One of the best parts about being on sabbatical is actually having time to think, process information, and read the stack of articles and books that have been laying on one’s shelf for three years. This morning I read the article The Emergence of Global Environmental Law by Tseming Yang (on leave from Vermont Law School as Deputy General Counsel at EPA) and Bob Percival (Professor of Law and head of the environmental program at Maryland Law). I would highly recommend the piece. Here’s the abstract:

"With the global growth of public concern about environmental issues over the last several decades, environmental legal norms have increasingly become internationalized. This development has been reflected both in the surge of international environmental agreements as well as the growth and increased sophistication of national environmental legal systems across the world. A number of trends, such as globalization and international development aid efforts, have shaped the global rise of environmental law. The result is the emergence of a shared set of legal principles and norms regarding the environment, such that one can arguably describe it as a common body of law. The emergence of what we call "global environmental law" already has and will likely continue to have profound implications for the implementation, practice, and development of environmental law worldwide."

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