3,402 research outputs found
The ecosystem approach and the precautionary principle
No full textThe ecosystem approach can be considered the landmark regulatory strategy of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other biodiversity-related conventions. While it has had a growing influence in the further development of international biodiversity law, as well as in other areas of international law, legal scholarship is surprisingly thin with regard to the status and implications of the ecosystem approach. This chapter discusses the evolution of the ecosystem approach as a landmark regulatory feature of the CBD and breaks it down into its interrelated components. To that end, the chapter also explores the interplay between the ecosystem approach and the precautionary principle, and the role of the former in ensuring mutual supportiveness among biodiversity-related conventions, as well as with international human rights law. The chapter concludes by highlighting overarching legal research questions concerning the ecosystem approach that await clarification
Corporate Accountability
No full textThis chapter provides an historic and conceptual discussion of the evolving debate on the role of international law with regard to corporate accountability in relation to natural resources, taking in turn the perspectives of international investment law, international human rights law and international environmental law. The discussion aims to reveal tensions and synergies among these perspectives, the role of different international actors, and the increasing convergence in international standard-setting and monitoring activities. The chapter concludes with a reflection on outstanding questions that require further legal research in the natural resource sector, in order to contribute to the negotiations of a treaty on business and human rights under the Human Rights Council
Biodiversity and Nature Protection Law
No full textThe unprecedented degradation of the planet’s vital ecosystems and species, and the consequent damage to the variability of life on Earth, are one of the most pressing issues confronting the international community. The purpose of this volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law is to provide a critical assessment of international biodiversity law in the face of the failed attempts to reduce the global trend in irreversible biodiversity loss and the need to increase efforts, including through indirect drivers of change such as institutions, governance and legal frameworks
Gracia Marín Durán and Elisa Morgera, Environmental Integration in the EU’s External Relations -Beyond Multilateral Dimensions, 2012
No full textMekouar Mohamed Ali. Gracia Marín Durán and Elisa Morgera, Environmental Integration in the EU’s External Relations -Beyond Multilateral Dimensions, 2012. In: Revue Juridique de l'Environnement, n°1, 2014. pp. 201-202
Content Tables to accompany Environmental Provisions in US and EU Free Trade Agreements : A Preliminary Comparison and a Research Agenda.”
No full textThe file consists of two tables that are intended to accompany the following article: Jinnah, Sikina and Elisa Morgera. (forthcoming 2013) “Environmental Provisions in US and EU Free Trade Agreements: A Preliminary Comparison and a Research Agenda.” Review of European, Comparative, and International Environmental Law.</p
Fair and Equitable Benefit-sharing in International Law
No full textFair and equitable benefit-sharing is a diffuse legal phenomenon in international law. The continued proliferation of benefit-sharing clauses can be explained by their appeal as an optimistic frame in addressing sustainability and equity concerns related to bio-based innovation, the use of natural resources, environmental protection, and knowledge creation. In principle, fair and equitable benefit-sharing serves to recognize, encourage, and incentivise sustainable human relationships with the environment by focusing on equity issues arising from the most intractable challenges of our time, such as loss of biodiversity, climate change, poverty, and global epidemics. Empirical evidence, however, indicates that, in practice, benefit-sharing rarely achieves its fairness and equity objectives, and ends up entrenching or worsening inequitable relationships with little to no benefit for the environment. Instead of focusing on fair and equitable benefit-sharing in sub-specialist areas of international law in isolation, Elisa Morgera assesses the phenomenon from a general international law perspective and through comparison-across international environmental law, international human rights law, international health law, and the law of the sea. Strengthened by insights from local-level case studies in different regions and sectors, this book looks toward overcoming the limitations inherent in individual international regimes and addressing the shortcomings in benefit-sharing implementation. Morgera's topical and comprehensive analysis reveals opportunities to advance fairness and equity in benefit-sharing through a mutually supportive interpretation of international biodiversity law and international human rights law, as well as opportunities to contribute to future research in areas such as international health law, international law on outer space, and international economic law
Direct replacement of antibodies with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles in ELISA - development of a novel assay for vancomycin
No full textA simple and straightforward technique for coating microplate wells with molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (nanoMIPs) to develop ELISA type assays is presented here for the first time. NanoMIPs were synthesized by a solid phase approach with immobilized vancomycin (template) and characterized using Biacore 3000, dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy. Immobilization, blocking and washing conditions were optimized in microplate format. The detection of vancomycin was achieved in competitive binding experiments with a HRP-vancomycin conjugate. The assay was capable of measuring vancomycin in buffer and in blood plasma within the range 0.001-70 nM with a detection limit of 0.0025 nM (2.5 pM). The sensitivity of the assay was three orders of magnitude better than a previously described ELISA based on antibodies. In these experiments nanoMIPs have shown high affinity and minimal interference from blood plasma components. Immobilized nanoMIPs were stored for 1 month at room temperature without any detrimental effects to their binding properties. The high affinity of nanoMIPs and the lack of a requirement for cold chain logistics make them an attractive alternative to traditional antibodies used in ELIS
Human Rights and the environment : the interdependence of human rights and a healthy environment in the context of national legislation on natural resources
No full textThis legal paper reflects on the evolution of international law on the interdependence of human rights and the environment. It illustrates their significance for the development and implementation of national laws on agricultural development and the management of renewable natural resources, ranging from land, water, fisheries, plants, and animals, to food, forestry, wildlife, biodiversity and trade laws. It is also relevant for national laws on climate change, gender equality, agribusiness operations, the right to food, the right to water and the prevention of potential conflicts arising from the competition for natural resources. The paper brings together lessons learned through the mandate of the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, John H. Knox, and academic research on international biodiversity law and human rights, by Elisa Morgera. The Paper gives an overview of the increasing cross-fertilization between international environmental law and international human rights law. It looks specifically at nature conservation and the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. It also focuses on other areas of the nexus between human rights and biodiversity that are of particular relevance to national laws on natural resource
Advancing Participation in the Conservation & Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ)
No full textParticipation of civil society in the negotiations on marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) remains limited and below the standards adopted under other multilateral environmental negotiations (Morgera et al., 2022), both in terms of participation and access to information. This policy brief underscores that public participation in the future implementation of the BBNJ Agreement is an international human rights issue, particularly with regard to Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) holders and children. Participation is necessary to ensure that the most affected are not excluded from determining the future of our ocean and all the dimensions of human wellbeing that depended on it (Morgera et al., 2022). Public participation should be informed by existing international human rights obligations of the States participating in the BBNJ negotiations as a response to the recommendation by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment that the BBNJ negotiations should consider human rights (Boyd, 2020).This policy brief also underscores that capacitybuilding under the BBNJ Agreement needs to support public participation in the implementation of the Agreement, as well as knowledge sharing and co-production. The policy brief includes specific textual recommendations to inform the upcoming session of the Intergovernmental Conference from 15th to 26th August 2022. All comments refer to the latest revised draft text of the BBNJ Agreement prepared by the President of the Intergovernmental Conference in July 2022
From Corporate Social Responsibility to Accountability Mechanisms:The Role of the Convention on Biological Diversity
No full textThe international community has debated the need for international regulation and oversight of multinational companies for almost forty years. While states have hitherto resisted the creation of an international legally binding instrument on the matter, voluntary and soft law international instruments and initiatives of intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder origin have proliferated to support and encourage an environmentally sound conduct of multinational and other companies. This chapter seeks to trace the evolution of such international practice with a view to highlighting a progressive shift from purely voluntary approaches (corporate social responsibility or CSR) towards accountability mechanisms. To this end, the chapter will first briefly discuss the increasing convergence in the definition of international environmental standards for corporate accountability within a variety of international organisations and processes (12.1). It will then focus on the most recent discussion on human rights and corporate accountability, with a view to determining whether environmental protection concerns are adequately taken into account (12.2). Attention will then concentrate on the growing number of international oversight and dispute avoidance mechanisms that provide a readily available and impartial avenue for addressing individuals’, communities’ and civil society groups’ complaints against private companies and the possibility for international entities to operate on the ground for fact-finding and/or mediation purposes (12.3)
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