The North–South Divide in International Environmental Law: Framing the Issues

Atapattu, Sumudu; González, Carmen G.

doi:10.1017/cbo9781107295414.002

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the dominance of powerful actors within processes of norm generation and diffusion means that the courts and protest are often the only forums available for weaker actors to participate within them. Acknowledging these communities, the damage they have suffered and their participation within transnational processes raises significant questions regarding the activities of multinational companies in the global South (Atapattu & Gonzalez, 2015; Girvan, 1976; Onimode, 1978), the continuing inequalities between the global South and North including through practices of exporting the negative externalities of consumption (Chimni, 2012; Islam, 2015; Tzouvala, 2020), and further, about the asymmetrical relationship between Northern NGOs and Southern peripheries.…”

Section: Responding To the Anthropocene In Telmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Powerful actors within transnational processes can therefore re‐embed and thicken existing inequalities and create new ones, as has occurred at the international level (e.g. Atapattu & Gonzalez, 2015; Carroll, 2020; Islam, 2015). Such an analysis offers a greater richness to TEL research and provides insights into why specific approaches to global environmental harms may be ineffective in some Southern states (see e.g.…”

Section: Responding To the Anthropocene In Telmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Regulating humanity's impact on the earth: The promise of transnational environmental law

Webster

2022

Global Policy

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Transnational environmental law (TEL) is a relatively new field of research that is agitated by the concept of the Anthropocene. Like environmental law, TEL suffers from certain methodological challenges which are exacerbated by the sheer ammount of activity involved in the generation of transnational legal norms and regulation. This article argues that, despite some of these challenges, TEL is well placed to evolve further to better regulate human activity in the Anthropocene. It argues that to better reflect on what the Anthropocene means for TEL and how it may develop in practice, it must engage further with power, the problem of erasure of weaker actors, and the legacies of colonialism on the one hand, and the sciences -particularly Earth system science and ecology -on the other. By doing so it would offer a more robust analysis of TEL and insights into its further development in practice.

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Section: Responding To the Anthropocene In Telmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Responding To the Anthropocene In Telmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating humanity's impact on the earth: The promise of transnational environmental law

Webster

2022

Global Policy

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“…355 Nonetheless, IEL has historically been, and continues to be, 'a site of intense contestation over environmental priorities, over the allocation of responsibility for current and historic environmental harms, and over the relationship between economic development and environmental degradation'. 356 Scholars attentive to the concerns of countries and peoples of the Global South have highlighted the ongoing need for IEL to bridge this persistent North-South divide and to 'address historical inequities and inadequacies in the international environmental law regime' in order to ensure the effectiveness of IEL. 357 However, even though IEL principles might have initially reflected an agenda of 'redistributive multilateralism', over the past decade in particular this has been strongly resisted by the US and other countries of the Global North, with the effect that IEL and the global climate regime in particular have become a 'new area of distributive conflict between developed and developing countries'.…”

Section: E Beyond Redd+mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconsidering REDD+

Dehm¹

2021

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In Reconsidering REDD+: Authority, Power and Law in the Green Economy, Julia Dehm provides a critical analysis of how the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme operates to reorganise social relations and to establish new forms of global authority over forests in the Global South, in ways that benefit the interests of some actors while further marginalising others. In accessible prose that draws on interdisciplinary insights, Dehm demonstrates how, through the creation of new legal relations, including property rights and contractual obligations, new forms of transnational authority over forested areas in the Global South are being constituted. This important work should be read by anyone interested in a critical analysis of international climate law and policy that offers insights into questions of political economy, power, and unequal authority.

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“…Many Global South countries have not traditionally viewed climate change as one of their greatest threats, focusing instead on immediate needs for economic development, poverty reduction, and energy security, 9 as well as more immediate environmental threats such as hazardous waste and safe drinking water. 10 Because environmental issues are intertwined with economic issues, international environmental law has long been a site of intense contestation over environmental priorities and liability for past harm. 11 Some countries in the Global South viewed environmentalism as a luxury that low-income countries could not afford to implement, and as a hurdle in achieving poverty reduction and economic development.…”

Section:  -    mentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate Litigation in the Global South: Constraints and Innovations

Setzer¹,

Benjamin²

2019

TEL

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Cases involving climate change have been litigated in the courts for some time, but new directions and trends have started to emerge. While the majority of climate litigation has occurred in the United States and other developed countries, cases in the Global South are growing both in terms of quantity and in the quality of their strategies and regulatory outcomes. However, so far climate litigation in the Global South has received scant attention from the literature. We argue that climate litigation in the Global South opens up avenues for progress in addressing climate change in highly vulnerable countries. We first highlight some of the capacity constraints experienced in Global South countries to provide context for the emerging trend of strategic climate litigation in the area. In spite of significant constraints experienced, the strategies adopted by litigants push the climate litigation agenda forward as a result of their outward-looking objective of combating ongoing environmental degradation, and, on a doctrinal level, the way in which they link climate change and human rights. Bearing in mind the limitations resulting from the selective nature of the cases examined, we draw upon Legal Opportunity Structures (LOS) approaches and identify two reasons for innovative cases and outcomes in Global South strategic climate litigation: (i) how litigants are either † This contribution is part of a collection of articles growing out of the conference 'Climate Change Litigation', held at

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The North–South Divide in International Environmental Law: Framing the Issues

Cited by 8 publications

References 19 publications

Regulating humanity's impact on the earth: The promise of transnational environmental law

Regulating humanity's impact on the earth: The promise of transnational environmental law

Reconsidering REDD+

Climate Litigation in the Global South: Constraints and Innovations

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