Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INTERFOR (IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: THE CASE OF FORESTS)
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31
The focus of the INTERFOR project is the protection of forests in international law. Forests are recognised to be of utmost importance in the agenda of the United Nations (UN), and in particular the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate change goals. SDG15 aims to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss”. Despite this recognition, forest protection is, in legal terms, rather scattered. In the context of forest environmental and climate governance, a mix of various layers of legal instruments with different goals exists, at the local, regional and global levels. As a result, the main current challenge is to make sure that the implementation of existing layers of legal protection runs smoothly, enhancing synergies and avoiding conflicts, in order to prevent further environmental degradation of forested lands, and improve forest governance. In this context, INTERFOR aims to answer the following research question: how could the implementation of existing laws be enhanced, with the view of creating a better protection of forested lands and the people inhabiting them? By answering this question, INTERFOR contributes significantly to the understanding of the the different layers of legal protection of forests.
More specifically, INTERFOR:
1. Investigates how the use of forests-related arguments in rising rights-based climate litigation can be beneficial to the implementation of climate goals;
2. Investigates how environmental impact assessments as one of the main environmental regulatory tools can be redesigned in a way that improves forest governance;
3. Investigates how the concept of common concern of humankind can create more synergies between climate and biodiversity frameworks;
4. Provides for a holistic framework to organise the various legal interactions present in forested lands.
More specifically, INTERFOR:
1. Investigates how the use of forests-related arguments in rising rights-based climate litigation can be beneficial to the implementation of climate goals;
2. Investigates how environmental impact assessments as one of the main environmental regulatory tools can be redesigned in a way that improves forest governance;
3. Investigates how the concept of common concern of humankind can create more synergies between climate and biodiversity frameworks;
4. Provides for a holistic framework to organise the various legal interactions present in forested lands.
INTERFOR was organised in four work pachakges, each of them answering a specific aspect of the protection of forests in international law.
1. WP1: With a number of new judicial cases and a rise in interest in rights-based climate litigation, this part of the project analyses in details how forests can change the purpose and nature of such rights-based climate litigation. This WP focuses on how forests-focused arguments can be brought to national courts and be more successful in winning cases that can have positive impact on states’ climate pledges and obligations. This is therefore about the judicial engagement of different interactions between the international, European and national levels of climate governance. In a nutshell, forest-focused arguments have the specific ability to bring together different types of claims, by focusing on the implementation of states’ specific climate obligations related to forests.
2. WP2: This WP focuses specifically on international environmental impact assessments, as the main tool used across the world and in different levels of jurisdictions to plan for development projects in a considerate manner to the environment. Environmental impact assessments have a very strong presence in international law. However, it is clear that the design of environmental impact assessments is flawed in two ways: it excludes the relevant rightsholders of the land where potential harmful projects would take place, and it creates unfettered discretion on the part of the authorities to decide whether projects are indeed harmful or not. This is very clear when looking at forest governance, the object of INTERFOR. This WP tackles these two issues and identifies ways to overcome them.
3. WP3: WP3 focuses on the concept of common concern of humankind, as a way to bridge the two most relevant frameworks for the protection of forests: climate change and biodiversity. Both the UN Convention on Climate Change and the subsequent Paris Agreement, as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity emphasise the reliance of the respective regimes on the common concern of humankind. It is always mentioned in the preamble of the conventions, but it is not always clear what legal consequences this concept has. This WP focuses on this particular question and seeks to define the contours of this notion and its applicability to the protection of forests in international law. It is argued that the concept of common concern of humankind can lead the way to find positive and reinforcing interpretations of both the climate change and biodiversity regimes in ways that make them more compatible and positive for forests.
4. WP4: WP4 was about bringing together all the WPs from INTERFOR. It was about creating that bigger picture of where international forest law and governance stands at, and where the pressure points are. This is why this WP was always about bringing leading experts together to think about it together. This was also a way to establish myself among those experts, and create further connections across the world. This project aims at making sense of the links, tensions and opportunities that the many initiatives from regional, transnational and international entities entail, and provide for an assessment of the impacts of those various areas of law, not individually, but as a whole, on the protection of forests. It aims at understanding how the different areas of international law engage with forests and what these different layers of protection mean for the protection of forests.
1. WP1: With a number of new judicial cases and a rise in interest in rights-based climate litigation, this part of the project analyses in details how forests can change the purpose and nature of such rights-based climate litigation. This WP focuses on how forests-focused arguments can be brought to national courts and be more successful in winning cases that can have positive impact on states’ climate pledges and obligations. This is therefore about the judicial engagement of different interactions between the international, European and national levels of climate governance. In a nutshell, forest-focused arguments have the specific ability to bring together different types of claims, by focusing on the implementation of states’ specific climate obligations related to forests.
2. WP2: This WP focuses specifically on international environmental impact assessments, as the main tool used across the world and in different levels of jurisdictions to plan for development projects in a considerate manner to the environment. Environmental impact assessments have a very strong presence in international law. However, it is clear that the design of environmental impact assessments is flawed in two ways: it excludes the relevant rightsholders of the land where potential harmful projects would take place, and it creates unfettered discretion on the part of the authorities to decide whether projects are indeed harmful or not. This is very clear when looking at forest governance, the object of INTERFOR. This WP tackles these two issues and identifies ways to overcome them.
3. WP3: WP3 focuses on the concept of common concern of humankind, as a way to bridge the two most relevant frameworks for the protection of forests: climate change and biodiversity. Both the UN Convention on Climate Change and the subsequent Paris Agreement, as well as the Convention on Biological Diversity emphasise the reliance of the respective regimes on the common concern of humankind. It is always mentioned in the preamble of the conventions, but it is not always clear what legal consequences this concept has. This WP focuses on this particular question and seeks to define the contours of this notion and its applicability to the protection of forests in international law. It is argued that the concept of common concern of humankind can lead the way to find positive and reinforcing interpretations of both the climate change and biodiversity regimes in ways that make them more compatible and positive for forests.
4. WP4: WP4 was about bringing together all the WPs from INTERFOR. It was about creating that bigger picture of where international forest law and governance stands at, and where the pressure points are. This is why this WP was always about bringing leading experts together to think about it together. This was also a way to establish myself among those experts, and create further connections across the world. This project aims at making sense of the links, tensions and opportunities that the many initiatives from regional, transnational and international entities entail, and provide for an assessment of the impacts of those various areas of law, not individually, but as a whole, on the protection of forests. It aims at understanding how the different areas of international law engage with forests and what these different layers of protection mean for the protection of forests.
INTERFOR as a research project has allowed me to specialise and focus on an area of international environmental law that is not often analysed as a whole. As the international legal frameworks applicable to forests are scattered and their legal status often unclear, it has garnered less attention over the years than other environmental issues. However, forests are at the heart of climate and biodiversity efforts at large. It is all the more important to look at their protection from a legal perspective too. By doing so, INTERFOR has been able to develop legal scholarship towards forests as an object of study. By strengthening our understanding of international law applicable to forests, we are able to define more clearly where the pressure points and opportunities are, and ultimately improve their protection at the international level. This is an ongoing goal, which INTERFOR started, and which will continue in my work going forward.
Beside the contribution of INTERFOR towards the development of international legal research on forests, INTERFOR has had a great impact on my career. It has enabled me to secure a permanent academic job, gave me time to consolidate my research outputs, and most importantly, allowed me to specialise in the area of forests protection from an international law perspective. Without this fellowship, it would have taken me many more years to delve into this specific area of international law. This fellowship has allowed me to engage at a detailed level with this specific area of international environmental and climate change law. I believe also that this focus on forests will lead to further potential impact on policy-making and create further connections between academic research and civil society work.
Beside the contribution of INTERFOR towards the development of international legal research on forests, INTERFOR has had a great impact on my career. It has enabled me to secure a permanent academic job, gave me time to consolidate my research outputs, and most importantly, allowed me to specialise in the area of forests protection from an international law perspective. Without this fellowship, it would have taken me many more years to delve into this specific area of international law. This fellowship has allowed me to engage at a detailed level with this specific area of international environmental and climate change law. I believe also that this focus on forests will lead to further potential impact on policy-making and create further connections between academic research and civil society work.