Transnational Environmental Law across the Spectrum of Development

• Published in: Transnational environmental law 2019-07, Vol.8 (2), p.209-215
• Main Authors: Etty, Thijs, Heyvaert, Veerle, Carlarne, Cinnamon, Huber, Bruce, Peel, Jacqueline, van Zeben, Josephine
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate change; Dams; Economic development; Economic growth; Editorial; Emissions; Environmental justice; Environmental law; Human rights; International; International law; Lakes; Litigation; Norms; Paris Agreement; Politics; Remote observing; Remote sensing; Sovereignty; Transboundary waters; Transnationalism; Treaties; Watercourses
• ISSN: 2047-1025; 2047-1033
• DOI: 10.1017/S2047102519000219

[...]in the last pair of articles the focus shifts to China, where rapid development and burgeoning emissions profiles have radically altered the global environmental conversation. 2. [...]none of the three states have acceded to either of the two treaties most directly relevant to the issues raised by the dam: the United Nations Watercourses Convention6 and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes.7 Yet, the authors argue that the principles at the core of these treaties, as to both substance and procedure, now serve as customary international law binding upon all states. [...]the current process by which expert review teams assess state-submitted emissions data does not allow experts to make use of independent data sources. [...]satellite data ‘has the potential to considerably enhance the robustness of the technical expert review processes under the Paris Agreement’, but such potential remains unrealized at present.15 A second impediment is that satellite measurement approaches could be understood to lack the deference to national sovereignty required by the Agreement, if the observed state does not consent to remote sensing and observation. The authors end their article by describing the many hurdles that NGOs face in bringing PIL despite the liberalized rules of standing that have garnered so much acclaim worldwide. [...]reforms that appeared ‘intended to empower civil society … actually weaken it’.19 In the final article of this issue, Yue Zhao, Shuang Lyu and Zhu Wang also examine litigation in the Chinese state.