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- 27th January 2021
The Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Committee on Forest Encroachments has recently published a list of forestland encroachers in the Union Territory (UT) pursuant to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the J&K High Court. The PIL demanded the settlement of pending complaints against forestland encroachment. The Court ruled that for such an exercise to […]
Mwai Daka - 25th January 2021
Zambia has signed indemnity agreements with numerous multinational corporations investing in her mining sector. The agreements enable subsidiaries of international firms to be exempted from liability for environmental pollution that affects both the ecosystem and humans that inhabit it. Though Zambian courts have enjoyed some success in hold mining companies liable for environmental degradation, indemnity […]
- 21st October 2020
Mining activities in Zambia, while economically beneficial (accounting for roughly 70 per cent of GDP), have produced negative effects, not least pollution to the environment. The scale of industrial pollution across the Copperbelt is gaining widespread awareness, recently coming before the UK Supreme Court. Medical studies (here and here) confirm that children living close to […]
Christopher Borucki, Pieter Gillaerts and Francoise Auvray - 21st September 2020
On 31 July 2020, the Irish Supreme Court annulled the government’s climate mitigation plan. A grand chamber of – exceptionally – seven judges ruled unanimously that the plan did not meet the legal requirements of the Irish climate legislation. Ireland is the second country after the Netherlands where the Supreme Court ruled on a climate […]
Alvin Attalo - 10th September 2020
Kenya’s Environment and Land Court recently awarded the inhabitants of Owino-Uhuru village in Mombasa, damages worth 1.3 billion Kenyan Shillings and further directed that 700 million be dedicated towards an environmental clean-up exercise. This case illustrates how human rights can be used to protect the environment as well as the rights of communities affected by […]
Annabel Webb - 15th August 2020
As the indivisibility of human rights and environmental protection solidifies as a norm of international human rights law, children are increasingly claiming their right to environmental protection under domestic constitutions and international human rights mechanisms. Children’s legal claims argue States’ obligations to protect them against the looming ecological catastrophe of climate change as a matter […]
Prakul Khera - 29th July 2020
Environment Impact Assessment is a process used to identify the environmental, social and economic impacts of any project. It aims to predict environmental impact at an early stage in project planning, find means to reduce adverse impacts and present the predictions and options to decision-makers. This has been inculcated in the laws of major jurisdictions […]
- 24th July 2020
Hailed as a milestone in Brazilian climate change litigation, a landmark decision by the Supreme Court has recently ordered public hearings in a lawsuit brought by four political parties on the underfunding of the National Climate Fund. The court recognised that the subject demands “interdisciplinary knowledge regarding scientific, socio-environmental, and economic aspects”. The Climate Fund […]
Smita Gupta and Sehaj Singh Cheema - 30th June 2020
The Indian Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released a draft Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2020 (hereinafter ‘the 2020 notification’) in March 2020. This will succeed the previous 2006 Notification, which constituted the regulatory framework for environmental impact assessments (EIA) in India. Far from being a step forward from its predecessor, the 2020 notification […]
Sakshi Aravind - 18th March 2019
The decision by New South Wales Land and Environment court, Australia, rejecting the appeal by Gloucester Resources for the proposed Rocky Hill coal mine in Hunter’s Valley, has gathered public interest for all the right reasons (Gloucester Resources v Minister of Planning “Gloucester Resources”). The decision emphasized the incompatibility between new coalmines and Australia’s obligations […]