44 research outputs found
Climate change and biodiversity law: Quo Vadis?
No full textGlobal biodiversity faces a future that is both far warmer and more uncertain than ever before. One of the great achievements of the ongoing development of international environmental law, especially over the previous half-century, has been the emergence of specific and specialised regimes concerned with nature conservation. These treaties, actors, and institutions have pioneered innovative responses to threats facing biodiversity and have each played a key role in multilateral efforts to manage, conserve and preserve species and ecosystems. However, the current and projected ecological impacts associated with a changing climate pose daunting new challenges to this regime, exacerbating pre-existing institutional and managerial fault lines and undermining the comparative prior successes of the system in moderating aspects of the rapacious human consumption of global natural resources. This chapter introduces this book and outlines the key research directions adopted by the subsequent contributions. Climate change has been identified as a legally disruptive phenomenon that will continue to stress-test laws and institutions in a series of unforeseen and, in some cases, unforeseeable ways. As this chapter outlines, this book is an attempt to interrogate how biodiversity law might further evolve in its own disruptive ways to respond to the new realities of altered ecological conditions
Multispecies lawscapes in the anthropocene : priorities for a critical, constitutional turn in climate change and biodiversity law
No full textThis chapter identifies five key emerging trends within scholarship on Earth system law, Earth jurisprudence, wild law, ecofeminism and critical posthumanism. These trends are reliance upon network theories; rejection of binaries in favour of spectrums; plurality; power dispersion; and intersectionality. We employ these trends to expand the precise normative content of planetary justice and as key considerations for multispecies governance in the Anthropocene. This expansive work entails investigation of societal boundaries and multispecies boundaries, which we propose as mappable to already identified planetary boundaries. We suggest societal boundaries that require considering human injustices characteristic of the Anthropocene linked with colonialism, and expansive views of science to incorporate diverse knowledge systems and ecological reflexivity. We suggest multispecies boundaries that require deep noticing of non-human signals, particularly relating to human-induced inabilities to flourish, and deconstruction and dispersion of notions of agency in Anthropocene lawscapes
Multispecies lawscapes in the anthropocene:priorities for a critical, constitutional turn in climate change and biodiversity law
No full textThis chapter identifies five key emerging trends within scholarship on Earth system law, Earth jurisprudence, wild law, ecofeminism and critical posthumanism. These trends are reliance upon network theories; rejection of binaries in favour of spectrums; plurality; power dispersion; and intersectionality. We employ these trends to expand the precise normative content of planetary justice and as key considerations for multispecies governance in the Anthropocene. This expansive work entails investigation of societal boundaries and multispecies boundaries, which we propose as mappable to already identified planetary boundaries. We suggest societal boundaries that require considering human injustices characteristic of the Anthropocene linked with colonialism, and expansive views of science to incorporate diverse knowledge systems and ecological reflexivity. We suggest multispecies boundaries that require deep noticing of non-human signals, particularly relating to human-induced inabilities to flourish, and deconstruction and dispersion of notions of agency in Anthropocene lawscapes.</p
Implications of extinction in law: Preventing, declaring and learning from species extinctions
No full textBiodiversity laws around the world differ, but, at their core, these laws promote the fundamental objective of preventing environmental decline and species extinctions. A variety of legal mechanisms have been implemented in domestic laws around the world to achieve this objective, including protection for habitat, environmental impact assessments and threatened species recovery plans. In many jurisdictions, if these mechanisms fail to protect a species, it may be legally declared extinct, or added to a formal list of those that have been lost. This article examines the conservation purpose and legal implications for laws about extinction. A legal power to recognise a species as extinct has the potential to foster ambition, transparency and rigorous measurement of progress against conservation goals. However, in practice, efforts to prevent extinction are applied selectively. Without an obligation to learn from extinctions, recognition of species extinctions in law may have perverse effects, or no effect at all. This article proposes a conceptual model for the role of law in relation to extinctions, highlighting opportunities to improve legal frameworks to achieve more productive and positive conservation outcomes, even as climate change and other pressures drive many more species towards extinction. ImpactPhillipa C. McCormac
Using the criminal law to protect the environment: Possibilities and problems
No full text1. Global biodiversity has declined rapidly in recent decades, and existing laws have proven insufficient to protect the environment from harm. 2. There is no ‘silver bullet’ to remedying species population declines and extinctions and loss of ecosystems, but criminal law could be a crucial tool. 3. We present an interdisciplinary perspective (conservation biology, criminal law, environmental law and green criminology) to propose that criminal law can and should be engaged more in protecting the environment. 4. However, the criminal law is a captive of its own anthropocentric history. We must reconsider criminal law's core principles, informed by scientific methods and green criminological perspectives, to more effectively protect nature.Kellie Toole, Phillipa McCormack, Daan van Uhm, Marie Beillevert, Claire Williams, Phillip Casse
Conservation Introductions for Biodiversity Adaptation under Climate Change
No full textAbstractAnthropogenic climate change represents a wicked problem, both for the Earth’s natural systems and for biodiversity conservation law and policy. Legal frameworks for conservation have a critical role to play in helping species and ecosystems to adapt as the climate changes. However, they are currently poorly equipped to regulate adaptation strategies that demand high levels of human intervention. This article investigates law and policy for conservation introductions, which involve relocating species outside their historical habitat. It takes as a case study Australian law on conservation introductions, demonstrating theoretical and practical legal hurdles to these strategies at international, national and subnational levels. The article argues that existing legal mechanisms may be repurposed, in some cases, to better regulate conservation introduction projects. However, new legal mechanisms are also needed, and soon, to effectively conserve species and ecosystems in a period of unprecedented ecological change.</jats:p
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Research handbook on climate change and biodiversity law /
No full text"This Research Handbook tackles the intersecting crises of biodiversity loss and climate change from a legal perspective, delivering cutting edge insights into the evolution of these laws, and their shortfalls and opportunities. Experts critically analyse international and regional laws and institutions that were designed to protect biodiversity. They highlight the ways in which legal frameworks are being challenged by climate change and historical biodiversity loss, and the potential for these laws to transition or be transformed in anticipation of ongoing change. The contributing authors examine what biodiversity laws need to achieve as the climate continues to change, and outline innovations within conservation, climate mitigation and adaptation research and practice. They focus on emerging legal gaps, and explore civil litigation rules and industry arrangements such as international fishing regulations and invasive species management. They examine core international and transboundary environmental law regimes, as well as multilateral environment agreements, and review how domestic legal instruments contribute to implementing international rules and targets. The chapters in this Research Handbook cover a broad range of sectors, disciplines and jurisdictions, including NGO, government and industry-led approaches, providing insights into the potential of legal strategies to address threats posed by climate-driven biodiversity loss. The Research Handbook on Climate Change and Biodiversity Law is invaluable to students and academics in climate change and environmental law, conveying a clear understanding of how multiple legal regimes interact and instigate legal, political and governance reform. Policymakers, lawmakers and litigators seeking to enforce international and domestic laws will also find it a key resource"-
Public health: a forgotten piece of the adaptation law puzzle
No full textThis paper uses the problem of extreme heat to illustrate the inadequacy of laws for protecting public health under climate change. Climate change is already having serious effects on public health. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report highlights significant adaptation gaps for human health protection, urging that public health adaptation must be ‘proactive, timely and effective’. The law can be a powerful tool for advancing adaptation to protect public health, but there has been very little scholarly analysis of its potential, or whether in some circumstances it may promote maladaptation. For example, legal regimes for land use planning typically respect existing uses of property and make retrofitting for climate-proofing hard to mandate. These regimes can take many years to amend so new infrastructure continues to comply with outdated approaches, such as relying on air conditioning for cooling and offering limited shading. Laws also promote a focus on crisis management during a heat event but fail to promote the preventive action necessary to foster resilience. We present a case study of how the law exacerbates public health risks from extreme heat and falls short of facilitating adaptation in the Greater Western Sydney region of Australia, an area with a population of 2.6 million. In 2019, this area experienced a record near-surface air temperature of 52°C (125.6°F) causing significant adverse physical and mental health impacts. The public health impacts of extreme temperatures in this region are well documented, as are the increasing strains on emergency and health services. This case study demonstrates that laws could help to control heat in the landscape and secure the safety of vulnerable populations, but to do so they must prioritize adaptation to the health impacts of climate change
Domestic cats and their impacts on biodiversity:A blind spot in the application of nature conservation law
No full textFree‐ranging domestic cats Felis catus, from owned pets to feral cats, impact biodiversity through predation, fear effects, competition, disease and hybridization. Scientific knowledge regarding these impacts has recently increased, making it timely to assess the role of nature conservation legislation in this connection. We do so with particular regard to the obligations of governments around the world under international wildlife law.First, we provide an overview of current knowledge, based on a literature review, concerning the ways in which domestic cats impact wildlife; the resulting effects on native species’ populations and ecosystems; and available strategies for addressing these issues. In light of this knowledge, using standard legal research methodology, we then identify and interpret relevant legal instruments, with a particular focus on international wildlife treaties. Lastly, we identify and assess factors that may influence the implementation of relevant obligations.The outcomes of this analysis indicate that numerous legal obligations of relevance to free‐ranging domestic cats already apply under global treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Migratory Species and World Heritage Convention, and a range of regional legal instruments for biodiversity conservation. Of particular significance are obligations concerning (a) invasive alien species; (b) protected areas and (c) protected species.Many national authorities around the world are currently required, under international law, to adopt and implement policies aimed at preventing, reducing or eliminating the biodiversity impacts of free‐ranging domestic cats, in particular by (a) removing feral and other unowned cats from the landscape to the greatest extent possible and (b) restricting the outdoor access of owned cats.Factors that can influence or impair the application of these obligations include considerations of feasibility, scientific uncertainty, the interests of cat owners and the (perceived) interests of domestic cats themselves. Even if such factors may to some extent explain why many authorities have hitherto failed to take effective action to address the threats posed by free‐ranging domestic cats, from a legal perspective these factors provide little ground for justifying non‐compliance with international wildlife law
