Archive News

24 – 28 June 2013

Updated 28th February, 2013

He Tapuwae: footprints left on the land, symbolizes the human journey into new territory as we explore and develop our world. This Colloquium will therefore focus on key emerging themes of international, comparative and domestic environmental law and our journey in responding to them. The experience of low lying coast and island communities, for example, reflects the fact that at the heart of environmental pressures and conflicts lie frequently fractious relationships and interactions between power and vulnerability. All around the world, there are deep tensions, frequently, between vastly different understandings of how to live as human beings in the complex ecologies in which we find ourselves and with which we are co-formed.

Local and traditional communities across the world share multiple forms of environmental vulnerability. Indigenous peoples in the critically endangered forests; communities suffering from the effects of irresponsible mining or hazardous wastes; subsistence farmers whose resources are degraded or appropriated without fair recompense. A wide range of human communities suffer from forms of deep environmental injustice in the name of 'business as usual'. Meanwhile, innumerable predations affect animal populations and the fragile ecosystems upon which all life on earth depends.

Those who depend most intimately and directly upon the living world for their physical and cultural existence tend to suffer most from environmental destruction and degradation. While all of human life depends upon the living world, communities vulnerable to the socio-cultural effects of environmental degradation suffer particular and well-documented forms of environmental injustice, exclusion and marginalisation. This IUCN Academy Colloquium invites participants to address this challenge and the various ways in which law could more effectively 'speak truth to power'.

Our hope, as organisers, is that members of the Academy will contribute to a critique of environmental injustice and offer 'sacred footsteps' into new frontiers of environmental justice. We hope for fresh jurisprudential, doctrinal, institutional and tactical insights, and practical mechanisms for the delivery of resilience to vulnerable communities, animals and ecosystems.

Paper abstracts focused on the Colloquium theme that address any one of the following topics are invited for submission by Friday 1 March 2013:
  • Re-imagining Law
  • Visions of Protection
  • Indigenous Wisdoms
  • The Environmental and the Political
  • Rights-based Approaches
  • Risk and Resilience
  • Environmental justice, sustainable management and sustainable ethics
  • Property rights and sustainability
  • Freshwater resources
  • Oceans and marine resources, marine environmental security and creeping jurisdiction
  • Air, ozone, climate and outer space
  • Climate change and displacement
  • Flora, fauna and biodiversity
  • Wastes and hazardous substances
  • Procedural environmental obligations
  • Energy and resource allocation: geothermal, hydro, wave and wind
  • Natural hazards: coastal erosion, floods, fires, earthquakes and tsunamis

Registration, accommodation booking and airport transfers

Registration

The registration covers:

  • Entrance to all plenary and workshop sessions and special events.
  • A conference bag, printed abstracts and programme documentation (guest and significant other/spouse registrants do not get these items).
  • Daily coffee, lunch, and some dinners as noted on the schedule of events and registration page.
Only bona fide full-time students may register at the student rate. Proof of student status is required.
Guests, significant others and spouses must please register in their own right for special events.
All registration fees are quoted in New Zealand dollars inclusive of GST.
OECD Member Countries
Registration Fees

Early Bird
After 24 April
IUCN Academy members*
$699
$799
Non-IUCN Academy members
$899
$999
Student fee
$299
$399
Guest or significant other/spouse (special events only)
$329
$429
Daily rate - including special event on the same day e.g. Welcome function
$299
$399
Daily rate- excluding special events
$239
$329



Non-OECD Member, Enhanced Engagement and Accession Countries


IUCN Academy members*
$395
$495
Non-IUCN Academy members
$460
$560
Student fee
$215
$315
Guest or significant other/spouse (special events only)
$329
$429
Daily rate - including special event on the same day
$145
$245



* IUCN CEL members and IUCN Environmental Law Centre members and staff, and members and staff of organisations supporting the Colloquium, will also be entitled to register at the IUCN Academy member rate.

TO REGISTER NOW CLICK HERE

Payment
Payment by major credit card (Visa, Master Card, American Express) is highly preferred. Orbit also accepts wire transfers or ACH payments. The registration page will guide you through our payment options.
If a delegate fails to attend without giving written notice to the Secretariat as described in our refund policy below, the delegate/organization will still be liable for payment of the full conference costs, should it still be outstanding.

Refund policy
Registration fees will be refunded upon written notice received by the Secretariat on or before 1 June 2013, less a $70 administration fee.
After 1 June 2013, no fees will be refunded, but can be transferred to another person from the same organization.

Special events
Welcome function 25 June
Distinguished scholar reception and wine tasting 26 June
Colloquium dinner 27 June

Optional events
Victoria Street walking dinner 24 June
Antarctica global warming BBQ and film night 28 June – $135 per person
Field trip and airport bus 29 June – $43.20 per person

Accommodation

We have arranged for fantastic rates at two Hamilton CBD hotels.

  • Hotel A: Novotel – $175 room only, $193 single occupancy with breakfast, $211 double occupancy with breakfast; or

  • Hotel B: Ibis – $123 room only, $141 single occupancy with breakfast, $159 double occupancy with breakfast.

All hotel prices are quoted in New Zealand dollars inclusive of GST.

Other hotel, motel, and back-packers options will be available on enquiry.

For all hotel bookings, and enquiries please contact Jacqui Neilson at Orbit Corporate Travel by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Airport transfers

For all airport transfers from Auckland to Hamilton, bookings, and enquiries please contact Jacqui Neilson at Orbit Corporate Travel by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Orbit can arrange fantastic rates for shuttles and taxis from $85 to $300 exclusive of GST.

For airport transfers from Hamilton to Auckland on Saturday 29 June via the Turangawaewae Marae fieldtrip, bus transport is available at the cost of $36.20 exclusive of GST and can be booked online when registering for the Colloquium.

Alternatively, shuttles and taxis can be booked individually via Jacqui Neilson at Orbit Corporate Travel (see contact details above).

Draft Program for Waikato Colloquium

The Draft Program is now available. For further details, please visit the website of the University of Waikato. Once we have further information on the Colloquium, we will update our website accordingly.

Post-Colloquium Events in Australia – July 1-5, 2013

Colleagues coming to Waikato for the 2013 IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Colloquium may enjoy the opportunity to strengthen links with fellow environmental lawyers in Australia while exploring a selection of urban, coastal and rural landscapes. An exciting post-Colloquium programme, designed to stimulate collaboration and to give colleagues 'a taste of Australia' has been designed.
Many Colloquium attendees will be passing through Sydney on their return from New Zealand. From 1 July delegates can participate in a five day programme, visiting unique urban, coastal and rural settings, where they can explore environmental law and policy issues with Australian colleagues.

  • Peri-urban issues: Field trip to the UWS Hawkesbury River Farm Sustainability Education Centre on the Hawkesbury River where the Hawkesbury River Waterkeeper will be based;
  • Urban and other issues: A Reception and Panel Discussion in Sydney City on Australia's Environmental Challenges with colleagues from the University of Technology, Sydney;
  • Coastal land use issues: Bus tour of selected coastal and wine country, exploring emerging challenges;
  • Mountain and rainforest environments: Bus transit through the Great Dividing Range, through diverse rainforest and waterfall areas; and
  • High plateau rural environment: participation in a two-day symposium on land-use change law and policy, hosted by University of New England, Armidale.

The symposium will provide interested researchers the opportunity to present their scholarly ideas in an academic setting, and research presented may be submitted for consideration in a special themed edition of the International Journal of Rural Law and Policy.

By agreement it may be possible to organise further field studies or collaborative opportunities between Australian and visiting scholars.

Costs will be in the vicinity of $1,450 AUD for the full five day programme, inclusive of most accommodation, transport and meal expenses. This is far below the costs of a self-organised program.

Colleagues who are only able to make part of the programme (e.g. the first day in Sydney, or the two-day symposium in Armidale) can be accommodated by arrangement. Please let us know if you are in this situation.

PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. This well help us to finalise arrangements. Please email to indicate your potential interest in participating:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible

A full programme, final costing and registration forms will be provided before the end of March.

We look forward to a leisurely and enjoyable opportunity to build on the collegial links which will be created and strengthened by your attendance at Waikato.

The Editors of the IUCNAEL eJournal hereby invite contributions for consideration for inclusion in the 2013 edition of the eJournal. The eJournal, which is now in its fourth year of publication, can be accessed at http://www.iucnael.org/en/e-journal/about-the-journal.html.

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Svitlana Kravchenko (1949-2012)

With profound sadness, the IUCN Academy regrets to announce the untimely great loss of Professor Svitlana Kravchenko, Director of the LL.M. Program in Environmental and Natural Resources Law at the University of Oregon, U.S.A. Svitlana suffered a heart attack and passed away on Friday, February 10, in Eugene, Oregon. She is survived by her loving husband, Professor John Bonine, also a law professor at the University of Oregon; her dear daughter, Maria Kostytska (a lawyer in Paris, France) and her dear niece, Lena Kravchenko (Executive Director of Environment-People-Law in Lviv, Ukraine).

svitlana

Svitlana was born in Potsdam, Germany and grew up in both the Russian Far East and Western Ukraine. Her father was a distinguished Soviet General in Ukraine, who became a well-known military judge. Her mother was a distinguished criminal judge who became a Justice of the Supreme Criminal Court of Ukraine during the time of the Soviet Union. Svitlana graduated from the Law Faculty of Lviv State University in 1972 and began her teaching career at her alma mater. She defended her first PhD dissertation at the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1977 which focused on the problem of civil liability for environmental transgressions; and defended her 2nd and higher-level dissertation in 1991 on the problems associated with environmental law enforcement in Kharkiv. Prior to teaching at the University of Oregon Law School, Svitlana taught environmental law at Lviv National University in Ukraine for 25 years.

The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law invites scholars from the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law member institutions to apply to teach an environmental law course during the faculty’s January term sessions in 2013 and 2014. We understand the busy schedules of scholars during teaching terms, we are therefore inviting applications to teach in either the January 2013 term or the January 2014 term at this time in order to assist interested scholars in planning their future teaching commitments. Courses can be on any environmental law topic and can have a comparative, regional or international focus.

The IUCN Secretariat has been located at the Faculty of Law since 2006. To further strengthen the Faculty’s link with the Academy’s member institutions, this teaching opportunity will be offered each year.

January term is a three week intensive session allowing students to immerse themselves in one subject only. Classes meet daily for three hours over the 13 day term. In addition to our own full time professors, the faculty brings in an outstanding group of lawyers, judges and visiting professors from law schools around the world. We have hosted visiting professors from Australia, France, Belgium, Iceland, England, Puerto Rico, Kenya, Mexico, India, Israel, the United States, South Africa, Burundi and Poland. January term professors attend special lectures and January term social events. They form a special community of scholars.

Remuneration is $10,000 CAN with an additional $5,000 CAN to cover receipted travel and living expenses. Visiting professors must apply for visa and work permits as required.

Applications should be sent by March 15, 2012, directly to Vice Dean Professor Craig Forcese at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, 57 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa Ontario Canada, K1N 6N5.

Applications should include an up-to-date C.V., a list of courses previously taught, a course description including teaching materials and the evaluation method, and a course outline or syllabus. Please also indicate the year that you apply to teach. We will also ask you to identify two references, with contact numbers.

The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law welcomes this as an opportunity for its students and professors to be enriched by the participation of IUCN Academy scholars.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Winnie Carruth of the IUCN Academy Secretariat at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Call for Nominations

The IUCN Academy recognizes that its member institutions are actively involved in advancing knowledge of environmental law through research on a wide range of topics from an array of perspectives. The Academy’s member law schools and their scholars frequently produce outstanding publications, organize conferences and undertake other scholarly activities of international significance. These scholarly activities directly promote the aims of the Academy.

The Academy introduced the annual scholarship prize competition to recognize outstanding publications and other scholarly achievements by individuals in its member institutions. A Scholarship Prizes Subcommittee of the Academy’s Research Committee oversees the competition.

This announcement details the criteria and procedure for nominating individuals for the scholarship prizes. The deadline for making nominations is 29 February 2012.

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, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Melissa Powers, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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.

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 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information concerning the Colloquium, please visit the University of Maryland website. The deadline for submitting abstracts is February 15, 2012.