International Environmental Law

4.0 credits

An examination of international environmental law and policy with a special focus on efforts to address climate change, including efforts to forge an international climate change agreement at the 2015 United Nations Paris Climate Change Conference. This course serves as a companion to PSCI 246, but PSCI 246 is not a prerequisite. The goal of this course is to provide a foundational understanding of this rapidly developing, controversial field. Topics include consideration of the scientific, political, moral, and economic drivers of international environmental law; the variety of tools (e.g. treaties, agreements, 'soft law', voluntary incentive programs and market based approaches); and examples of how some international environmental issues have been addressed to date - from protecting biodiversity and threatened species to ensuring safe transnational shipments of hazardous waste and recycling of e-waste. Finally, we will examine early efforts to negotiate a new international treaty on plastics. This course will be taught through lectures, discussion, case studies and several group presentations.