Insuring Island States: The Role of Insurance for Small Island States in Responding to the Adverse Effects of Sea Level Rise

Small island states are likely to suffer the greatest impact of sea level rise. They are also generally low emitters of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), meaning they have contributed little to the problem of human-induced climate change. For an array of reasons, including their reduced economic and political power relative to the international power of other states, these smaller islands and states have come together, forming the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS). Jointly, they have been battling to gain the attention of the international community in their search for solutions. However, they are still left with many unanswered questions and no clear path on how to deal with their issues. Will there be a future for them? Is anyone responsible for the damages and losses they will suffer? What will happen to their population and their resources? Do other countries have responsibility in light of their possible contributions to these circumstances? This article will discuss risks, present trends and theories, as well as possible ways to start answering some of these questions. It will then address how insurance companies playa part, considering the uncertainties of the consequences of climate change and the insurability of the risks associated with it

How does Latin America fit into high technology?

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Exploring the Bedrock for Earth Jurisprudence

This article calls for a reassessment of our core beliefs on how we relate to the environment through a deep dive into the philosophical foundations of environmental protection. With this purpose, it shows how Earth-centered discourses have existed in human societies and civilizations for millennia. Different religious and philosophical underpinnings all share a view of humanity as an integral part of an organic whole, revering all living things. While recent developments in jurisprudence may appear novel, they are somewhat latent and emergent. Theories of land ethics, rights of nature, Earth-centered environmental ethics, wild law, and Earth jurisprudence all build on these philosophical crescendos and have proved influential at the international level. It is time to find new approaches to the law that rely on the value of nature. This article tells us the why and the how

Cooperation of Amazon Countries: A Comparative Analysis of Forest Law Towards a Cooperative Effort for the Conservation and (Sustainable) Development of the Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon region contains the world’s largest river, the world’s biggest tropical forest, and the world’s richest biodiversity and is shared by nine countries (Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, French Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), each with its individual approach as to how to protect this environment. However, due to its unique value in the local, national, regional and global context, cooperation is required to manage this ecosystem. This thesis thus evaluates the approaches of environmental protection in the Amazon region at the national, regional, and international levels through the lens of forest protection. At the international scale the international law on forests and negotiations to create a binding instrument were analyzed. Although there is no single binding document on forests, we analyze how other treaties and conventions can induce protection. At the regional level, we analyze the Treaty for Amazonian Cooperation (ACT), signed by Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela in 1978, and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), established by the Protocol of Amendment to ACT, signed in 2002 by its signatories, within a context of cooperation within the Amazon region. At the core of this thesis, the development of this organization is studied, along with its practical effects. At the national scale institutional framework of forest management in Bolivia, Brazil, and Ecuador were evaluated as illustrations of how some Amazon countries are addressing the complex issues within the region and how national law related to the international and regional attempts of protection. By analyzing the cooperation among Amazon countries in different scales overlapped in the Amazon, this study demonstrated that despite the existence of cooperation, forest governance is still incipient and current mechanisms have to evolve to further provide for a true sustainable development

The social construction of a \u27good\u27 criminal lawyer.

This study examines the social construction of a \u27good\u27 criminal lawyer based on self-perceptions of local criminal defence counsels. Particular emphasis has been placed upon the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the necessary attributes of practising criminal counsels, inclusive of: commitment, integrity, competency, and fair and reasonable fees. Exploring how strictly criminal lawyers abide by the Rules of Professional Conduct also provided insight as to the seriousness with which they employ questionable ethical practices. Differences among these perceptions were analyzed using SPSSx (1986). Of the nineteen questionnaire respondents, ten criminal defence counsels participated in personal interviews that revealed: (1) a great majority of local criminal defence counsels stressed the importance of representing the accused based on the premise that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty and entitled to fair legal representation; (2) local criminal defence counsels considered themselves to be the most ethical of all lawyers; (3) great importance was placed upon the criminal lawyer abiding by the Rules of Professional Conduct as dictated by the Law Society of Upper Canada (L.S.U.C.); and (4) criminal lawyers who are more likely to breach the Rules of Professional Conduct are influenced by a personal as opposed to a collective breakdown of morals.Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1994 .S495. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0607. Adviser: M. Shuraydi. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1994

International Recognition of the Right to a Healthy Environment: What Is the Added Value for Latin America and the Caribbean?

Although there is still no United Nations treaty on the right to a healthy environment, the recognition of the right by the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council have helped solidify its status as customary international law. The overwhelming recognition of the right at the national and regional levels, and now at the United Nations, evidences greater uniformity and certainty in understanding human rights obligations relating to the environment. But what value do the resolutions add to the regional recognition of the right in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? Through judicial and legislative developments, LAC has provided fertile ground for the flourishing of the right to a healthy environment. The region has seen some of the most innovative responses to the fragmented fields of human rights and the environment, providing a model for progressive legal development. Within this context, this essay focuses on how UN recognition of the new right may impact the burgeoning law on human rights and the environment in LAC. I argue that the resolutions should support the already rich environmental and climate jurisprudence in the region to realize the full potential of the right to a healthy environment. The right to a healthy environment can further solidify the role of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) as a leading human rights court in environmental protection, with wide-ranging implications for rights-based environmental (and climate) litigation

Industrial policies in a changing world: Brazilian transition to the new paradigm

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The Evolution of International Environmental Law Amidst Political Gridlock: Environmental Rights as a Common Ground

In the leadup to the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm Conference and the global Covid- 19 pandemic, nations and people have realized they have not lived up to the obligations of the U.N. Charter and the principles of international environmental law. In 2019, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) adopted Resolution No. A/RES/73/333, which set forth substantive and procedural recommendations for follow-up work for the progressive development of international environmental law, and specifically called for the adoption of a political declaration in 2022 to strengthen the implementation of international environmental law. The resolution derives from the proposed Global Pact for the Environment and significant discussions on gaps in international environmental law by the Secretary General and an ad hoc group of the UNGA which met in Nairobi during 2019. The thesis follows this process until January 2022. As the world prepares to adopt a new political declaration, this thesis analyzes the multiple roads that lead here and the way forward. The thesis analyzes the current ecological crises humanity faces and some possible ways to address them. These solutions are grounded on the bedrock of Earth Jurisprudence, exemplified here through religious and philosophical foundations of Earth conservation. Through this bedrock, the thesis analyzes the rights-based approaches to the Earth Emergency Crisis, following the pathway of development of the right to a healthy environment which led to its international recognition at the Human Rights Council in 2021. This discussion significantly contributes to the challenges we currently face in the Earth Emergency Crisis, while also critically evaluating possible innovations to promote effectiveness in international environmental law

Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review

This Global Climate Litigation Report: 2023 Status Review, which updates previous United Nations Environment Programme reports published in 2017 and 2020, provides an overview of the current state of climate change litigation and an update of global climate change litigation trends. It provides judges, lawyers, advocates, policymakers, researchers, environmental defenders, climate activists, human rights activists (including women’s rights activists), NGOs, businesses and the international community with an essential resource to understand the current state of global climate litigation, including descriptions of the key issues that courts have faced in the course of climate change cases