Content, progress and pedagogy of the module

The course enable the students approaching for the first time the protection of the environment in international law and EU Law to dominate the essence of this crucial theme in continuous development. At the same time, the course offer the student the possibility to specialize in several areas or sectors of international environmental law. The course is divided in two parts: thegeneral part I, and thespecific and sectorial part II. Thegeneral part I treats the subjects, sources, general principles, the protection of the environment and human rights, citizen’s right to information, public participation and access to justice, and environmental liability and responsibility as a consequence of environmental damage. The specific and sectorial part II will focus on atmospheric pollution and climate change, the law of the sea and the protection of the marine environment, protection of the high seas from oil pollution and dumping of pollutants, protection of species and biological diversity, and transboundary movements of hazardous waste. Special focus will be dedicated to the European Union (EU) focusing on EU-regulations, directives,  and the new objectives of the EU Green Deal and other EU hot topics such as the protection of biological diversity and international protected nature areas (Natura 2000-areas), resource management  (regulation of water, waste and renewable energy), marine spatial planning, ecosystem based management also within the context of the EU Blue Economy.

The course will be oriented in a problem solving approach and will be split up into a series of workshops based on project’s works.

Learning objectives

Knowledge

General part l

• Historical evolution of international environmental law
• Subject of international environmental law (i.e.: the states, international organizations,  such as the United Nations, and other international and regional organizations)
• The sources of international environmental law
• The general principles of international environmental law (i.e.: the principle of prevention, the principle of precaution, the polluter pays principle, the principle of co-operation, principle of public participation and access to justice)
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA)
• The management of natural resources of common concern and common heritage of humanity
• Sustainable development
• Environmental dimension of human rights (environmental protection and social rights, environmental protection and heath rights, forced migration as a consequence of climate change and protection of indigenous people rights linked to the environment)
• The Aarhus Convention and the mechanisms on non-compliance
• Environmental damage, liability and responsibility

Specific and sectorial part ll

Espoo Convention, Montréal Protocol, United Nations Conventions on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s reports, Paris Agreement, Ramsar Convention, Biodiversity Convention, CITES Convention, Basel Convention , Aarhus Convention, Inuit Circumpolar Declaration (ICC), UNCLOS Convention, MARPOL Convention, OSPAR Convention, UNEP Regional Sea Program and other relevant sectorial treaties and agreements, and governance of environmental pollution at the sea, the Treaty of Lisbon, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), EU Marine Spatial Planning, the European Union Green Deal, and other EU important recent initiatives.

Skills

• The environmental legal terminology and concepts related to environmental law
• How to identify human rights and environmental interconnections
• How to both get an overview and use  the relevant sources of hard law and soft law applicable to cross-cutting topics and problems

Competences

• Contextualize the law in a multilevel dimension (international, regional, national and local) and compare the different sources of law and policy from the different levels in order to solve legal and policy problems related to international environmental law
• Develop the capacity of legal analysis in cross-sectorial issues
• Analyze and use case law linking human rights and environmental problems
• Advise in a professional way on the environmental law applicable on international and regional complex problems at governmental, business and public level

Type of instruction

• Lectures

Extent and expected workload

• 270 hours

Exam

Exams