Transnational Environmental Law in a Transformed Environment

Abstract

In our previous editorial we commented on the tumultuous end of a decade and the environmental, social, and legal challenges that await. 1 During the first four months of 2020 a global pandemic caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which can lead to the potentially deadly 'coronavirus disease 2019' (COVID-19), stormed onto this already daunting list of challenges. The urgency and all-encompassing nature of the effects of the pandemic has led it to overtake and complicate most other challenges in unpredictable and unprecedented ways. Soon after the presumed start of the pandemic in the Chinese province of Wuhan in December 2019, the Chinese government took quarantine measures that many considered draconian and possible only in a centrally controlled country such as China. 2 At the time of writing, April 2020, similar measures have been adopted and political decisions have been taken all over the world in ways that long seemed unimaginable in peacetime. At the moment, Europeespecially Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom (UK)and the United States (US) seem to be at the centre of the pandemic. However, cases are increasingly reported in the Middle East, Africa, and India, raising profound concerns regarding the ability of developed and less developed healthcare systems to cope with the severe adverse health effects of the virus. Mortality rates, also in countries with well-equipped and well-funded public health systems, have been disconcertingly high and infection rates difficult to lower without very invasive measures. The most common measures in place at the moment are various forms of 'lockdown', where freedom of movement is heavily curtailed, often allowing only those in 'essential' jobshealthcare, some parts of the food industry, postal servicesto

El cambio climático a la luz del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos

“…488. Etty, T., Heyvaert, V., Carlarne, C., et al (2020) Si se compara la creciente ola de peticiones climáticas en las Américas con el enfoque de justicia brindado por países del Norte Global como Australia 495 , Nueva Zelanda 496 o la aproximación europea de la cuestión 497 , es posible verificar sustanciales diferencias en el tratamiento de asuntos ambientales tanto desde las periferias como en el aspecto medular de la cuestión. De allí que el tratamiento judicial brindado por los tribunales nacionales de países latinoamericanos brinda una oportunidad única para explorar otras dimensiones de la aproximación de salvaguarda ambiental desde el Sur Global.…”

“…A pesar de que doce (12) de los principales países emisores de CO 2 han apostado por establecer la tan anhelada neutralidad de carbono para el 2050 300 aún queda como asignatura pendiente el establecimiento e implementación 301 297. Etty, T., Heyvaert, V., Carlarne, C., et al (2020) de planes concretos para su consecución 302 . Por otra parte, existe otro grupo de países que mantiene su intención de seguir explotando e incluso incrementar la producción de combustibles fósiles para los años próximos 303 , así como el aprovechamiento intensivo de recursos naturales en jurisdicciones con mayor flexibilidad regulatoria ambiental.…”