General news

New UOttawa Scholarship in Environment and Sustainability

The IUCN Academy Secretariat announces the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law Scholarship in Environment and Sustainability for 2012.

The Scholarship was established as part of  donation to the University of Ottawa to assist the University’s commitment to supporting the goals of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. The Scholarship will be available for one year to a master’s student or for two one-year periods for a doctoral student pursuing graduate studies at the University of Ottawa (not restricted to Law).

The Scholarship will be awarded in accordance with the Donor’s non-exclusive preference that the Scholarship be used to support students from developing countries and from member institutions of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law.

The deadline for applications for our second year is 1 March 2012. Details about application requirements and more information about the Law Faculty and the University of Ottawa are available at the link above.

 

Call For Paper/Presentation Abstracts

10th Annual Colloquium Of The

IUCN Academy Of Environmental Law

“GLOBAL Environmental

Law At A Crossroads”

July 1-5, 2012

The year 2012 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment and the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit. But when world leaders gather for the UN's "Rio+20" conference next June, they will face an even more challenging climate than during their previous gatherings. Despite rising public concern for the environment, efforts to advance environmental governance are facing strong headwinds in the wake of the global financial crisis and the failure to reach consensus on a post-Kyoto response to climate change.

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law has selected the theme "Global Environmental Law at a Crossroads" for its 10th Annual Colloquium, which will be held at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law from July 1-5, 2012. The Colloquium will bring together experts from all parts of the world to consider the future of environmental law and governance from a global perspective in the aftermath of the "Rio+20" Conference. In light of the breadth of the conference theme, the Colloquium organizers welcome abstracts for papers and/or presentations on a broad array of topics. These include: approaches for improving global environmental law and governance, how to overcome political resistance to sustainable development policies, new strategies for promoting environmental justice and using law to advance sustainability, where are we after Rio+20 and where we should be going from here. Papers may focus on strategies for addressing specific environmental problems, new developments in national and regional environmental law, and the interaction of international and domestic law and policy.

Potential authors and presenters are asked to submit one-page abstracts describing the topic they propose to address and summarizing their likely conclusions. Abstracts may be submitted via email to IUCNAEL2012.Papers@law.umaryland.edu. For more information concerning the Colloquium, please visit the University of Maryland website. The deadline for submitting abstracts is February 15, 2012.

Call For Papers

Collaborative venture organised by the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Research Committee, the IUCN Environmental Law Centre, and the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law

Ecosystem Services, Economic Valuation, and Environmental Equity: Complementary or Contradictory?

Workshop
June 30, 2012
Baltimore, Maryland

An increasing number of scholars and governments have begun to embrace ecosystem services as a means to protect the environment and provide financial rewards to those involved in habitat protection and restoration. The term "ecosystem services" refers to the important functions ecosystems provide, such as water filtration and purification, soil protection and creation, and food production. For most of the 20th Century, people traditionally viewed environmental protection as economically disadvantageous when compared to natural resource exploitation and other habitat uses that convert natural capital to economic goods. The recognition and economic valuation of ecosystem services may provide a means by which habitat protection and restoration can have direct economic value that exceeds other potential habitat uses. An ecosystem services framework may also provide new economic and employment opportunities for people who live in habitats that serve important functions. For these reasons, and many others, many environmental advocates have promoted the development of ecosystem services as a new model of conservation.

Despite the increased interest in ecosystem services as a new model of environmental protection, many commentators are wary about its implications for fairness and environmental governance. Some environmental advocates fear that an ecosystem services approach will promote protection only of a limited number of habitats and leave less productive (and thereby less valuable) habitats vulnerable to exploitation. For example, while wetland habitats typically provide significant ecosystem services through water filtration and purification, deserts may provide far fewer ecosystem services capable of monetization. Is this fair, and if not, should the law develop a different regime to protect the value of fragile, but less productive, habitats (e.g. based on the values/beliefs of a given population)? How does an ecosystem services model fit within current development patterns in which most people live in urban areas? Will urban dwellers benefit from an ecosystem services approach to environmental protection? Will rural dwellers?

Some scholars worry that an ecosystem services model, in which land owners are paid for habitat protection, could promote new property regimes that may threaten indigenous peoples and their traditional land uses. For instance, paying property owners for the carbon credits produced through carbon sequestration in forests and soils may promote new questions about who owns the right to the carbon in the first place. Should carbon be treated as a separate estate, similar to the mineral estate recognized in various countries? If so, who owns the carbon estate and what are the implications for indigenous property rights and uses on traditional lands?

Finally, some scholars worry that the ecosystem services approach to environmental protection will devalue the less tangible and quantifiable benefits of ecosystems. For many communities, environmental values are inseparable from cultural, religious, and spiritual beliefs. If ecosystems become valued based on the services they provide, how can the valuation account for more aesthetic benefits? What risks does an ecosystem services approach present for environmental and human rights protection?

This workshop will focus on the intersection of ecosystem services, economic valuation of environmental goods, and the equitable concerns involved in pricing environmental benefits. The presentations will consider optimal approaches for protecting ecosystem services, the benefits and potential risks of an ecosystem services approach to environmental protection, and the equitable implications of ecosystem services protection and valuation.

This workshop will involve presentations of completed, but unpublished, scholarly works. Therefore, participants in the workshop are expected to submit their completed drafts (in final or near-final form) one month before the workshop. This workshop is not a works-in-progress workshop.

Organising Committee:

• Louisa Denier and Thomas Greiber (IUCN Environmental Law Centre)
• Willemien du Plessis and Melissa Powers (IUCN Academy of Environmental Research Committee)
• Antonio Benjamin and Lee Paddock (IUCN Commission on Environmental Law)

You are invited to submit an abstract of not more than 500 words focusing on

· The benefits and risks of an ecosystem services approach to environmental protection;
· How policy makers can design ecosystem services programs to achieve the greatest environmental and economic benefits; and
· The implications of ecosystem services on environmental and economic equity.

 

Abstracts must be submitted via email to
Louisa Denier, louisa.denier@iucn.org
Melissa Powers, powers@lclark.edu

Abstracts are due by February 15, 2012

You will be notified whether your abstract has been accepted for the workshop by February 29, 2012.

Full papers are due no later than May 31, 2012.

IUCNAEL e-Journal Call for Papers

The editors would again like to invite all members to submit contributions for inclusion in the third issue of the IUCNAEL e-Journal, which will be published in February 2012. As you are all hopefully now aware, we accept three main different forms of contributions: substantive articles on a specific theme; country reports on contemporary legal and policy developments; and book reviews. The full details regarding the length and nature of these contributions are available on the e-Journal's website (http://www.iucnael.org/en/e-journal/about-the-journal.html). So too are the previous two issues of the e-Journal which should give you a good idea of the nature and form of the different contributions. In summary:

• Substantive articles on a specific theme. The chosen theme for this issue is Innovations in Social Justice and Environmental Governance. During the past few decades, much attention has been paid to 'efficient' environmental protection, but at what social cost? Market instruments frequently empower the rich. Regulated access is often easier for those who are confident, informed and mobile. Even seemingly benign approaches, such as 'green investment', can have dire social consequences for certain sectors of the society. Innovations in environmental law may show the way towards improved environmental governance that simultaneously significantly improves the lot of the least advantaged in society. The editors are particularly interested in articles that demonstrate how environmental law can fulfill its traditional role in pioneering both environmental protection and social justice.
• Country reports. These reports should canvas recent interesting legal and policy developments in members' jurisdictions – preferably developments that have taken place in the past 6-12 months.
• Book Reviews. These book reviews should critical consider texts in the field of environmental law that have been published in the past 6-12 months. Papers and reports should be submitted to IUCNAELJournal@gmail.com by 1st December 2011.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact us.

Alexander Paterson
Associate Professor
Institute of Marine and Environmental Law
Faculty of Law
University of Cape Town
Tel: (021) 650 5644
Fax: (021) 650 5673
Email: Alexander.Paterson@uct.ac.za

Elizabeth A. Kirk
Senior Lecturer
School of Law
University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Tel: 01382 384638
Fax: 01382 386737
e-mail: e.a.kirk@dundee.ac.uk