001_CWRK: Legal Advice Essay (3000 words) (including summative assessment questions)

Summative Assessment for Environmental Law- Level 6 Legacy Programme

Module Convenor: Dr Angeliki Papantoniou

The assessment consists of a 3000-word advice essay on an environmental law issue.

Answer one of the three questions below, which are based on hypothetical facts:

1. The state of Atlantis, a member of the United Nations, is creating a new Environmental Law Code for the prevention of environmental harm from large scale projects, such as energy infrastructure. As part of this process, the Parliamentary Legislative Committee needs to identify and understand the content of international environmental law principles, including their status in customary international law. Advise the Legislative Committee in relation to the precautionary principle and the principle of prevention and ,in particular, about the status and content of the two principles in international environmental law.

2. Greece, a member of the Council of Europe, is currently reviewing its strategy on human rights and the environment and is preparing a report on the human rights obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. Using relevant case law from the European Court of Human Rights (and other regional human rights bodies-where relevant) prepare a draft report for Greece.

3. The state of Nimeria, a member of the United Nations, is considering taking new measures for the protection of biodiversity. It is concerned, in particular, about:

i) The protection of its unique elephant species from poaching (the habitat of which is in the Sigu Plains- an area in the South of Nimeria),

ii) The preservation of traditional medicinal knowledge of its indigenous population (the Numa People), and access to benefit sharing of its natural resources,

iii) The preservation of a unique marine ecosystem in the Blue Fin, a marine area beyond its national jurisdiction, which is traditionally associated with the culture of Nimeria, and contains unique ecosystems and natural resources.

Nimeria is a state party to all international environmental law treaties.

Advise Nimeria on its obligations and rights under the Convention on Biological Diversity 1992, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora 1973 and the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) 2023.