International Judicial Practice on the Environment

Christina Voigt is Professor at the Department of Public and International Law, Universitetet i Oslo, Norway. She is an expert in international environmental law and works in particular on legal issues of climate change, environmental multilateralism, sustainability, and international courts and environmental protection. She is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Commission on Environmental Law and the chair of the Commission's Climate Change Specialist Group. In 2009, she was awarded the first IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Junior Scholarship Prize. She is the author of Sustainable Development as a Principle of International Law (2008), numerous academic articles and several edited volumes. Since 2011, she has been legal advisor to the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment and negotiator in the United Nations climate negotiations.

'This insightful book explores the judicial turn in international environmental law through the lens of legitimacy, with an impressive group of scholars examining how international litigation is contributing, in a mostly positive way, to the norms and processes of global environmental governance. For scholars, practitioners, and judges, the book provides an indispensable and up-to-date account of environmental litigation in contemporary international law.' Tim Stephens, University of Sydney

• Introduction: international courts and the environment: the quest for legitimacy Christina Voigt; Part I. Procedural Legitimacy of Judicial Environmental Practice: Access to Justice: 1. The environment before the European Court of Justice Ludwig Krämer; 2. The EU Aarhus Regulation and EU administrative acts based on the Aarhus regulation – the withdrawal of the CJEU from the Aarhus Convention Katja Rath; 3. Access to justice before EU courts in environmental cases against the backdrop of the Aarhus Convention: balancing between pathological stubbornness and cognitive dissonance? Hendrik Schoukens; Part II. Legitimacy and Scientific Certainty – Environmental Adjudication, Use of Experts and the Limits of Science: 4. Scientific uncertainties: a nightmare for environmental adjudicators Tracey Kanhanga; 5. Ignorance, uncertainty and biodiversity: decision making by the court of justice of the European Union Volker Mauerhofer; Part III. Judges as Law-Makers: Legitimate Development of Environmental Law: 6. Sustainable development before international courts and tribunals: duty to cooperate and states´ good faith Kazuki Hagiwara; 7. New legal avenues to support a transboundary harm claim on the basis of climate change Kurt Winter; 8. The Court of Justice of the European Union and the high level of environmental protection – transforming a policy objective into a concept amenable to judicial review Delphine Misonne; Part IV. Legitimacy of Outcomes: Performance, Effects (and Side-effects): 9. When environmental protection and human rights collide: four heuristics of conflict resolution Marie-Catherine Petersmann; 10. Silent implications of US-Tuna II: greening market behaviour through the WTO Cristiane Derani and Arthur Rodrigues Dalmarco; 11. Adjudication of environmental impact assessment claims before international courts and tribunals Andrew B. Loewenstein; 12. Litigation as a climate regulatory tool Jacqueline Peel and Hari Osofsky; Part V. The Legitimacy of Non-Compliance Procedures: 13. Administrative procedures and rule of law values in the Montreal compliance system Anna Huggins; 14. Legitimacy questions of non-compliance procedures: examples from the Kyoto and Montreal Protocol Zerin Savaşan; Part VI. The Limits of Environmental Justice through Courts: Balancing Legitimacy with the Need for Creativity: 15. Environmental Ombudsman: its role in the system of accountability mechanisms for administrative environmental decision making Mahito Shindo; 16. The role of NGOs in monitoring compliance under the World Heritage Convention: options for an improved tripartite regime Evan Hamman; 17. Beyond litigation: the need for creativity in working to realize environmental rights Lisa Chamberlain.