Environmental Courts Research Articles

The Legitimacy of Specialist Environmental Courts: Integrity as Capacity

The Legitimacy of Specialist Environmental Courts: Integrity as Capacity

Stock market reaction to environmental lawsuits: Empirical evidence from the case against Boliden-Apirsa

The aim of this paper is to assess investors' environmental awareness using reputational losses as a punishment for environmental misconduct. To do so, we examine the 17-year court case against Boliden-Apirsa, implicated in one of the worst environmental catastrophes in the European mining industry. We conduct a short-term standard event study on 55 court rulings, published between 2002 and 2015, to analyze the financial market reaction, differentiating between 34 negative court rulings that blame Boliden-Apirsa for the catastrophe and 21 positive court rulings that exonerate the company from any liability. We also estimate the reputational damage faced by the company considering the fine claimed during the judicial process. Using a financial approach (Reputational Cumulative Abnormal Returns, Rep CAR), we identify and isolate the reputational risk linked to environmental lawsuits. The results reveal an immediate negative market response to announcements of court rulings. In addition, our study indicates that investors are more sensitive to announcements of positive court rulings than to negative ones. However, our study does not provide empirical evidence on the existence of reputational damage, in terms of RepCARs, suggesting that the stock market is selective in reacting to these announcements of environmental court rulings.

Intensive judicial oversight and corporate green innovations: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China

The deterioration of pollution problem has increased environmental disputes. However, little is known about the relationship between intensive judicial oversight and corporate green innovations. Regarding the establishment of environmental courts in China as an almost ideal quasi-natural experiment, this paper identifies the impact and mechanism of environmental courts on corporate green innovations. We find that: (1) environmental courts have a significant positive impact on green innovations. However, by employing instrument variable (IV) strategy to alleviate the endogenous issues, we find environmental courts mainly promote the quantity of green innovations; (2) the positive effect on green innovations is more salient for firms in the industry with high pollution intensity, state-owned enterprises, and firms in regions with stricter mass supervision; (3) environmental courts can improve the efficiency of dealing with environmental disputes and alleviate the collaboration between government and firms. Therefore, it could promote corporate green innovations with the increasing pressure for pollution abatement; (4) environmental courts could cause additional costs to firms, such as crowding out non-green innovations and decreasing corporate TFP in the short term. Meanwhile, the establishment of environmental courts could also achieve specific social welfare effects, which is conducive to improving local environmental quality. This paper provides implications for judicial oversight of regulators on environmental protection.

Stop drinking the waipiro! A critique of the government's ‘why’ behind Te Mana o te Wai

Stop drinking the waipiro! A critique of the government's ‘why’ behind Te Mana o te Wai

Ceri Warnock, Environmental Courts and Tribunals: Power, Integrity and the Search for Legitimacy

Ceri Warnock, <i>Environmental Courts and Tribunals: Power, Integrity and the Search for Legitimacy</i>

Environmental courts and foreign direct investments: evidence from China.

As China's pollution problems worsen, environmental disputes are increasing rapidly. However, only 1% of environmental disputes can be resolved via judicial channels. Based on the establishment of environmental courts since 2007, we employ the multi-period DID approach to investigate the impact of environmental courts on foreign direct investments. We find that (1) compared with cities without environmental courts, FDI of cities with environmental courts would drop by 3.32% from the average, which is consistent with the pollution haven hypothesis. Besides, we verify the credibility of the conclusion through detailed endogeneity discussions, placebo tests, and robustness tests. (2) The negative effect of environmental courts on foreign direct investments is more salient in the east, regions with higher historical environmental investment, and regions with more serious local protectionism. (3) There are two channels. The greater risks of environmental litigation and stricter environmental public supervision brought by environmental courts would lead to additional environmental violation costs, thereby inhibiting foreign direct investments. Our findings provide new causal evidence for the pollution haven hypothesis from the perspective of intensive environmental justice.

Environmental norm diffusion and domestic legal innovation: The case of specialized environmental courts and tribunals

AbstractAs international environmental law grows decentralized, it is increasingly important to understand how norms promoting new environmental law institutions diffuse. This article identifies the actor classes that are promoting a norm supporting the establishment of specialized environmental courts and tribunals. It first surveys existing literature on environmental and institutional norm diffusion for foundational insight. Using document review, expert surveys and elite interviews, the article identifies key actors who have sought to promote environmental court establishment. The findings affirm that environmental courts have been promoted by widely recognized agents of environmental norm diffusion, including intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations and nongovernmental organizations. However, the results also emphasize that global environmental norms reflect active engagement by domestic judges, courts and judicial networks. This finding holds broad theoretical relevance for legal transfer and norm dynamics research in global environmental governance. First, while domestic judges are widely recognized for implementing international environmental legal norms and contributing to the governance of specific environmental regimes, this study demonstrates a case where domestic judges' norm entrepreneurship has actively supported the global diffusion of an emergent institutional norm. Second, while institutional actors including intergovernmental organizations, regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations and judicial networks are known to directly advocate new environmental institutions, this article emphasizes that they also catalyse normative dialogue, intentionally facilitating exchanges among domestic judges and actors. Collectively, these insights support ongoing research examining what values domestic environmental courts may reflect and how domestic judges and courts support environmental norm diffusion, broadly. Finally, the interdisciplinary nature of these findings underscores the benefit and practice‐relevance of further integrating norm diffusion scholarship in international environmental law and global environmental politics.

More Brutal than Alton West? Elevation Design and the Gordon Wilson Memorial Flats, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract This paper addresses a gap in research regarding the design of the main elevations of the Gordon Wilson Memorial Flats (GWF). The GWF is the only surviving post-war example of high-rise multi-unit state housing in New Zealand. Its identification as a heritage building has been controversial, but this status was recently confirmed in New Zealand’s Environment Court. This paper examines the GWF elevations in the context of the building’s precedent, the London County Council-designed Alton West housing blocks. It concludes that the GWF façade designs are compellingly New Brutalist because they directly express conditions of living, including the structure, construction, and maisonette planning of the building, while negotiating the aesthetic dilemmas of mid-twentieth century flat block design, positioning the building as an important development in modernist residential high-rise blocks.

АДМІНІСТРАТИВНО-ПРАВОВИЙ СТАТУС СУДОВИХ ОРГАНІВ ЯК СУБ’ЄКТІВ ЗАХИСТУ ПРАВА ГРОМАДЯН НА БЕЗПЕЧНЕ ДЛЯ ЖИТТЯ ТА ЗДОРОВ’Я ДОВКІЛЛЯ В УКРАЇНІ

The article analyzes the administrative and legal status of judicial bodies as subjects of protection of citizens' right to an environment safe for life and health in Ukraine. Particular attention is devoted to the definition of the constituent elements of this status, its characteristic features. It was established that the administrative-legal status of judicial bodies as subjects of protection of the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health in Ukraine is a set of administrative-legal features that determine the place of judicial bodies in the system of environmental legal relations, determine the target, organizational, competent the ability to implement the protection of the citizens' right to an environment safe for life and health is a reflection of his rights, duties, guarantees of activities regarding the protection of citizens' environmental rights. The peculiarities and structure of the legal personality of judicial bodies as subjects of protection of the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health in Ukraine are determined. The competence of judicial bodies as subjects of protection of the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health in Ukraine is characterized. It was established that it transforms the rights and responsibilities of these institutional entities into a coherent system determined by sub-department, target orientation of the main tasks, organizational structure, etc. As a result, the ability and readiness to exercise human rights influence in order to protect the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health is formed. It was established that all elements of this status in their interaction form the state-guaranteed ability and readiness of judicial institutions to prevent and stop illegal activities aimed at violating the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health in Ukraine. Special attention is devoted to guarantees of the activity of courts as subjects of protection of the right of citizens to an environment safe for life and health. It is substantiated that the calculation of the specifics of court cases related to the protection of the right to an environment safe for life and health prompted individual states to form a system of environmental courts.

Judicial protection of environmental rights in the Russian Federation: constitutional and legal basis

The article deals with the problems of determining the nature of environmental rights and the procedure for their protection. The article presents an analysis of the constitutional provisions and norms of the current Russian legislation in the environmental sphere. It is noted that environmental offenses related to the failure of public authorities to fulfil their constitutional and legal obligations in the environmental field should be considered by courts of general jurisdiction according to the rules of administrative proceedings. The idea of creating a system of specialized environmental courts, expressed in science, has been criticized. It is proposed to involve an expert in the case of difficulties in the consideration of cases of environmental violations.

Environmental Justice and Green Innovation: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Establishment of Environmental Courts in China

Environmental Justice and Green Innovation: A Quasi-Natural Experiment Based on the Establishment of Environmental Courts in China

Functioning of National Green Tribunal: Prospective and Problems

So far as the importance and degradation of environment is concerned; the nature and environment has its own path. The human being is only factor who has disturbed the balance of nature and environment through various means by so called “Development programs”. It gives rise the use of unnatural factors, which affect the environment in various ways such as air pollution , water pollution ,frequency pollution ,hazardous waste pollution . India being a developing country trying to achieve number of objectives for the benefit of general public and for nation as a whole. India has ample of natural resources and it uses such resources in order to bring about the development, but control over such unilateral use and over exploitations of such resources is required to be made. On the other hand Indian judiciary is playing the vital role in the development of Environmental Law, almost in all forms of pollution whether it is on air, land or water. Supreme Court of India has issued directions to save environment from continues pollution but with the rapid development, the consequential rapid pollution also emerged and that is the problem every developmental activity is supposed to reach under the scrutiny of the Court. To control overcome the world wide degradation; some efforts and steps were initiated by united nation at Stockholm conferences in the year 1972, which resulted a milestone in the human history; where the active initiative taken place at National and International level for the protection of Environment. And so far as India is concerned; the awareness and influence of these conferences is seen by enactment of various environmental laws over the period time. At the same time judiciary has also shown judicial activism to safeguard the environmental interest and thereby lessened the interference of human being in the parlance of degradation of environment. In (M. C. Mehta case)1, Supreme court said that where the environmental matter involves the assessments of scientific data requires to set up environmental court regional basis with professional Judge and two experts, keeping in view expertise required for such adjudication involves assessment of scientific data.

APPRAISAL OF CONDITIONAL ATTRIBUTES OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN AKURE, NIGERIA

The situation of residential buildings in urban areas must be assessed to ascertain their form and age, functions, convenience, and liveability. As a result, this paper evaluates selected aspects of the condition of residential buildings in Akure, Nigeria. The study's objectives include examining the types of housing units, plot coverage, the number of rooms, and building setbacks. Other factors include housing tenure, the condition of the in-house tap, the type of toilet facilities, and the age of the buildings. The study drew on both primary and secondary data sources. A total of 1,369 people were polled, with 684, 480, and 205 representing the core, transition, and peripheral zones. According to the findings, tenement buildings accounted for 62.3 percent of Akure's residential buildings. In the city core, 88.6 percent of the respondents developed their lands above 50 percent, while 20.0 percent developed their lands above 50 percent on the outskirts. The paper suggests that the relevant stakeholders should enforce the subsisting building regulations, introduce environmental inspectors and mobile courts, and the Ondo State government should invest in urban infrastructure.

Preliminary insights on green criminology in Malaysia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of environmental offences committed in Malaysia charged under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (EQA1974).Design/methodology/approachThis study used secondary data of the environmental court cases report by the Department of Environment (DOE) Malaysia from 2008 until 2016 to examine the nature of environmental offences based on the Treadmill of Production (ToP) approach.FindingsIn comparison with the GDP growth (Department of Statistic Malaysia, 2016), the findings support ToP argument that as far as the treadmill accelerates, the more would be the environmental crime committed. However, all offences charged were weighted more on the ecological additions rather than ecological withdrawn. The trend analysis showed a decreasing trend for all types of offences committed, reflecting that Malaysia's regulatory authorities are committed to fighting against environmental crime perpetrators. Therefore, all parties must be made to internalise the values of conducting business sustainably.Originality/valueThis paper is the first that examines the environmental offences committed in Malaysia using the ToP approach to analyse the nature of the crime committed in Malaysia associated with the growing literature of Green Criminology.

Environmental Courts and Tribunals: Powers, Integrity and the Search for Legitimacy, written by Ceri WARNOCK

Environmental Courts and Tribunals: Powers, Integrity and the Search for Legitimacy, written by Ceri WARNOCK

The Realization of Environmental Justice: Case of the Santiago River in the Municipalities of El Salto and Juanacatlán.

This research work develops the problem of the application of the legal framework of the right to water for its protection and reparation as well as to the environment, since this is closely related to the first mentioned right, when there is an affectation. For this, we study the case of the Santiago River, one of the most important bodies of water in Mexico and with the longest length.For this reason, when we talk about the Santiago River we will refer to the body of water located in the municipalities of Juanacatlán and Salto del State of Jalisco, which, for a long time, was contaminated by dumping various types of substances, without measures being taken to reduce said activity to date. This is done with the study of the national and international legal framework on the matter, to later develop the circumstances in which they caused the damage to the River, and like these, they encouraged the various authorities to issue resolutions trying to repair the damage. Despite the existence of such determinations, they are not sufficient for the protection of this right, so in the end we propose the creation of an environmental court that is capable of solving these types of problems.

Prospects for the introduction of the ecological court in Ukraine

Effective legal regulation of environmental protection and protection of environmental relations in modern conditions is a necessary condition for the successful development of human society. Given the specifics of existing environmental problems, the article is devoted to the coverage of various forms and models of specialized environmental courts operating in different countries. The scientific opinions on the organization of activity of ecological courts are covered, the normative-legal acts regulating ecological legal relations are analyzed. The conclusion on prospects of introduction of ecological court in Ukraine is made. To this end, it is necessary to reform the legislation on the judiciary, update procedural legislation to ensure a harmonious combination of private and public interests in the field of environmental relations. Keywords: environmental protection, ecological legal relations, organization, activity, ecological court

Prospects for the introduction of the ecological court in Ukraine

Effective legal regulation of environmental protection and protection of environmental relations in modern conditions is a necessary condition for the successful development of human society. Given the specifics of existing environmental problems, the article is devoted to the coverage of various forms and models of specialized environmental courts operating in different countries. The scientific opinions on the organization of activity of ecological courts are covered, the normative-legal acts regulating ecological legal relations are analyzed. The conclusion on prospects of introduction of ecological court in Ukraine is made. To this end, it is necessary to reform the legislation on the judiciary, update procedural legislation to ensure a harmonious combination of private and public interests in the field of environmental relations.

Environmental Courts, Environment and Employment: Evidence from China

Whether environmental governance will cause unemployment has always been an aspect that the government needs to pay attention to in the process of making environmental policies, and is also a concern of residents. This paper analyzes the policy effect of environmental courts, which is a very important policy tool for the legalization of China’s environmental governance. While investigating whether environmental courts can effectively improve environmental quality, we also analyze its possible impact on employment and the specific mechanisms. The results show that: (1) After the establishment of environmental courts, the PM2.5 concentration has been significantly reduced. (2) While improving the environmental quality, environmental courts will produce a weak employment promotion effect. (3) Environmental courts affect the amount of employment through cost effect, factor substitution effect and innovation effect. This study provides empirical evidence for China and other developing countries to promote the legalization of environmental governance.

Ecosystem Services as a Promising Paradigm to Protect Environmental Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America: the Constitutional Court Landmark Decision to Protect Arroyo Bruno in Colombia.

In the last years, the interest in ecosystem services (ESs) as a decision-making tool for environmental policy has been growing. The ES paradigm has also impacted the judicial system and in some countries the common law tradition. Experiences and lessons learned from the ES litigation have been already documented. In the initial analysis, this article aims to identify key trends in ESs case law in Latin America—a leading region in environmental constitutionalism—by exploring the judicial decisions issued by high courts and subnational environmental courts that mention or incorporate the ES term. In the second level of analysis, we focused on the Colombian Constitutional Court landmark decision; the Arroyo Bruno judgment aimed to protect the rights to water, food security, and health of the Wayuú indigenous people. We argue this is a groundbreaking ruling in Latin America, given that for the first time, a Court uses the ES-based approach to protect the environmental rights of ethnic communities, incorporating ES concepts to the constitutional law sphere and integrating into the same conversation, interdisciplinary and intercultural knowledge.