This book examines how the EU can be a more proactive actor in the promotion of the principles of sustainability and fairness from a legal environmental perspective. The book is one of the results of the research activity of the Jean Monnet Chair in EU Environmental Law (2017-2020) funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme. The European Union and Global Environmental Protection: Transforming Influence into Action begins with an introduction of the key EU competences, instruments and mechanisms, as well as the current international challenges at the EU level. It then explores case study examples from four regulated fields: climate change, biodiversity, multilateral trade, unregulated fishing, and access to justice; and four unregulated areas: mainstreaming of the Sustainable Development Goals in EU policies, and environmental justice, highlighting the extent to which the EU might align with international environmental regimes or extend its normative power. This volume will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and EU policy makers with an interest in international environmental law and policy.

This book addresses the recognition of the Rights of Nature (RoN) in Europe, examining their conceptualisation and implementation. RoN refers to a diverse set of legal developments that seek to redefine Nature's status within the law, gradually emerging as a novel template for environmental protection. Countries like Ecuador and New Zealand, each with distinct histories and ways of dwelling in the world, have pioneered a new era in environmental governance by legally acknowledging rights or personhood for nature, ecosystems, and more-than-human populations. In recent years, Europe has witnessed growing interest in RoN, with academic, legislative, and political initiatives gaining momentum. A significant development is the September 2022 passage of a law in the Spanish Parliament, granting legal personhood and rights to the Mar Menor, a saltwater lagoon severely affected by environmental degradation. Given the diversity in interpretations and articulations of ‘Rights of Nature’, this edited volume argues that their arrival in Europe fosters different kinds of interactions across distinct areas of law, knowledge, practices, and societal domains. The book employs a multidisciplinary approach, exploring these interactions in law and policy, anthropology, Indigenous worldviews and jurisprudence, philosophy, spiritual traditions, critical theory, animal communication, psychology, and social work. This book is tailored for scholars in law, political science, environmental studies, anthropology and cultural studies; as well as legal practitioners, NGOs, activists and policy-makers interested in ecology and environmental protection.

This book contains a selection of papers on various legal issues of interest to developing countries which have been prepared by Fellows from InWent who came to Germany between 2002 and 2004 from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to research and write about subjects of their choice at the IUCN Environmental Law Centre.

Reflecting a global trend, scores of countries have affirmed that their citizens are entitled to healthy air, water, and land and that their constitution should guarantee certain environmental rights. This book examines the increasing recognition that the environment is a proper subject for protection in constitutional texts and for vindication by constitutional courts. This phenomenon, which the authors call environmental constitutionalism, represents the confluence of constitutional law, international law, human rights, and environmental law. National apex and constitutional courts are exhibiting a growing interest in environmental rights, and as courts become more aware of what their peers are doing, this momentum is likely to increase. This book explains why such provisions came into being, how they are expressed, and the extent to which they have been, and might be, enforced judicially. It is a singular resource for evaluating the content of and hope for constitutional environmental rights.

Es un libro de consulta valiosa que explora el territorio desconocido que hay entre la legislación ambiental y de los derechos humanos. Más que un tratado teórico, se argumenta que el activismo de los derechos humanos representa una oportunidad importante para hacer frente a las consecuencias humanas de la degradación del medio ambiente y puede servir como un catalizador de ideas y acciones inspiradoras en el mundo real -- Contraportada.

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar las posibilidades que el sistema jurisdiccional de la Unión Europea ofrece a los ciudadanos para reclamar el cumplimiento del Derecho del medio ambiente, cuando consideran que se ha producido una violación del mismo por parte de la Administración. El estudio se centra en las propias instituciones de la Unión, tanto en lo que se refiere a los actos objeto de recurso, como a las instancias de revisión. La manera en que se ha desarrollado la integración europea afecta profundamente a las posibilidades de recurso ante los tribunales de la Unión. Por un lado, la aplicación descentralizada del Derecho de la Unión por parte de los Estados miembros y el control de dicha aplicación por parte de los Tribunales nacionales ha provocado que, en la mayoría de los casos, no fuese necesario establecer un régimen amplio de acceso a los recursos ante el Tribunal de Justicia de la UE. Por otro lado, algunas instituciones y procedimientos de la Unión aún no están completamente adaptados a una organización que ha asumido gran cantidad de competencias en ámbitos cada vez más alejados de lo económico y, lo que es más importante, que empieza a asumir la necesidad de aplicar por sí misma algunos sectores del ordenamiento. Este último fenómeno es especialmente intenso en el campo del medio ambiente. Los problemas surgen cuando los ciudadanos que desean solicitar la revisión de los actos de la Administración europea se encuentran sin posibilidades de recurso, tanto en vía administrativa, como judicial. La regulación de los recursos judiciales ante el Tribunal de Justicia impide que los administrados sin un interés directo puedan recurrir actos administrativos y si dichos actos no han originado ningún acto interno en sus Estados, tampoco podrán recurrir a los Tribunales nacionales...