Global Environmental Change and Innovation in International Law

The challenges to global order posed by rapid environmental change are increasingly recognized as defining features of our time. In this groundbreaking work, the concept of innovation is deployed to explore normative and institutional responses in international law to such environmental change by addressing two fundamental themes: first, whether law can foresee, prevent, and adapt to environmental transformations; and second, whether international legal responses to social, economic, and technological innovation can appropriately reflect the evolving needs of contemporary societies at national and international scales. Using a range of case studies, the contributions to this collection track innovation - descriptively, normatively, and as a process in and of itself - to explain international environmental law's functionality in the Anthropocene. This book should be read by anyone interested in the critical intersection of environmental and international law.

1. International law, innovation and environmental change in the Anthropocene Cameron S. G. Jefferies, Sara L. Seck and Tim Stephens; Part I. Innovation in Legal Responses to Normative Change: 2. Differentiation in international environmental law: has pragmatism displaced considerations of justice? Patrícia Galvão Ferreira; 3. The Paris Agreement: continuity and change within the climate regime Tomoaki Nishimura; 4. Global climate finance and the Green Climate Fund: can innovation and democracy co-exist? Katherine Owens; Part II. Innovative Legal Responses to the Consequences of Physical Change: 5. 'Blue carbon' and the need to integrate mitigation, adaptation and conservation goals within the international climate law framework Justine Bell-James; 6. Innovative developments in international fisheries law and their contribution to improving the effectiveness of RFMOs and other environmental regimes Holly Matley; 7. Addressing climate induced displacement: the need for innovation in international law Hitomu Kimura; 8. Climate change and protection of the marine environment: food security, evolutionary interpretation, and novel application of dispute settlement mechanisms under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Chie Kojima; Part III. International Law Responses to Technological Innovation: 9. Solar radiation management geoengineering and strict liability for ultra-hazardous activities Kerryn Brent; 10. Balancing innovation, development and security: dual-use concepts in export control laws Machiko Kanetake; 11. Innovative policies for overcoming barriers to financing for green energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa Leslyn A. Lewis; 12. International cooperation, intellectual property, and climate-essential innovation Brian R. Israel; Part IV. Innovation to Address Governance Challenges in Intersecting Regimes: 13. The climate change tent and the trade cathedral: assessing the relationship between environmental regulations and WTO Law after the Paris Agreement Maria Panezi; 14. Legislative innovation in the trade and climate regimes: towards a framework for the comparative analysis of multilateral lawmaking Nicolas Lamp; 15. Investor-state arbitration and domestic environmental governance: recent developments in Canada Matthew Levine; Part V. Conclusions: 16. The value of an innovation framework for international law Neil Craik and Sara L. Seck.

Neil Craik is an Associate Professor at the University of Waterloo with appointments to the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, where he teaches and researches in the fields of international and Canadian environmental law. His current research examines the legal structure of global commons regimes, with particular interests in climate and geoengineering law and governance, deep seabed mining regulation, and environmental impact assessment. He is the author of several books, including The International Law of Environmental Impact Assessment: Process Substance and Integration (Cambridge, 2008). He is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Co-Director of the BSIA/CIGI International Law Summer Institute.
Cameron S. G. Jefferies researches in the areas of environmental law, natural resource law, ocean law, and animal law. He is also interested in public interest law and has advocated for shark conservation and environmental rights in various forums. Jefferies has published a number of articles and book chapters on international and domestic environmental law, wildlife conservation, and climate change. He holds degrees from the University of Alberta and the University of Virginia, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar. He is the author of Marine Mammal Conservation and the Law of the Sea (2016) and co-author of Tort Law (Sixth Edition, 2017).
Sara L. Seck, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Law and Marine Environmental Law Institute, Dalhousie University, a Senior Fellow with the International Law Research Program, Centre for International Governance Innovation, and Co-Director of the BSIA/CIGI International Law Summer Institute. In 2015, Sara received the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law's Emerging Scholarship Award for her research on transnational corporate accountability and colonialism in international environmental law. She is