Suchergebnisse

Greening International Jurisprudence: Environmental NGOs before International Courts, Tribunals, and Compliance Committees examines how international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies enforce international environmental law, with particular consideration to the role of environmental NGOs. Author Cathrin Zengerling analyses the institutional structure as well as the environmental case law from a total of fourteen international courts, arbitral tribunals, and compliance committees with special focus on accessibility, comprehensiveness, and transparency. Underlying this analysis is the fundamental question of whether the respective body appropriately contributes to the realization of democratic governance for sustainable development. After presenting her core findings, the author provides concrete recommendations for future best practices and discusses the need for a new World Environment Court.; Readership:

The article aims to provide an initial insight into if and how urban metabolism perspectives and approaches may strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. It argues that many of the challenges in governing urban environmental flows successfully result from accountability gaps in strategic planning. The aim of the research is to test the assumption that urban metabolism perspectives and approaches strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. Applying a four-pillar accountability analysis to the strategic climate and resource plans of New York and Zurich, two cities which put environmental sustainability high on their political agenda, the study traces the role of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches and discusses the benefits these may have for accountable strategic planning with a focus on carbon and material flows. The interim results show on the one hand that implicit urban metabolism approaches are vital for both cities' strategic planning and that they contribute to strengthened accountability in all four pillars of the analysis: responsibility, transparency, assessment and participation. On the other hand, the analysis highlights further potential benefits of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches in urban strategic climate and resource planning.

The article aims to provide an initial insight into if and how urban metabolism perspectives and approaches may strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. It argues that many of the challenges in governing urban environmental flows successfully result from accountability gaps in strategic planning. The aim of the research is to test the assumption that urban metabolism perspectives and approaches strengthen accountability in urban environmental strategic planning. Applying a four-pillar accountability analysis to the strategic climate and resource plans of New York and Zurich, two cities which put environmental sustainability high on their political agenda, the study traces the role of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches and discusses the benefits these may have for accountable strategic planning with a focus on carbon and material flows. The interim results show on the one hand that implicit urban metabolism approaches are vital for both cities' strategic planning and that they contribute to strengthened accountability in all four pillars of the analysis: responsibility, transparency, assessment and participation. On the other hand, the analysis highlights further potential benefits of urban metabolism perspectives and approaches in urban strategic climate and resource planning.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- 1. ENGOs, Environmental Problems, International Law, and Politics -- 2. Multilevel Enforcement of International Environmental Law -- 3. Regional International Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Bodies -- 4. Universal International Judicial and Quasi-Judicial Bodies -- 5. Conclusions and Theses -- Appendix: Synthesis Chart -- Bibliography -- Index.

The second meeting of the Task Force on access to justice under the Aarhus Convention took place on 10-12 September 2007 in Geneva. The Task Force was established by the Parties to the Convention at their second meeting in May 2005 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with the aim of addressing some of the practical issues and obstacles that occur in implementation of Article 9 of the Convention, which sets out the third pillar of the Convention, access to justice. As part of its mandate to "develop information and training or analytical material and activities at appropriate levels, and organize this work within the framework of the Convention's overall capacity building programme", the Task Force had organized a workshop for the high-level judiciary in six Eastern European countries to raise awareness beneath the judiciary, build new links and capacities with courts and judicial training centres in the region and establish a network for future capacity building activities and facilitation of the implementation process of access to justice. The workshop took place in Kiev in June 2007, bringing together 35 judges and representatives of the national judicial training institutes. On the basis of presentations and hypothetical cases presented by a number of international experts the participants actively discussed obstacles to access to justice in the light of their national legislations and the Aarhus Convention.

Urban real-world laboratories (RWLs) are increasingly used internationally and studied as an instrument of urban transformation. New cases in diverse political, economic, social and ecological situations offer a rich set of learning experiences, but the distinctive urban contexts make it impossible to draw comparisons in the traditional sense. In this article—an experiment in itself—we aim to gain a deeper understanding of how RWLs contribute to urban transformation in very different contexts. We apply Jennifer Robinson's theoretical framework "thinking through elsewhere" on two ongoing urban RWLs: the Itaim Paulista Lab, located in the urban periphery of São Paulo, Brazil and the Lokstedt Urban Transformation Lab in Hamburg, Germany. We operationalize Robinson's framework in two steps. First, we present the genetics—context, roots, concepts and activities—of both labs. Second, we engage the RWLs in a generative conversation on their role in transforming governance and practical action, with a special focus on the questions of if and how the labs contribute to long-term transformative change. We also find that both labs show potential to contribute to long-term transformative change through governance and practical action.

Urban real-world laboratories (RWLs) are increasingly used internationally and studied as an instrument of urban transformation. New cases in diverse political, economic, social and ecological situations offer a rich set of learning experiences, but the distinctive urban contexts make it impossible to draw comparisons in the traditional sense. In this article—an experiment in itself—we aim to gain a deeper understanding of how RWLs contribute to urban transformation in very different contexts. We apply Jennifer Robinson's theoretical framework "thinking through elsewhere" on two ongoing urban RWLs: the Itaim Paulista Lab, located in the urban periphery of São Paulo, Brazil and the Lokstedt Urban Transformation Lab in Hamburg, Germany. We operationalize Robinson's framework in two steps. First, we present the genetics—context, roots, concepts and activities—of both labs. Second, we engage the RWLs in a generative conversation on their role in transforming governance and practical action, with a special focus on the questions of if and how the labs contribute to long-term transformative change. We also find that both labs show potential to contribute to long-term transformative change through governance and practical action.

The demands of the climate movement - for rapid and profound change - are based on scientific findings and the political commitments to the Paris Agreement. The activists are, therefore, factually "right". However, being right is not enough to justify or to accelerate the practical implementation of knowledge and decisions. We explain which social factors are at work, and how the climate movement can benefit if they incorporate these factors into actions for social change.