the past few years to the environmental and corporate law discourse at national, regional and international levels. The intellectual depth and influence of Professor Richardson's scholarship and his work on the balancing necessary between economic growth, social development and the protection of the natural resource base have been discussed and verified by means of several excellent reviews of his publications, notably Socially Responsible Investment Law (Oxford UP, 2008), various research awards and scholarships as well as professional distinctions such as his appointment as a Senior Canada Research Chair in 2010 and Distinguished Visiting Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney (Faculty of Law) in Australia in 2012.”

Justice Antonio Benjamin

Justice Antonio Benjamin of the High Court of Brazil was awarded the second senior scholarship prize for 2012. As one of his reviewers explains, his scholarship has significantly influenced the content of Brazilian environmental law. In addition, he has developed environmental law through his legal rulings, such as the recent decision that incorporated the principle of non-regression into Brazilian law for the first time. He has influenced a generation of environmental law scholars. To quote one of his reviewers: “it is rare to find an environmental law book, article or judgement that does not have a citiation for at least one of Professor Benjamin’s works between 2007-2011. That is illustrative of the high quality of his published work and of its strong influence on the majority of related scholarly work developed in Brazil.”

Justice Benjamin’s scholarship has a particular resonance for those who study the experiences of the global South. In writing about Brazilian water law and policy, for example, he adopts an historical approach that recognises how the colonial legacy has influenced current patterns of water use and resource exploitation and proposes alternatives to the status quo.

Details
Category: 2012 Environmental Law Scholarship Awards