Researchers' Activities

8 December 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was Invited to give a lecture at Maastricht University Law School on the topic “Peremptory Norms of International Law and the Environment”

The event was chaired by Dr Craig Eggett.

More on the lecture at the link: Jus Cogens and Environmental Law – events – Maastricht University

10 December 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was Invited to Speak at 2nd World Environmental Law Congress – High-level Judicial Segment on A Critical Decade for Environmental Law

This hybrid event reaffirmed, further developed, and advanced the 2016 IUCN World Declaration on the Environmental Rule of Law and the 2018 Brasilia Judicial Declaration on Water Justice, in light of the Marseille Manifesto and outcomes of the 2021 IUCN World Conservation Congress (September 2021), the recognition of a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment by the United Nations Human Rights Council (October 2021), the Kunming Declaration of CBD COP 15 (October 2021), and the outcomes of UNFCCC COP26 in Glasgow (November 2021).

The High-Level Judicial Event included discussions on the following topics:

• Climate Change, Biodiversity and the Environmental Rule of Law
• The Water Crisis and the 2018 Brasília Declaration of Judges on Water Justice
• Judicial Education on Climate Change and Biodiversity Law

Dr Nilufer Oral spoke at the session: Judges and the Oceans Crisis

More about the event at the link: https://www.iucn.org/commissions/world-commission-environmental-law/events-wcel/upcoming-events/role-judges-environmental-law-2030-and-beyond

On 2–3 December 2021, Research Fellow Charalampos Giannakopoulos participated in the 2^nd TRICI-Law Conference on “Interpretation of CIL: Methods, Interpretative Choices and the Role of Coherence”, which was co-organised with the PluriCourts Centre and the University of Groningen’s Department of Transboundary Legal Studies.

Senior Research Fellow Denise Cheong and Research Fellow Nivedita S were invited to participate in the Tenth Meeting of the Working Group on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). They participated remotely in this three-day hybrid meeting which was held in Geneva, Switzerland from 1 to 3 December 2021.

Matters discussed included (i) the cases pertaining to nuclear power plants including the planned construction of units and lifetime extension of such plants pending before the Espoo Implementation Committee; (ii) the proposed modifications to the reporting template for the European Union for the implementation of the Espoo Convention on EIA and the Kyiv Protocol on SEA, which includes a component to assess whether EIA/SEAs contribute to achieving sustainable development goals; and (iii) the work being done to identify synergies and possible cooperation activities in marine regions (in particular, regional seas frameworks that include provisions on environmental assessments).

The meeting included a seminar on sustainable infrastructure, which discussed among others, good practices relating to the use of EIA/SEA in the context of infrastructure development plans and projects. As part of this discussion, the potential link between taxonomy-related assessments and the EIA and SEA processes was also considered. The meeting brought together representatives from state parties to these treaties and representatives from intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations and academia.

1 December 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was Invited to Speak at the Sixth International Conference on the Law of the Sea Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and organized by Korea Society of International Law (KSIL) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the Sixth International Conference on the Law of the Sea from November 30 to December 1, 2021 together with the Korean Society of International Law and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). The International Conference on the Law of the Sea has been held since 2016 to discuss the latest trends and progress in the research on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and to provide a venue for the judiciary and academia to share their invaluable insights on ways to develop the law of the sea.

This year, the conference was held under the theme of “Law of the Sea for the Next Generation: Challenges from New Technologies and Environmental Crises.” As Special Rapporteur Georg Nolte has duly put in his report to the International Law Commission in 2008, treaties change over time to adapt themselves to new situations and even evolve in some cases to meet the needs of the international community. UNCLOS is no exception. The convention, also referred to as “the Ocean Charter,” covered every aspect of the ocean, at least by the standards at the time of its conclusion. However, it has confronted a number of unexpected challenges during the last four decades. New marine technologies such as uncrewed maritime vehicles or autonomous maritime weapons have opened up new ways to explore the sea and conduct maritime activities, the strategic and legal implications of which were not accounted for when the states struck the deal for the convention. Also, environmental crises like global heating have shaken the very foundation of the convention, such as baselines or jurisdictional zones. The objective of this year’s conference was to deliberate on how the law of the sea has evolved in the course of addressing challenges since the conclusion of UNCLOS and whether such evolution has been a step in the right direction to ensure a healthy and resilient ocean for our future generation.

Dr Oral spoke at the session: “UNCLOS as the Nexus of Marine Protection Norms”

More information about the conference at this link: International Conference on the Law of the Sea | ICLS

26 November 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was One of the Speakers at the Roundtable Discussion on the Outcomes of COP26 and the Road Ahead to COP27 and the Global Stocktake

This session provided a brief overview of developments during the Glasgow Climate Summit, and the speakers addressed the question of “where next” in terms of preparation for COP27 and the Global Stocktake.

The speakers were:

Dan Bodansky – Professor of Law, Arizona State University

David Freestone – Professor of Law, George Washington University

Saleemul Huq – Director of the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD)

Selam Kidane Ababe – Climate Change Legal Adviser and PhD Candidate

Stephen Minas – Associate Professor of Law, Peking University

Petra Minnerop – Associate Professor of International Law, Durham Law School

Nilüfer Oral – Director of the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore

Lavanya Rajamani – Professor of International Environmental Law, University of Oxford

Linda Siegele – Climate Change Legal Adviser and Phd Candidate

Amir Sokolowski – Associate Director, Carbon Disclosure Project, CDP

Christina Voigt – Professor of Law, University of Oslo

25 November 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral Was Invited to Speak at the Climate Change and Law Seminar Organized by the Kadir Has University.

24 November 2021: CIL Director Dr Nilüfer Oral was Invited to Moderate at the Detroits Straits International Symposium on 24 November 2021

Straits (Détroits) spaces are particularly salient given the growing importance of the maritime economy, an intensification of human migration and the pressing need to adopt ecological approaches for the management of seas, oceans or coastlines. Reconciling environmental, technical, sociological, maritime, logistical or legal issues, particularly those that arise in areas of cooperation, tensions and conflicts, demands strongly interdisciplinary approaches. In particular, such studies must integrate the operational expertise of actors who contribute to the management of straits. The Symposium, compared different straits and high-lights the diversity of practices and disciplines underpinning this emerging field, will reveal the richness and innovative nature of the straits research context. This inaugural meeting was expected to spur the development of new collaborations apt to favour the production of empirical and operationally grounded studies employing novel methodologies

Senior Research Fellow Denise Cheong and Research Fellow Nivedita S were invited to participate in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s (NEA) Working Party on Nuclear Liability and Transport (WPNLT) during its annual meeting held on 23 and 24 November 2021. This virtual meeting brought together representatives from member countries of the OECD NEA, intergovernmental organisations and industry as well as independent experts. The WPNLT is one of three working parties that fall under the purview of the NEA’s Nuclear Law Committee. Its main objectives are to examine issues relating to the interpretation and application of international nuclear liability instruments to nuclear transport and to find practical solutions through information exchange and the sharing of relevant experience.

On 15-16 November 2021, CIL Research Associate Maria Pia Benosa took part in the celebrations for the 82^nd Founding Anniversary of the Philippine Department of National Defense, themed “DND@82: Kapayapaan at Kaunlaran: Pamanang Hatid sa Sambayanan” (Peace and Progress: A Legacy for the Nation), which included a special webinar on the National Defense Act of 1935.