The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regiona... more The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. This trend is expanding and as of late has started to affect also climate litigation. This article scrutinises the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has been invoked in the growing body of human rights-based climate litigation. It then provides an in-depth analysis of rights-based litigation that has occurred to date, with the aim to establish the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has furthered the prospects of applicants and, conversely, the extent to which climate litigation has bolstered the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental mat... more In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental matters, courts have started playing a fundamental role in the protection of nature and the human rights thereto related. Concerning climate change, national litigation is undoubtedly becoming a crucial element of the fight against global warming and its predictable catastrophic consequences. Domestic courts, through the identification and operation of different legal tools and principles, both national and international, might be providing an enhanced level of protection of fundamental rights, like the right to life, to health or even to property, currently threatened by the disruptive consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, several academic initiatives are elaborating concurring proposals based on very similar legal grounds, thus reinforcing the courts’ standpoint. However, the potential heterogeneity of judicial decisions, even more among different national jurisdictions, should ...
The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regiona... more The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. This trend is expanding and as of late has started to affect also climate litigation. This article scrutinises the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has been invoked in the growing body of human rights-based climate litigation. It then provides an in-depth analysis of rights-based litigation that has occurred to date, with the aim to establish the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has furthered the prospects of applicants and, conversely, the extent to which climate litigation has bolstered the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
Understanding the local effects of global warming-derived impacts is important to island systems ... more Understanding the local effects of global warming-derived impacts is important to island systems due to their fragile environmental conditions. This is especially true when it comes to Mediterranean insular regions as they are climate change (CC) hotspots where adaptation and mitigation policy design is an urgent matter. Looking at 2030 as a time horizon for climate action and focusing on the Balearic Islands, this paper reviews the physical changes projected for the coming decades as a result of CC and analyses their impacts on regional environmental, economic and social variables. Mitigation and adaptation measures are also proposed based on the identified priority impacts. The fact the Balearics are a top world holiday destination allows the analysis to serve as a guide to other Mediterranean islands with tourism-based economies facing similar CC scenarios. Results show the projected rise of temperature and sea level; the reduction of the average precipitation and increase in evapotranspiration, the droughts and the increase in ocean acidification and deoxygenation are the main threats faced by the Balearics, this putting their economy at risk due to the high tourism’s vulnerability to CC. Mitigation and adaptation action on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, water resources, energy, infrastructure and urban planning, human health, economy, law and education is recommended. Sustainable mobility and waste managing are also viewed as important fields for mitigation action. Conclusions show that diversifying the current socioeconomic model is needed to increase the community and territory resilience.
Revista Electrónica de Estudios Internacionales, 2017
On the fall of 2016, the slowly but steadily growing list of climate lawsuits around the world we... more On the fall of 2016, the slowly but steadily growing list of climate lawsuits around the world welcomed two new legal disputes in Sweden and Norway. Previously, the lack of ambition in the struggle against climate change had given way to a rise in environmental activism around the world, where disappointment regarding governments’ inability to act evolved in some instances into a legal strategy to challenge before the courts what was perceived as a renunciation by the State of its primal obligation to protect its citizens. The recently filed lawsuits in Sweden and Norway are, undeniably, a part of that trend, but they have some characteristic features, regarding both the scope of the claim and the extraterritorial dimension of the cases, that open up new possibilities for the legal analysis of the obligations of States concerning climate change. In this article, an effort is made to analyse those new perspectives in relation to the previous case law as well as their possible grounding in international law.
In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental mat... more In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental matters, courts have started playing a fundamental role in the protection of nature and the human rights thereto related. Concerning climate change, national litigation is undoubtedly becoming a crucial element of the fight against global warming and its predictable catastrophic consequences. Domestic courts, through the identification and operation of different legal tools and principles, both national and international, might be providing an enhanced level of protection of fundamental rights, like the right to life, to health or even to property, currently threatened by the disruptive consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, several academic initiatives are elaborating concurring proposals based on very similar legal grounds, thus reinforcing the courts' standpoint. However, the potential heterogeneity of j udicial decisions, even more among different national jurisdictions, should be considered a sufFicient reason to keep on pushing for sufficiently clear and ambitious international norms concerning climate change.
The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regiona... more The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. This trend is expanding and as of late has started to affect also climate litigation. This article scrutinises the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has been invoked in the growing body of human rights-based climate litigation. It then provides an in-depth analysis of rights-based litigation that has occurred to date, with the aim to establish the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has furthered the prospects of applicants and, conversely, the extent to which climate litigation has bolstered the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental mat... more In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental matters, courts have started playing a fundamental role in the protection of nature and the human rights thereto related. Concerning climate change, national litigation is undoubtedly becoming a crucial element of the fight against global warming and its predictable catastrophic consequences. Domestic courts, through the identification and operation of different legal tools and principles, both national and international, might be providing an enhanced level of protection of fundamental rights, like the right to life, to health or even to property, currently threatened by the disruptive consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, several academic initiatives are elaborating concurring proposals based on very similar legal grounds, thus reinforcing the courts’ standpoint. However, the potential heterogeneity of judicial decisions, even more among different national jurisdictions, should ...
The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regiona... more The right to a healthy environment is recognised in the law of several states and in some regional treaties. Litigants all over the world have increasingly relied on this right to demand the protection of a host of environmental interests. This trend is expanding and as of late has started to affect also climate litigation. This article scrutinises the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has been invoked in the growing body of human rights-based climate litigation. It then provides an in-depth analysis of rights-based litigation that has occurred to date, with the aim to establish the extent to which the right to a healthy environment has furthered the prospects of applicants and, conversely, the extent to which climate litigation has bolstered the recognition of the right to a healthy environment.
Understanding the local effects of global warming-derived impacts is important to island systems ... more Understanding the local effects of global warming-derived impacts is important to island systems due to their fragile environmental conditions. This is especially true when it comes to Mediterranean insular regions as they are climate change (CC) hotspots where adaptation and mitigation policy design is an urgent matter. Looking at 2030 as a time horizon for climate action and focusing on the Balearic Islands, this paper reviews the physical changes projected for the coming decades as a result of CC and analyses their impacts on regional environmental, economic and social variables. Mitigation and adaptation measures are also proposed based on the identified priority impacts. The fact the Balearics are a top world holiday destination allows the analysis to serve as a guide to other Mediterranean islands with tourism-based economies facing similar CC scenarios. Results show the projected rise of temperature and sea level; the reduction of the average precipitation and increase in evapotranspiration, the droughts and the increase in ocean acidification and deoxygenation are the main threats faced by the Balearics, this putting their economy at risk due to the high tourism’s vulnerability to CC. Mitigation and adaptation action on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, water resources, energy, infrastructure and urban planning, human health, economy, law and education is recommended. Sustainable mobility and waste managing are also viewed as important fields for mitigation action. Conclusions show that diversifying the current socioeconomic model is needed to increase the community and territory resilience.
Revista Electrónica de Estudios Internacionales, 2017
On the fall of 2016, the slowly but steadily growing list of climate lawsuits around the world we... more On the fall of 2016, the slowly but steadily growing list of climate lawsuits around the world welcomed two new legal disputes in Sweden and Norway. Previously, the lack of ambition in the struggle against climate change had given way to a rise in environmental activism around the world, where disappointment regarding governments’ inability to act evolved in some instances into a legal strategy to challenge before the courts what was perceived as a renunciation by the State of its primal obligation to protect its citizens. The recently filed lawsuits in Sweden and Norway are, undeniably, a part of that trend, but they have some characteristic features, regarding both the scope of the claim and the extraterritorial dimension of the cases, that open up new possibilities for the legal analysis of the obligations of States concerning climate change. In this article, an effort is made to analyse those new perspectives in relation to the previous case law as well as their possible grounding in international law.
In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental mat... more In the light of the insufficient and inadequate action by public authorities on environmental matters, courts have started playing a fundamental role in the protection of nature and the human rights thereto related. Concerning climate change, national litigation is undoubtedly becoming a crucial element of the fight against global warming and its predictable catastrophic consequences. Domestic courts, through the identification and operation of different legal tools and principles, both national and international, might be providing an enhanced level of protection of fundamental rights, like the right to life, to health or even to property, currently threatened by the disruptive consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, several academic initiatives are elaborating concurring proposals based on very similar legal grounds, thus reinforcing the courts' standpoint. However, the potential heterogeneity of j udicial decisions, even more among different national jurisdictions, should be considered a sufFicient reason to keep on pushing for sufficiently clear and ambitious international norms concerning climate change.
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The recently filed lawsuits in Sweden and Norway are, undeniably, a part of that trend, but they have some characteristic features, regarding both the scope of the claim and the extraterritorial dimension of the cases, that open up new possibilities for the legal analysis of the obligations of States concerning climate change. In this article, an effort is made to analyse those new perspectives in relation to the previous case law as well as their possible grounding in international law.
The recently filed lawsuits in Sweden and Norway are, undeniably, a part of that trend, but they have some characteristic features, regarding both the scope of the claim and the extraterritorial dimension of the cases, that open up new possibilities for the legal analysis of the obligations of States concerning climate change. In this article, an effort is made to analyse those new perspectives in relation to the previous case law as well as their possible grounding in international law.