Environmental Systems and Societies · HL lenses (higher level only)
ESL.a — Environmental law
Environmental Systems and Societies · SL / HL · syllabus-mapped notes
What law is, and what environmental law is
Law as enforced rules of human behaviour, and environmental law as the rules governing our use and impact on natural resources, across four domains.
Justice, enforcement and constitutionalism
How environmental law serves environmental justice, why it is hard to pass, why its success varies by country, and the rise of environmental constitutionalism.
Scales of law-making and transboundary issues
Local, national and international law-making (higher scales supersede local), and how international law tackles transboundary pollution and resource management.
International agreements, institutions and courts
Conventions versus protocols and why agreements are slow; the relative success of Montreal, Kyoto and Paris; implementing bodies (CITES, IUCN) and international courts.
Legal personhood and integrating law with economics
Granting legal personhood to natural entities, and why the most sustainable outcomes combine legal and economic strategies.