LAW5 698 - International Environmental Law

This seminar deals chiefly with the role and impact of traditional public international law and policy, particularly multilateral environmental agreements, on international environmental issues. It also emphasizes the practical aspects of representing clients in the international context, by a focus on regulatory and liability aspects of environmental law, both domestic and international, and by practical classroom written and oral exercises. It deals with such multidisciplinary global issues as biodiversity, ozone depletion, climate change, Law of the Sea, and marine ecosystems and fisheries, as well as with such cross-border issues as transboundary transport of air and water pollution, trade in products like hazardous chemicals, and transboundary transport of hazardous wastes. It emphasizes functional and economic analysis of the various forms of developing environmental law, addressing the role of both cost/benefit analysis and the “precautionary principle.” It examines the rules and practice at institutions such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, multilateral environmental treaty organizations and multilateral lending institutions, as well as the practices of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Attention is paid also to the impact on clients of the extraterritorial reach of U.S. environmental law, and of foreign domestic environmental regulation such as that of the European Union and China, as well as the impact on foreign direct investment of environmental programs at quasi-governmental bodies like the World Bank. Trade and environment issues are discussed in the context of WTO rules, particularly such controversial new environment, health and safety related product regulation in the European Union as regulation of genetically modified organisms and of chemicals and the chemical constituents of products (e.g., the EU’s proposed REACH program). The course is conducted through review of the basics of public international law and of the actions of the new international organizations that implement that law.

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: Environmental Law and International Law recommended, but not required.

Credits: 3