Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza

The course aims at providing students with the knowledge necessary to develop a legal framework for international environmental issues, in order to understand and assess the implications of such issues on the globalization and development process. 

After having attended the lectures, the student must demonstrate to be able to understand and critically assess, on the basis of a legal approach, current international environmental issues. This involves, in particular, the acquisition of knowledge relating to principles of international environmental law and their application to actual situations.

The course will include traditional lectures as well as interactive and experiential learning. This latter will be based on class discussions focussed on reading material made available in advance and on group presentations of environmental law decisions adopted by international judicial organs.

Students will be assessed through a written exam, requiring them to expose the contents of the lectures (or, if they do not attend the lectures, of the handbook), to connect them and to use them as an interpretative tool for real issues. The mark is expressed in /30.

The written exam will consist of four open questions and will last 90 minutes; grading will take into account knowledge of the topic, accuracy and proper use of legal language.

For students attending the course and doing the presentation, the final grade is composed by 50% of the grade of the presentation (expressed in /30) and by 50% of the grade of the written exam, provided that this latter is equal to or higher than 18/30. For students not attending the course, the grade is completely based on the written exam.

Important: for students attending the lectures, the presentation is compulsory. 

After a first part devoted to the introduction of international environmental law and its main actors, lectures will focus on the analysis of emerging principles of international environmental law developed by international tribunals. These will include, inter alia:

- precaution 

- the prohibition of transboundary damage

- non-regression

- information, consultation and cooperation 

- the obligation to carry out an environmental impact assessment

Particular attention will be devoted to environmental litigation, including climate change litigation.

This part will be followed by presentations by students (see below).

 

For those who are attending the lectures, the exam will be based on notes taken during lectures and on the the content of other students' presentations.

For those who are not attending the lectures the exam is based on the following volume: Dupuy, International Environmental Law, Cambridge University Press, 2015, parts I, II, III