Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340080
{"title":"‘Water Law as Environmental Law’: An Introduction to the Special Issue","authors":"","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340080","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42336584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340084
F. Marisi
In a number of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases between the 2000s and the 2010s, a tension arose between the State’s duty to protect its inhabitants by means of policy measures aimed at safeguarding the environment and human health, ensuring that people can enjoy clean, available, and affordable water, and the State’s commitment to protect foreign direct investment under international investment treaties. This paper discusses the right to water as acknowledged by international agreements and United Nations Resolutions, retraces the evolution of foreign direct investment in water services management, examines the interests at stake in investment disputes, and suggests options for balancing the rights of investors and the right to water.
{"title":"Skating on Thin Ice: The Human Right to Water in Investor-State Dispute Settlement","authors":"F. Marisi","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340084","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 In a number of investor-State dispute settlement (ISDS) cases between the 2000s and the 2010s, a tension arose between the State’s duty to protect its inhabitants by means of policy measures aimed at safeguarding the environment and human health, ensuring that people can enjoy clean, available, and affordable water, and the State’s commitment to protect foreign direct investment under international investment treaties. This paper discusses the right to water as acknowledged by international agreements and United Nations Resolutions, retraces the evolution of foreign direct investment in water services management, examines the interests at stake in investment disputes, and suggests options for balancing the rights of investors and the right to water.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49321319","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340090
Hendrik Schoukens
Flanders used to be a region characterized by the presence of wetlands, marshy grasslands and forests. However, during the 20th century, the intensification of agricultural practices, urbanization and industrial activities led to the disappearance of more than 50% of these water-dependent ecosystems. In this article, a case study is carried out on the interplay with the existing regulatory schemes regarding groundwater extraction and drainage and the unfavourable status of many aquifers in Flanders. The main focus is placed on the regulatory approach to the accumulation of incremental impacts on aquifers in the Flemish Region, in particular its capacity to avoid a death by a thousand cuts. Using EU environmental law as a benchmark, this article finds that a multitude of loopholes and exemptions in the Flemish permitting schemes effectively compromises the long-term recovery of vulnerable aquifers in Flanders. Furthermore, the analysis sketches the main solutions that are available to ensure a more sustainable pathway towards the recovery of the Flemish groundwater bodies. In addition to an expansion of the material scope of the existing permitting schemes, which should also include small-scale interventions in nature and water, this article concludes that recent case-law developments before the national and regional courts underline the importance of a more science- and restoration-based understanding of the permitting schemes, which inevitably leads to more scrutiny when authorizing new groundwater abstraction or drainage activities. Finally, the article also underlines the unlocked potential that exists for future litigation strategies focusing on limiting ongoing activities that jeopardize the long-term recovery of vulnerable aquifers.
{"title":"The Conservation of Aquifers in Flanders as a Regulatory Challenge: How to Avoid a Death by a Thousand Cuts?","authors":"Hendrik Schoukens","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340090","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340090","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Flanders used to be a region characterized by the presence of wetlands, marshy grasslands and forests. However, during the 20th century, the intensification of agricultural practices, urbanization and industrial activities led to the disappearance of more than 50% of these water-dependent ecosystems. In this article, a case study is carried out on the interplay with the existing regulatory schemes regarding groundwater extraction and drainage and the unfavourable status of many aquifers in Flanders. The main focus is placed on the regulatory approach to the accumulation of incremental impacts on aquifers in the Flemish Region, in particular its capacity to avoid a death by a thousand cuts. Using EU environmental law as a benchmark, this article finds that a multitude of loopholes and exemptions in the Flemish permitting schemes effectively compromises the long-term recovery of vulnerable aquifers in Flanders. Furthermore, the analysis sketches the main solutions that are available to ensure a more sustainable pathway towards the recovery of the Flemish groundwater bodies. In addition to an expansion of the material scope of the existing permitting schemes, which should also include small-scale interventions in nature and water, this article concludes that recent case-law developments before the national and regional courts underline the importance of a more science- and restoration-based understanding of the permitting schemes, which inevitably leads to more scrutiny when authorizing new groundwater abstraction or drainage activities. Finally, the article also underlines the unlocked potential that exists for future litigation strategies focusing on limiting ongoing activities that jeopardize the long-term recovery of vulnerable aquifers.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"64437618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340086
O. McIntyre
The management and protection of water resources, and thus the practice of water law, is absolutely central to every aspect of human well-being. This is as true at the international level as at the domestic level. Water pervades every area of human activity and connects almost every form of pollution and environmental harm. This truism is clearly illustrated by the highly topical problem of marine plastic pollution (MPP) which, though it concerns the ubiquitous use and eventual accumulation in the marine environment of a broad category of environmentally persistent synthetic materials, is intrinsically linked to the environmental management of major rivers, many of which are shared international watercourses. While the general international obligation to prevent marine pollution by plastics can be derived from both international marine environmental law and international water law, evolving practice under the latter framework, and under related sub-fields of international and transnational environmental law, provides helpful clarity regarding the normative parameters of the due diligence standard of conduct expected of all States in this regard.
{"title":"International Water Law’s Role in Addressing the Problem of Marine Plastic Pollution: A Vital Piece in a Complex Puzzle!","authors":"O. McIntyre","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340086","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The management and protection of water resources, and thus the practice of water law, is absolutely central to every aspect of human well-being. This is as true at the international level as at the domestic level. Water pervades every area of human activity and connects almost every form of pollution and environmental harm. This truism is clearly illustrated by the highly topical problem of marine plastic pollution (MPP) which, though it concerns the ubiquitous use and eventual accumulation in the marine environment of a broad category of environmentally persistent synthetic materials, is intrinsically linked to the environmental management of major rivers, many of which are shared international watercourses. While the general international obligation to prevent marine pollution by plastics can be derived from both international marine environmental law and international water law, evolving practice under the latter framework, and under related sub-fields of international and transnational environmental law, provides helpful clarity regarding the normative parameters of the due diligence standard of conduct expected of all States in this regard.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43430973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-17DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340077
Goemeone EJ Mogomotsi, P. K. Mogomotsi, Onthatile O Moeti
International trade is a significant factor in the introduction of invasive alien species around the world. The preparedness of countries through their domestic regulations to combat invasive alien species differs from country to country. This article discusses the potential of WTO law in combating the spread of invasive alien species in countries with weak environmental regulation regimes such as Botswana. It recognises the possibility of invoking provisions of WTO agreements by member states to combat the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. It concludes that the use of WTO agreements by developing countries may be an immediate solution to address and combat biodiversity losses in the global south. The article recommends the building of technical and scientific capacity by developing countries to effectively use international trade law for environmental protection.
{"title":"WTO Law and Jurisprudence on Invasive Alien Species in the Global South","authors":"Goemeone EJ Mogomotsi, P. K. Mogomotsi, Onthatile O Moeti","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340077","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340077","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000International trade is a significant factor in the introduction of invasive alien species around the world. The preparedness of countries through their domestic regulations to combat invasive alien species differs from country to country. This article discusses the potential of WTO law in combating the spread of invasive alien species in countries with weak environmental regulation regimes such as Botswana. It recognises the possibility of invoking provisions of WTO agreements by member states to combat the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. It concludes that the use of WTO agreements by developing countries may be an immediate solution to address and combat biodiversity losses in the global south. The article recommends the building of technical and scientific capacity by developing countries to effectively use international trade law for environmental protection.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44317374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-17DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340079
M. Hasan
{"title":"Reciprocity and China’s Transboundary Waters: The Law of International Watercourses, written by David J Devlaeminck","authors":"M. Hasan","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340079","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44722239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-05-17DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340076
Huishihan Wang
China’s economy has boomed as various industries have continued to develop, but this activity has been at the expense of environmental quality and public health that have resulted in severe problems for several decades. In addition to the establishment and adoption of mainstream environmental governance tools, Chinese attorneys and environmental NGO s (ENGO s) have consciously conducted Chinese-style citizen suit experiments since 2010 based on the fruitful private enforcement experience of ENGO s in the United States. These initiatives are known as the environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) mechanism in China. The ENGO EPIL mechanism was officially established in 2015 as a significant legal breakthrough that authorises ENGO s to file lawsuits to complement and improve environmental law enforcement. However, this article argues that the Chinese EPIL provisions include some unnecessarily stringent procedural requirements and lack some of the essential procedures compared with the United States archetype. Chinese ENGO s have not been authorised to take action to ensure that oversight by government agencies in their administrative actions is adequately undertaken. China’s forward-looking ENGO s have struggled to survive and have recently slowed down in their activities. Public participation and private enforcement have also become effectively powerless. Overall, it is argued that the Chinese ENGO EPIL system has created more problems than it has solved. After comparing the theoretical and procedural distinctions between China’s ENGO EPIL and the United States citizen suits in detail, the article presents some recommendations for specific legislation and implementation for the Chinese legislature. These include a comprehensive Environmental Public Interest Relief Law that integrates and compiles various applicable regulatory instruments. The recommendations are intended to assist in systematically realizing and regulating ENGO EPIL actions while at the same time promoting the primary role of the government in environmental administrative enforcement.
{"title":"China’s Public Interest Environmental Litigation and the U.S. Citizen Suit Model","authors":"Huishihan Wang","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340076","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000China’s economy has boomed as various industries have continued to develop, but this activity has been at the expense of environmental quality and public health that have resulted in severe problems for several decades. In addition to the establishment and adoption of mainstream environmental governance tools, Chinese attorneys and environmental NGO s (ENGO s) have consciously conducted Chinese-style citizen suit experiments since 2010 based on the fruitful private enforcement experience of ENGO s in the United States. These initiatives are known as the environmental public interest litigation (EPIL) mechanism in China. The ENGO EPIL mechanism was officially established in 2015 as a significant legal breakthrough that authorises ENGO s to file lawsuits to complement and improve environmental law enforcement. However, this article argues that the Chinese EPIL provisions include some unnecessarily stringent procedural requirements and lack some of the essential procedures compared with the United States archetype. Chinese ENGO s have not been authorised to take action to ensure that oversight by government agencies in their administrative actions is adequately undertaken. China’s forward-looking ENGO s have struggled to survive and have recently slowed down in their activities. Public participation and private enforcement have also become effectively powerless. Overall, it is argued that the Chinese ENGO EPIL system has created more problems than it has solved. After comparing the theoretical and procedural distinctions between China’s ENGO EPIL and the United States citizen suits in detail, the article presents some recommendations for specific legislation and implementation for the Chinese legislature. These include a comprehensive Environmental Public Interest Relief Law that integrates and compiles various applicable regulatory instruments. The recommendations are intended to assist in systematically realizing and regulating ENGO EPIL actions while at the same time promoting the primary role of the government in environmental administrative enforcement.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2022-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41794430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340070
Giuseppe Poderati, Shutian Ou
This article argues that climate change policies should be designed as far as possible with the involvement of civil society at large, as it is an existential problem that concerns the whole of humanity. It is suggested that in the Chinese context, the legal system and political decision-making processes could better address climate change for example, through the participatory processes promoted by the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992 and subsequent instruments. The article explores the possibility of adopting a hybrid approach in China by developing an interactive platform linking the relevant components of civil society in order to gather critical expertise and insights from the community as a whole. A hybrid approach would be directed at combining the current top-down approach with a bottom-up approach, which would potentially contribute to an increase in transparency and accountability in legislative and political decision-making processes to produce the best possible legal approaches and policy strategies for addressing climate change.
{"title":"Tackling Climate Change in China: A Hybrid Approach","authors":"Giuseppe Poderati, Shutian Ou","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article argues that climate change policies should be designed as far as possible with the involvement of civil society at large, as it is an existential problem that concerns the whole of humanity. It is suggested that in the Chinese context, the legal system and political decision-making processes could better address climate change for example, through the participatory processes promoted by the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development 1992 and subsequent instruments. The article explores the possibility of adopting a hybrid approach in China by developing an interactive platform linking the relevant components of civil society in order to gather critical expertise and insights from the community as a whole. A hybrid approach would be directed at combining the current top-down approach with a bottom-up approach, which would potentially contribute to an increase in transparency and accountability in legislative and political decision-making processes to produce the best possible legal approaches and policy strategies for addressing climate change.","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44957170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340068
Tianbao Qin, B. Hu
As a new sub-discipline in the field of law, China’s environmental law has a short history, of some forty years. The Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972) and the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment proved to be milestones in China’s environmental protection and relevant legislation as they encouraged China to incorporate itself into the worldwide prevailing trend of safeguarding the environment by beginning to address the pollution and ecological degradation caused by industrialization. The Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (for Trial Implementation) in 1979 was an indication of the national scheme to coordinate economic and social development with environmental improvement. With this as a turning point, China devised its own environmental legal system encompassing contemporary theory, new institutions, laws and regulations and more modern modes of management. In this scenario, when China’s legal infrastructure and research were pressing for a fresh start, its environmental laws remained relatively obscure. However, some pioneering scholars, led in particular by Professor HAN Depei of Wuhan University, were acutely aware that adequate environmental protection and legislation at the national level was of urgent priority, and that high-level research on environmental law was necessary. With remarkable foresight, strategic vision and courage, Professor HAN worked very hard to
{"title":"RIEL, China’s Premier Environmental Law Institute, Celebrates 40th Anniversary","authors":"Tianbao Qin, B. Hu","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340068","url":null,"abstract":"As a new sub-discipline in the field of law, China’s environmental law has a short history, of some forty years. The Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972) and the Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment proved to be milestones in China’s environmental protection and relevant legislation as they encouraged China to incorporate itself into the worldwide prevailing trend of safeguarding the environment by beginning to address the pollution and ecological degradation caused by industrialization. The Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (for Trial Implementation) in 1979 was an indication of the national scheme to coordinate economic and social development with environmental improvement. With this as a turning point, China devised its own environmental legal system encompassing contemporary theory, new institutions, laws and regulations and more modern modes of management. In this scenario, when China’s legal infrastructure and research were pressing for a fresh start, its environmental laws remained relatively obscure. However, some pioneering scholars, led in particular by Professor HAN Depei of Wuhan University, were acutely aware that adequate environmental protection and legislation at the national level was of urgent priority, and that high-level research on environmental law was necessary. With remarkable foresight, strategic vision and courage, Professor HAN worked very hard to","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47059183","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-12-07DOI: 10.1163/24686042-12340074
Jason Anom
{"title":"Interception to Repatriation – Aviation’s Role in Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade","authors":"Jason Anom","doi":"10.1163/24686042-12340074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24686042-12340074","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29889,"journal":{"name":"Chinese Journal of Environmental Law","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45947573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：