Biodiversity Litigation

About this book

Biodiversity is in accelerated decline and urgent action is needed. In 2020, the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity ended, and none of its Aichi Targets were met. Despite the legally disappointing situation on a global level, the role of national courts in adjudicating climate change litigation is showing potential for effective mitigation and adaptation, and judges have become key actors in linking internationally agreed goals with tangible national commitments to mitigate climate change. Can this pursuit of globally agreed goals at a local level be transposed and lead a similar trend for biodiversity governance?

This edited collection gives readers an overview of the shape and reach of biodiversity litigation, drawing on specific case studies from countries such as Brazil, China, India and Canada. It considers two questions: Firstly, what is the influence of international biodiversity law on biodiversity litigation? Secondly, what are the trends of biodiversity litigation? Leading experts discuss these questions from the perspective of developing, developed and mega bio-diverse countries, promoting the concept of biodiversity litigation as a common notion of environmental law, and arguing for more creative legal thinking when dealing with and analysing biodiversity-related disputes.

Contents

1. Introduction: Setting the scene / Guillaume Futhazar, Sandrine Maljean-Dubois and Jona Razzaque
2. Biodiversity litigation in Australia: Constrained efforts to protect beauty, rich and rare / Margaret A. Young and Ella Vines
3. Biodiversity litigation in Brazil: A strategic tool to ensure the effectiveness of biodiversity protection / Carina Costa De Oliveira, Márcia Dieguez Leuzinger and Larissa Suassuna Carvalho Barros
4. Biodiversity litigation in Canada: In quest of accountability / Frederic Perron-Welch, Chris Tollefson and Joshua Ginsberg
5. Biodiversity litigation in China: Confronting degradation from all sides in the era of ecological civilization / Zhu Mingzhe
6. Biodiversity litigation in France: The quest for balance / Guillaume Futhazar and Lucas Dermenghem
7. Biodiversity litigation in India: A typology of cases and varieties of environmentalism / Arpitha Kodiveri
8. Biodiversity litigation in South Africa: A rich legal landscape for litigation / Neil Lubbe
9. Biodiversity litigation in the UK: A complex set of environmental law norms grappling with a diverging and fragmented legal justice system /  Paul Stookes
10. International biodiversity litigation in the United States: Strong conservation laws but challenges with enforcement / William J. Snape III
11. Biodiversity litigation before the court of justice of the European Union: A promising pathway for better enforcement of international biodiversity law? / Charles-Hubert Born and Henfrik Schoukens
12. International biodiversity litigation: The increasing emphasis on biodiversity law before international courts and tribunals / Sandrine Maljean-Dubois and Elisa Morgera
13. Biodiversity litigation: Review of trends and challenges / Guillaume Futhazar, Sandrine Maljean-Dubois and Jona Razzaque

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Biography

Guillaume Futhazar is a senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (Heidelberg, Germany). His research focuses mainly on international biodiversity law and, within that field, the relationship between law and science and the evolutions of normative trends. He is currently based in La Réunion (France), where he advises the Centre Sécurité Requin on environmental-related matters and risk management.

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois is a senior researcher at the CNRS. She teaches international and European environmental law at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Aix-Marseille University (France). Her research focus is on international environmental law, in particular on biodiversity and climate change law. She is the author of several books and numerous articles on these topics. She serves as a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law.

Jona Razzaque is a professor of environmental law at Bristol Law School, University of the West of England, and a barrister. Her research focuses on environmental law in the Global South, natural resource governance and environmental justice. She acted as a coordinating lead author of the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (2019). She is a member of the advisory board of the Journal of Environmental Law and serves as a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law. She has published extensively on participatory rights, biodiversity conservation, nature protection law, ecosystem services, water management, and forest conservation.