the environment and the pil Flashcards
Colonialist Origins of Conservation
Early Agreements: European colonial powers made the first international agreements on nature conservation.
1900 “London Convention”: The first major conservation treaty. It aimed to protect wild animals, birds, and fish in Africa but never entered into force.
1933 Convention: This treaty required countries to create parks and reserves, limiting human settlement in these areas.
So, in short:
Colonial powers wanted to protect nature, but in doing so, they often removed local people who had been taking care of that land for a long time.
This created a system of conservation that ignored the knowledge and ways of the local people and still affects conservation today.
International Environmental Law (IEL)
Stockholm Declaration (1972):
The first document that recognized the right to a healthy environment. It set out 26 principles for environmental protection.
UN Environment Programme (UNEP):
Created to promote environmental protection. Its headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya.
Brundtland Commission (1983):
Coined the concept of sustainable development: “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising future generations.”
Montreal Protocol (1987):
An agreement to protect the ozone layer. It’s a successful international effort and the ozone layer is expected to recover by 2050.
Earth Summit - Rio (1992)
Over 100 countries met to discuss environmental issues and signed the Rio Declaration, which included:
27 principles for sustainable development.
Precautionary principle: Don’t wait for full scientific certainty before taking action to prevent environmental damage.
Two important treaties:
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
Established in 1994 to stabilize greenhouse gases (GHG) and prevent harmful climate changes.
Focused on industrialized countries doing the most to reduce emissions.
Kyoto Protocol (1997)
A system to reduce emissions by setting targets for countries.
Introduced market mechanisms:
Emissions Trading: Countries can sell their excess emission permits.
Clean Development Mechanism: Developed countries fund emission-reduction projects in developing countries.
Criticism: Some projects in developing countries (e.g. wind farms in China) just let rich countries off the hook.
Paris Agreement (2015)
Replaces Kyoto Protocol with a global goal to limit global warming and focus on climate change litigation.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
A treaty signed by 196 countries aimed at:
Conserving biodiversity.
Sustainable use of natural resources.
Fair sharing of benefits from genetic resources.
In 2022, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was created to:
Protect 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030.
Reduce species extinction by 10x by 2050.
Escazú Agreement
A regional environmental human rights treaty in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Protects the rights of environmental defenders (e.g. people speaking against pollution or extractive industries).
Aims to stop harassment and violence against defenders (e.g. in Colombia, many are killed for speaking out against mining and other industries).
Nuclear Tests (New Zealand v France)
1973 Case:
France wanted to do nuclear tests in the South Pacific. New Zealand didn’t agree and took the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ told France to stop testing temporarily until they decided on the case.
France stopped the tests, but the ICJ dismissed New Zealand’s claims because the tests stopped, making the case irrelevant.
However, the Court added a special rule that if the situation changed, New Zealand could bring the case back.
1995 Case:
France wanted to do underground nuclear tests in French Polynesia. New Zealand protested, using the special rule from the 1973 case.
The ICJ ruled that the 1973 decision only applied to atmospheric tests (above ground), not underground ones.
A judge disagreed, saying underground testing could be as harmful as above-ground testing.
Rainbow Warrior (1985)
A Greenpeace ship, the Rainbow Warrior, was bombed by French agents in New Zealand. One person died.
The ship was going to protest French nuclear testing.
The French government admitted responsibility, but New Zealand wanted to extradite the agents for punishment. France refused to hand them over.
The UN got involved and decided that the agents would be sent to a French island for 3 years.
France had to apologize and pay $7 million in compensation to New Zealand.
Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan: 2014)
Australia challenged Japan’s whaling program (JARPA II) in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming it violated the International Whaling Convention.
Japan argued they were killing whales for scientific research, but the ICJ disagreed, saying it was more like commercial whaling.
The Court decided Japan’s program was not really for scientific research because it used lethal methods and didn’t produce enough scientific results.
Human Rights and Climate Change
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change:
A Special Rapporteur was appointed to focus on human rights related to climate change. This includes how climate change can threaten people’s rights, especially their right to life.
Climate Refugees:
Climate refugees are people forced to leave their homes because of environmental destruction (e.g., rising sea levels, storms).
The 1951 Refugee Convention doesn’t cover people displaced by climate change, but there’s a push to create special protection for climate migrants.
Countries like Fiji are accepting refugees from other small island nations affected by climate change.
Teitiota v New Zealand (2020)
Teitiota was a man from Kiribati who wanted to stay in New Zealand because climate change was making life impossible in his country.
New Zealand rejected his request for asylum (refugee status) as a climate refugee.
The Human Rights Committee of the UN ruled that New Zealand didn’t break any laws by deporting him because his life wasn’t in immediate danger.
However, the Committee said that countries must protect people if they are being sent back to places where climate change could threaten their life or cause inhumane treatment.
- Saatchi et al v Argentina et al (2021)
What happened?: 16 children sued Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, and Turkey, saying they weren’t doing enough to fight climate change, which hurt their rights (like the right to life and health).
What the UN said: The UN Committee said the case was inadmissible because the children didn’t first try to get help from their own countries’ courts (called “domestic remedies”).
Why it matters: Even though the Committee thought climate change affects children, it said kids need to first go through national courts before going to international ones.
- Billy et al v Australia (2022)
What happened?: Indigenous Torres Strait Islanders sued Australia, claiming climate change (like flooding) was destroying their culture and lands.
What the UN said: The UN Human Rights Committee agreed Australia was not doing enough to protect them, violating their rights to live and enjoy their culture.
What Australia must do: The Committee said Australia should compensate the Islanders, work with them to protect their land, and take more climate action.
- Right to a Clean, Healthy, and sustainable environment.
UN Resolution: In 2022, the UN declared that people have the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. This is a big step towards protecting the environment as a human right.
Current Situation: Some courts (like in Switzerland) are recognizing that failing to protect the environment violates people’s rights, like the right to family life or health. But there’s still no clear global agreement on this as a legal right.
- Environment and International Criminal Law
What is it?: International law didn’t used to care much about the environment, but now it’s starting to.
Example: War crimes like bombing that severely harm the environment (e.g., burning oil fields in the Gulf War) can be prosecuted.
Ecocide: Some want to make ecocide (deliberate environmental destruction) an international crime like genocide or war crimes, but it’s still a work in progress.
- Duarte Agostinho et al v Portugal et al (2020)
What happened?: 6 Portuguese youths sued 33 countries for not taking enough climate action, saying it’s threatening their right to life and health.
What the Court said: The European Court of Human Rights said the case was inadmissible because the kids didn’t first try to fix the issue in Portugal’s courts.
Why it matters: This case highlighted that climate change affects people everywhere, and countries must take action, but international courts want local courts to handle it first.
