International Environmental Law

Catalog description

International Environmental Law introduces some of the legal and policy responses to global environmental degradation. The course begins with an introduction to the international legal framework within which international environmental law has developed and provides an overview of the major environmental problems confronting the international community. The course then examines a variety of global environmental problems and the legal regimes that have developed to address these problems. The emphasis throughout the course is on the relationship among environmental protection, economic development, and social development (the three pillars of sustainable development) and on the conflicting goals and priorities of affluent countries (the Global North) and middle- and low-income countries (the Global South). The North-South divide will serve as the key analytical framework through which the course will examine global environmental governance - with particular emphasis on environmental justice and on the perspectives and concerns of historically marginalized states and peoples.