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Pace University’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger has been recognized by the American Bar Association for his leadership in environmental policy. The ABA’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources presented Ottinger with its 2017 Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy at its annual meeting on August 13.

Ottinger, who served as dean of Pace’s Law School from 1994 through 1999, was praised as a trailblazer whose work on behalf of the environment has spanned more than 50 years, and encompassed key milestones in the protection of the Hudson River and the Long Island Sound, as well as energy regulation. Dean Ottinger has been a supporter and contributor to the Academy for many years and, for those of you who attended the closing plenary at this year’s Colloquium, David Hodas featured one of his many career accomplishments in his presentation:  The Remarkable Dick Ottinger Sustainable Energy Story. A well-deserved award for a remarkable Academy scholar.

The third in-country Training the Teachers (TTT) program for 2016 delivered in Cebu City, the Philippines, from 22-26 August 2016

2017 Train-the-Trainers Program

The IUCN Academy has entered into a Technical Assistance Implementation Agreement with the Asian Development Bank to conduct three 2017 in-country Train-the-Trainers (TTT) courses together with a Roundtable for the regional environmental law scholars in Asia who participated in one of the previous TTT courses conducted by the ADB and the Academy. The three training courses will be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand (June 19-23); Phnom Penh, Cambodia (August 21-25) and Yangon, Myanmar (October 23-28) respectively. The Roundtable will be held at the 2017 Colloquium in Cebu, Philippines (May 29-30).

The IUCN Academy would like to thank the Asian Development Bank for its continuing support of the Academy and the Train-the-Training Program and its support and participation in the 2017 Cebu Colloquium. In addition, the Academy is deeply grateful to Rob Fowler and Winnie Carruth for their hard work in securing funding and their commitment to creating and managing numerous outstanding TTT courses. Without their work and leadership, the vital outreach and capacity building opportunity the TTT provides would not be possible.

The speech by our Distinguished Speaker, Hilario Davide, Jr. (Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines) at the IUCN Academy's 13th Annual Colloquium held in Jakarta, Indonesia is now available. Click here

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Scholarship Awards for Senior and Emerging scholars recognize publications including academic books (edited or authored), journal articles and book chapters, as well as commissioned policy reports and studies of research value in any language. Consideration may also be given to other scholarly activities, such as organizing academic conferences and workshops, building collaborative research networks, and other innovations that advance research in environmental law.

Judge Christopher Weeramantry, former Vice President of the International Court of Justice, closed the 13th Annual Colloquium of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law with reflections on the importance of deeply-held environmental values as the foundations of sustainability. Expressing profound personal concern about nuclear impacts, he further encouraged younger scholars and the next generation of students to continue to promote the foundations of environmental law. Judge Weeramantry’s remarks were among many challenging and inspiring presentations at the Atma Jaya University conference on Forest and Marine Biodiversity held in Jakarta, September 7-12.

The proceedings began with a symposium on “Forest Values in the Global Economy,” with presentations and discussions oriented around the recently a recently-published volume on International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge UP, 2015). The authors - Shawkat Alam, Sumudu Atapattu, Carmen Gonzalez and Jona Razzaque, shared their observations and analysis with a significant gathering of scholars and researchers from IUCN Academy member institutions.

In a plenary session of the IUCN Academy’s 13th annual colloquium, Eva Duer of UNEP’s Division of Environmental Law and Conventions, introduced the overall InforMEA (Multilateral Environmental Agreement) program to conference participants and highlighted InforMEA’s E-Learning Platform

InforMEA is the first project established by the MEA Information and Knowledge Management (IKM) Initiative, which is facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Initiative brings together MEAs to develop harmonized and inter-operable information systems for the benefit of Parties and the environment community at large. InforMEA displays COP decisions and resolutions, news, events, MEA membership, national focal points, national reports and implementation plans. It organizes the world’s environmental law for those who need it to steer and implement global environmental policy.

The Oslo Principles on Global Climate Change Obligations were presented and discussed in pre-Colloquium proceedings of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law at Atma Jaya Catholic University, Jakarta. On behalf of the Expert Group on Global Climate Obligations, Prof. Jaap Spier, rapporteur, set out the key findings. 

The Oslo Principles were originally announced in March of this year. They both define the scope of states’ legal obligations to protect the environment and outline a means of meeting these obligations. They put emphasis on prevention (that is, the reduction of Green House Gas emissions).

The complete text of the Oslo Principles and the detailed commentary identifying their underlying sources of law can be found at www.yale.edu/macmillan/globaljustice/news.html or www.osloprinciples.org. They are published by Eleven Publishing: http://www.elevenpub.com/law/catalogus/oslo-principles-on-global-climate-obligations-1