The UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR), with the UCL Faculty of Laws and the European Institute,  held the first UCL Symposium on the legal and policy issues associated with the European Union Strategy on Raw Materials and Resource Efficiency on 8th November. Chiara Armeni, Research Associate with the Faculty of Laws-Centre for Law and the Environment – and with ISR, was the promoter of the event, which was sponsored by the UCL European Institute Small Grants’ Scheme.

The Symposium attracted more than 90 registered delegates from academia, industry, government and NGOs.  It was opportunity to stimulate academic discussion on the challenges of access and sustainable use of raw materials, as well as to identify key legal and policy questions to be developed under the ISR Research Agenda.

Details on the aims and objectives, the Programme, speakers’ biographies and additional materials can be found here.

In early November  LLM students taking environmental law options took part in a walk lead by Rosie Oliver of Dotmakers Tours exploring the role of waste and rubbish in London’s historic development. Rosie is a former Government environmental lawyer, and now works with the UK Environmental Law Association as well as leading themed walks in London,  many with an environmental focus.  The walk began on the Isle of Dogs and ended on the bank of the Thames by Greenwich where students were able to find oyster shells and tobacco pipes thrown out over four hundred years ago and still resting on the foreshore.

Sharon Turner has been appointed a Visiting Professor to the Law faculty, and will have a special connection with the Centre for Law and the Environment.  Sharon was Professor of Environmental Law at Queens University Belfast, but in June of this year joined ClientEarth to lead their Climate and Energy Programme. As the head of Client Earth’s climate and energy team she leads a group of 13 lawyers located in offices in London, Brussels and Warsaw working on a range of law and policy reform and litigation projects spanning EU and national governance levels.   Richard Macrory commented, “We are absolutely delighted that Sharon will be associated with us through this appointment.  For many years she has been one of the leading UK environmental legal academics but is now bringing all her expertise and experience to a significant new role. “

Centre member Professor Joanne Scott is one of the 42 UK-based academics in arts and social sciences elected to the British Academy this year. The announcement of the election can be found here.

Richard Macrory gave a key note presentation on the UK Climate Change Act at a conference organized by the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Law.  The Climate Change Act was the first such dedicated legislation in the world, and other jurisdictions have been looking at it with interest.  The conference also heard  about new climate change legislation in Slovenia and France, and new energy legislation in Spain and Italy.

In June, the Government published its Triennial Reviewof the two main environmental regulators in England and Wales, the Environment Agency and Natural England.  Professor Macrory was appointed by the Secretary of State to be a member of the six person Challenge group, designed to provide robust external challenges and scrutiny to the Review (see Annex H of the Review for it a terms of reference and membership.

In broad terms the Secretary of State has concluded that the Environment Agency and Natural England should be retained as two separate bodies, but with further on-going reform of their functions and ways of working.  In a time of continuing restraint on public expenditure, they will need work closely together.

Ray Purdy (Centre for Law and the Environment) and Olivia Woolley (formerly UCL Centre for Law and the Environment, now University of Groningen) were commissioned to do a short study for the Countryside Council of Wales looking at whether a proposed power station at Milford Haven was in compliance with a number of EU environmental laws. A key part of their analysis was on the cooling system used in the plant, its impacts and whether this was BAT. The European Commission have now acted following a complaint and has sent a formal notice of infringement to the UK Government in respect to this new £1bn Pembroke power station at Milford Haven. It is the first case of its kind against a power plant in Britain. The 18 violations listed in the infringement notice include concerns on assessing environmental impacts, protecting habitats, the use of nitrates and IPPC.

For further details see media stories from the BBC, ITV and Sky, 10 & 11 December 2012.

On December 12 2012 the Government launched its Triennial Review of the two key  environmental national regulators in England and Wales, the Environment Agency and Natural England.    Reviews of government agencies are carried out regularly by Government to test both the continued need for the body concerned and the effectiveness of their governance arrangements, but this is the first time there has been a combined review of both environmental bodies.

The actual review is carried out by the sponsoring department, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs but the Secretary of State has appointed a six person independent Challenge Group, under the chair of Dame Deidre Hutton, chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, to provide robust challenges  to the assumptions and conclusions of the Review.  The Secretary of State has appointed Professor Richard Macrory, formerly a Board Member of the Environment Agency, to be a member of the Challenge Group.

Ray Purdy (Centre for Law and the Environment) and Denise Leung (formerly Centre for Law and the Environment, UCL Laws – now World Resources Institute) are editors of a new book released in December 2012. The 498 page volume entitled Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites: Emerging Legal Issues is published by Martinus Nijhoff / Brill (Leiden).

 Satellite technologies are rapidly improving, offering increased opportunities for monitoring laws, and using images as evidence in court. Evidence from Earth Observation Satellites analyses whether data from satellite technologies can be a legally reliable, effective evidential tool in contemporary legal systems. This unique interdisciplinary volume brings together leading experts to consider many emerging issues surrounding the use of these technologies in legal strategies. Issues examined include the evidential opportunities arising from technological developments, existing regulatory applications and operational experiences at national and international level, and admissibility in courts and tools for ensuring the integrity of evidence. It also examines privacy impacts under existing legislation and provides a new conceptual framework for debating the acceptability of such surveillance methods.

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On 7 November 2012 the UCL Centre for Law and the Environment  and   the KCL Dickson Poon School of Law hosted a symposium at UCL  which saw a gathering of environmental law research students for a full day of presentation, debate and discussion.

The event, co-organised by two PhD students, Emily Barritt (KCL) and Carrie Bradshaw (UCL), brought together over sixty participants, comprising postgraduate students and academics from institutions across Europe.  The Symposium provided both a much-needed platform for student speakers, as well as an opportunity for research students to meet in person, share their research and collectively develop a lively research community on a topic of such contemporary relevance and import – environmental law and governance.

In an opening address, UCL Professor of Environment Law Richard Macrory  praised the potential of such events to “provide key opportunities for the development of innovative approaches and methodologies across both research and teaching.”

Comprised of seven thematic sessions, the topics covered a truly diverse range of topics: from socio-legal and cultural perspectives on environmental law to economic analysis; emerging and interdisciplinary environmental methodologies; environmental adjudication by the ICJ and in the WTO; as well as sessions on two important environmental regulatory techniques – public participation and emissions trading.

Sessions allowed students to present for 15 minutes, followed by lively and challenging debate chaired by a number of expert academics: Professor Maria Lee (UCL), Dr Frederico Ortino (KCL), Dr Liz Fisher (University of Oxford), Professor Philippe Sands (UCL), Dr Eloise Scotford (KCL), Dr Rachael Walsh (Trinity College Dublin) and Professor Catherine Redgwell (UCL).

Summing up the event, co-organiser Carrie Bradshaw commented:

“The richness and variety of approaches adopted by the speakers exemplifies the way research students are ably grappling with the methodological challenges facing environmental law scholars today. The presentations were truly interdisciplinary, and a key theme which emerged from the day was the importance of identifying not only the research questions we ask, but the research questions which we don’t ask. The symposium has been a testimony to the high quality of research being carried out by early career academics at a range of institutions across Europe.”

The event was generously funded by UCL Centre for Law and the Environment and the UCL Graduate School. The reception was kindly sponsored by Francis Taylor Building

For further information