The Transformation of Environmental Law and Governance

‘Sindico, Switzer and Qin''s prescient volume brings answers to some of the most crucial questions in law, and indeed, in society today. In a comprehensive analysis spanning topics from food and agriculture, to climate change and energy, it demonstrates the importance of understanding the connections between socio-ecological risk, legal innovation and ecological and societal resilience. It should have a place on the bookshelf of all legal scholars.’
– Elizabeth Kirk, University of Lincoln, UK

‘In the face of ongoing and emerging environmental pressures, the foundations of environmental law are rapidly changing, with new actors and new forms of regulation challenging existing preconceptions of how environmental law works. This book offers a timely look into the forces of risk, innovation and resilience underpinning and reflecting these changes. Sindico, Switzer and Qin have successfully brought together a diverse cast of established and early career scholars to shed new light on the dynamic evolution of environmental law.’
– Harro van Asselt, University of Eastern Finland

‘Never has environmental law been more paradoxical; the need for it so obvious whilst its impact seemingly less notable. Society is grappling not only with a wide range of challenges, across multiple sectors but how it confronts them is also changing. As the contributors to this book reveal, searching for answers and new ways of doing things is essential, whilst underlining the continual challenges of human folly. This collection opens up the conversation, revealing new insights and explores some of the ongoing problems.’
– Duncan French, University of Lincoln, UK

Contributors: Patryck de Araújo Ayala, Anna Berti Suman, Simone Borg, Tom Bourgeois, Mariana Carvalho Victor Coelho, Danuta R. N. de Souza Calazans, Meinhard Doelle, Christine Frison, Thomas Gils, Robert Habermann, Morgan Eleanor Harris, Stellina Jolly, Elodie Le Gal, David Leary, Laura S. Lynes, Gift Dorothy Makanje, Mohamed Ali Mekouar, Richard Ottinger, Michel Prieur, Tianbao Qin, Mônica Thaís Souza Ribeiro, Francesco Sindico, Stephanie Switzer, Achinthi Vithanage, He Xiangbai, Alexander Zahar, Izabela Zanotelli Collares

Contents:

PART I INTRODUCTION
1 Risk, innovation and resilience: moving towards mutual
supportiveness 2
Francesco Sindico, Stephanie Switzer and Qin Tianbao

PART II INNOVATION
2 Fracking and environmental law for sustainability: an
era of global ecological risks and the imperative of legal
transformations 15
Patryck de Araújo Ayala and Mariana Carvalho Victor Coelho

PART III RISK
3 Innovating societal response to radiation risk: insights from
the Fukushima Safecast case 34
Anna Berti Suman
4 Drug pollution from manufacturing, antimicrobial
resistance and the importation of pharmaceutical active
ingredients from third countries. The European drug safety
regime under scrutiny: key legal and institutional aspects,
challenges and opportunities 51
Elodie Le Gal

PART IV RESILIENCE
5 Evaluating community resilience in promoting ecological
and social justice in groundwater governance: lessons from India 75
Stellina Jolly
6 Strengthening the role of traditional leaders for effective
local community participation in environmental
management in Malawi 93
Gift Dorothy Makanje

PART V CLIMATE CHANGE
7 Integrating climate change into impact assessments: key
design elements 112
Meinhard Doelle
8 ‘Innovation’ and the law in state reports on climate change action 130
He Xiangbai and Alexander Zahar
9 Climate change law and colonialism: the rights of nature
and a hypothetical case for bison person in Canada 148
Laura S. Lynes

PART VI ENERGY
10 Community renewable energy for sustainable development 168
Richard Ottinger, Tom Bourgeois, Robert Habermann and
Achinthi Vithanage

PART VII FRESHWATER
11 The construction of the Três Marias dam and the absence
of public policies for the arrival of the waters in the
municipality of Morada Nova de Minas in Brazil 190
Mônica Thaís Souza Ribeiro, Izabela Zanotelli Collares
and Danuta R. N. de Souza Calazans

PART VIII BIODIVERSITY AND TRADITIONAL
KNOWLEDGE AND LAND, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
12 Blockchain technology for food security? Resilience
potential and risk identification for the Multilateral System
of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for
Food and Agriculture 207
Thomas Gils and Christine Frison
13 Synthetic biology and international environmental law:
time to move from definition to regulation 226
David Leary

PART IX OCEANS
14 Climate proofing ocean governance: a journey through
unchartered waters 245
Simone Borg

PART X HUMAN RIGHTS
15 A new frontier in human rights law: the proposed third
international covenant on the right of human beings to the
environment 266
Michel Prieur and Mohamed Ali Mekouar

PART XI LITIGATION
16 Resilience and access to climate justice 285
Morgan Eleanor Harris

Index