Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13th, 2012
Nick Robinson receiving IUCN Lifetime Member certificate from His Royal Highness Prince Carl Philip of Sweden. On Wednesday, Professor Nicholas Robinson received one of the IUCN’s highest honors, Honorary Lifetime Membership status. The full Pace delegation was on hand, as well as hundreds of IUCN members. The following is a press release from IUCN: US [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Sep 13th, 2012
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is the largest conservation group in the world. It holds a Congress of its members (governments and NGOs) every four years, and Pace Law’s Center for Environmental Legal Studies, as a voting member, sends a delegation. This year, we’re in Jeju, Republic of Korea, with more than [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 3rd, 2012
It’s hard to know exactly what to say about Rio, and perhaps much too early to assess its impact. While no one seems to be declaring the conference a resounding success, some commentators argue that it was a useful undertaking with good results, especially in the area of partnerships and voluntary efforts. Others deride it [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 2nd, 2012
On June 26, the D.C. Circuit issued its opinion in Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. v. EPA, which upheld EPA’s regulations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) as pollutants. Many insurance companies believe that this ruling will aid them in defending against potential climate change lawsuits – acknowledging GHGs as pollutants strengthens the argument that related claims [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 22nd, 2012
The preliminary work of the conference came to a conclusion Tuesday and the UNCSD has begun. The signs are obvious — traffic is even more snarled, the police presence more pronounced, red bereted soldiers with automatic weapons patrol Copacabana beach, black cars flying national flags snake through the streets ferrying diplomats to their meetings, and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 21st, 2012
Dean Emeritus Richard Ottinger comments on an announcement from the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative, which will be holding a High Level Side Event today: It is very encouraging to see that countries are making significant new contributions to assist developing countries with renewable energy development. The environmental community salutes the contributors for [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 21st, 2012
Dr. Catherine Tinker is a friend and former adjunct professor of Pace Law School. She directed the first grants for Pace’s Brazil exchange program, and participated in the historic 1992 Earth Summit. She has also taught international environmental law and other environmental courses at a number of law schools in the U.S. as well as Brazil. [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 21st, 2012
The United Nations Environment Programme recently released its fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5), a report on world progress towards the environmental aspects of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For those who lack the time to absorb all 525 pages of the report, UNEP provided a shorter trending report, Measuring Progress, which uses approachable charts and succinct text [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 20th, 2012
Green Planet (Planeta Verde)/Jurists’ Conference, held at the Rio Supreme Court on the 16th and 17th On June 16th, Bakary Kante of UNEP exalted the role played by the environment on sustainable development, arguing that the environment is not just one of three pillars because neither economy nor society can exist without the environment. In [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 20th, 2012
Brazilian lawyer Lia Helena Monteiro de Lima Demange holds an LL.M. degree from Pace Law School. This is her report from the World Meeting of Environmental Jurists, held at the Rio Botanical Garden on June 15. There was a ubiquitous feeling among the jurists that no effective commitments will come out of the final Declaration of Rio+20. However, many lecturers put [...]
