WHAT ABOUT LAW? Too hard to enforce or our best line of defence? | Ft. Philippe Sands

Environmental law is the law relating to environmental problems – but these problems are anything but simple. Traditional legal systems weren’t designed with challenges like climate change or biodiversity loss in mind, making this one of the most diverse, evolving, and demanding areas of law today.

In this episode, James and Daisy are joined by Philippe Sands KC – a leading international lawyer, professor at UCL and Harvard, and author of East West Street and the recently published 38 Londres Street. Together, they explore the role of international law in protecting the environment. When did international law begin to take environmental issues seriously? Can nature itself have legal rights? What might international environmental law look like for future generations? 

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS: 

• Financial Times (2025) – Philippe Sands argues that our planet – not just its people – should have legal rights. 
• “Should Trees Have Standing?” by Christopher Stone (1972) – A landmark law review article that launched the idea of legal rights for nature. 
• LSE (2024) – Analysis of climate change litigation cases in 2023, drawing on the Sabin Center’s Climate Change Litigation Databases. 
• Stop Ecocide International – Leading the movement to make ecocide a crime. Philippe helped draw up the legal definition: “Ecocide" means unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.

KEY CASES AND LEGAL CONCEPTS: 

• Chernobyl – The most serious nuclear accident in history. Philippe’s book, Chernobyl: Law and Communication, explores the international legal aftermath of the disaster.
• ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons (1996) – Paragraph 29 recognised a state’s obligation to respect the global environment. A new ICJ advisory opinion on climate change is expected in 2025. 
• Chagos Islands – Philippe has long represented Mauritius in its legal battle against the UK over the Chagos Islands. In 2023, he argued that the UN’s International Telecommunication Union could deem UK-US activities there unlawful.
• The Gambia vs Myanmar – A landmark ICJ case against Myanmar for violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to the Rohingya Muslims.
• Red Eagle vs. Colombia – A case involving Colombia’s protection of the pàramos ecosystems from mining. 
• The Special Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression – Proposed in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, aiming to hold individuals responsible. The proposal followed this article by Philippe.  
• Montreal Protocol – A successful international treaty to phase out ozone-depleting substances. 
• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism – An EU carbon tariff on carbon intensive products, such as steel, cement and some electricity. 
• The Law of Sea – Governs maritime conduct and environmental protection beyond national borders.

OTHER ADVOCATES, FACTS, AND RESOURCES:

• Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) – A nonprofit focused on environmental law (founded in 1989). 
• Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law by Ian Brownlie – A foundational text in public international law. 
• Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane – At powerful book on the legal and imaginative rights of nature. 
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson – A groundbreaking book published in 1962 on the environmental harm caused by the widespread use of pesticides that reshaped environmental policy.   
• Bill McKibben – An American environmentalist, author, and journalist who has written extensively on the impact of global warming.
• Thomas Buergenthal – An Auschwitz survivor who became a judge with the UN war crimes court in The Hague. 
• Sir Nicholas Lyell QC – An Attorney General in the John Major government and Conservative MP.

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