Background and Mission
Welcome to the IUCN AEL Journal of Environmental Law (ISSN –1929-6088). Established in late 2009 under the auspices of the IUCN Academy's Research Committee, the Journal aims to provide:
- a valuable resource for IUCN Academy members, other institutions and scholars interested in keeping abreast of environmental law developments worldwide, including:
- innovative and critical thinking
- policy developments
- legal developments
- new case law
- a forum for facilitating the participation and engagement of a broader array of scholars in the IUCN Academy's network, especially younger and emerging academics.
- a platform for promoting global information exchange and debate amongst environmental law scholars.
Structure of the Journal
Each submission MUST follow the formatting outline found here.
Each issue of the Journal is divided into the following three parts:
- Part 1 - Commissioned/Selected Articles
- Content – A theme is selected by the Editorial Committee for each issue and these articles must relate to the issue's theme. See the relevant call for papers for further information on the theme selected for the next issue.
- Articles specifically commissioned/selected by the Editorial Committee.
- 3/4 articles per issue.
- Maximum length (8000 words).
- Part 2 - Country Reports
- Content - Reports on any interesting developments in policy/statute/case law in the author's jurisdiction in the past 12 months.
- See the Country Report Guidelines for further information.
- Voluntary submissions although where there is a dearth of submissions from certain regions, the Editorial Committee may actively solicit contributions from such regions.
- Maximum Length (3000 words).
- Part 3 - Book Reviews/Short Opinions/Insight Papers
- Content - self-explanatory.
- Voluntary submissions although the Editorial Committee may actively solicit book reviews if the need arises.
- Maximum Length (1000 words).
Language Policy
While the desire is to ultimately translate and publish the Journal in all six working languages of the United Nations (English, French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish and Arabic), financial realties and expediency in the editing, review and publishing process currently dictate that the initial official languages for the Journal are English, Spanish, French and Chinese. All prospective articles, reports, books reviews and opinion pieces must therefore be written and submitted in one of the above languages. All contributions will be published in the language in which they are originally submitted. Each contribution will however be accompanied by a short abstract in English.
Call for Papers
IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Journal Issue 12 2021
The editors would like to invite contributions for inclusion in the twelfth issue of the IUCNAEL Journal, which will be published in January 2022
The Journal in an open access, free to publish, peer reviewed journal. In particular, for Issue 12, the editors invite submissions in the form of:
For Issue 12, the editors invite submissions in the form of:
Substantives articles on the Special issue: Climate change laws and regulations
The Grantham Research Institute at the LSE[i] database includes 2247 climate laws and policies. These instruments aim in particular at setting out targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, defining carbon budgets, promoting implementation tools and encouraging the mainstreaming of climate objectives into all domestic policies, etc. They acknowledge increasingly a commitment to reach carbon neutrality before 2030, 2040, 2050 or 2060. However, short-term trajectories are not always coherent with long-term objectives, and policies are not always in line with the Paris agreement long-term goal (keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C). COVID-19 pandemic recovery spending has so far missed the opportunity to accelerate climate transition and to build back better. Consequently, climate law and regulations are more and more challenged before domestic courts (1840 climate litigation cases in the same Grantham Research Institute database), and litigants are more and more successful. In this context papers could address these issues:
- What is the content of climate laws and regulations?
- What are the targets and time frame adopted, and how do they fit into a national response? Are they in line with the Paris Agreement?
- Are climate laws and regulations innovative?
- What are the obstacles encountered in their application? Are specific expertise mechanisms in place?
- Are participatory approaches being mandated?
- Are COVID-19 recovery plans in line with climate laws and regulations?
- Are climate laws and regulations challenged before domestic courts and what is the outcome?
- How regional (in particular within the European Union) and international cooperation can help to achieve the objectives?
Potential authors are invited to work on these questions in one or more jurisdiction. Case studies of recent litigation (Shell case for example) are welcome.
Maximum length: 8000 words
- Teaching Articles
- Authors are expected to provide critical analysis and insights regarding good practices in the teaching of the environmental law or capacity building initiatives, which includes the following topics: Blended Learning; Capacity building actions; Case Method; Clinical Legal Education; e-Learning; Evaluation and assessment of student learning; Experiences in joint education projects (national and international); Flipped Learning; Innovative approaches to teach environmental sustainability and justice; Inquiry based teaching; Joint programs; Learning and Teaching Methodologies; Mobile learning: Phones, Tablets...; Moot Court Competitions; Plagiarism; Problem-Based Learning; Scientific methodology or evidence based teaching; Simulations; Teaching Environmental Law from interdisciplinary perspectives; Teaching research nexus; Tutoring and Coaching; University-Industry Collaboration.
- Maximum length: 8000 words.
- 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.
- Maximum length: 3000 words.
- Short Notes/Insight Pieces
- Short punchy notes/opinion pieces on preferably controversial topics, the purpose of which is to invoke debate.
- Maximum length: 1000 words.
- Book Reviews
- Book reviews should critically consider texts in the field of environmental law that have been published in the past 6-12 months.
- Maximum length: 1000 words.
Previous issues and the full details regarding the length, format and nature of possible contributions are available on the Journal’s website. You will find here all the information on submissions: https://www.iucnael.org/en/academy-journal/submissions.
We aim to publish the journal by January 2022, so please provide a 300 word abstract by 20 July. We will be reviewing all work.
Editorial Committee
Co-Editors in Chief:
- Prof. Jennifer McKay (Justice and Society University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia)
- Dr. Aubin Nzaou-Kongo (University of Houston Law Center, Houston, United States)
Book Review Editor:
- Prof. David M. Ong Khai Long (Liverpool John Moores University School of Law, Liverpool, United Kingdom)
Assistant Editors:
- Emily Martinez (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Baltimore, United States)
We look forward to receiving your contributions and should you have any queries please do not
hesitate to contact us.
- Prof. Jennifer McKay (University of South Australia, Australia) and Prof. Aubin Nzaou-Kongo
(University of Houston)
- Co-Editors-in-Chief.