|
LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law
Introduction to the Programme
There are currently over 500 international treaties and other agreements related to the environment, and an average 300 days per year are spent in intergovernmental negotiations to further develop and enhance implementation of environmental law. Key international legal instruments have recently been agreed upon, such as an international instrument on access and benefit-sharing related to genetic resources, and a legal framework on liability related to biosecurity (October 2010). Others are still being negotiated, such as a post-2012 international regime on climate change or an international instrument on mercury. These ongoing developments at the international level are paralleled by continuous efforts in the development and implementation of environmental law at the European, regional and national level.
This leads to the creation of complex interactions and cross-fertilisation between different levels of environmental governance, between different specialised areas of environmental law, as well as between environmental law and other areas of law (trade, development, investment, agriculture, human rights). Environmental law is thus a dynamic, fast-developing and increasingly specialised area of law that requires not only specialist legal knowledge and skills, but also understanding of underpinning political, economic and scientific issues.The LLM Programme in Global Environment and Climate Change Law is designed to equip students with an advanced, interdisciplinary knowledge of the legal issues and techniques related to environmental protection and the management of natural resources, with special emphasis on climate change.
The programme aims to enable students to analyse and evaluate the historic and ongoing development of international, European and national law for environmental protection, the inter-relations between these different levels of law-making, as well as the interactions between environmental law and other areas of law. The programme offers the possibility of exploring different, inter-linked areas of environmental law with leading experts, alongside students from all around the world, at one of the UK's, and indeed Europe’s, leading universities. Its flexible and inter-disciplinary structure enables each student to tailor his/her curriculum as best suits individual interests and future career plans drawing from a choice of specialised courses at the School of Law, as well as environment-related courses at the School of Social and Political Science, the Business School and the Geosciences School of the University of Edinburgh.
Please note that you do not need to have a prior qualification in law to be eligible to apply for this programme.
Programme Objectives:
The LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law programme aims to achieve the following:
-To foster an in-depth understanding of concepts, innovations and challenges characterising the law on environmental protection, natural resource management and climate change, as it is developed and implemented at the international, European and national level
-To provide students with critical skills for independent analysis of international, European and national law and policy in the field of environmental protection, natural resources management and climate change, and of its interactions with other areas of law
-To provide students with the academic skills required to analyse the activity of international and supranational legal and political institutions, national governments and domestic courts, NGOs and the private sector in the field of environmental protection, natural resources management and climate change
-To encourage openness to different scholarly approaches within law by offering the opportunity to complement specialised law courses with courses offered by the School of Social and Political Science, the Business School and the School of Geosciences addressing questions related to environmental protection, natural resources management and climate change.
Careers
The Global Environment and Climate Change Law programme has been designed as a gateway to a range of employment opportunities and specialised academic work. Teaching staff will be available to support students in identifying internship opportunities in international and non-governmental organisations and think tanks.
Employment opportunities include:
· Specialised legal drafters
· Governments advisors
· International negotiators
· Legal advisors to private companies and NGOs
· International civil servants
· Specialised researchers in academic and think-tank institutions
· Independent consultants.
See our September 2011 press release: Global Environment LLM Students Work for International Organizations
The Staff
Professor Alan Boyle, Professor of Public International Law. Specialises in international environmental law, law of the sea, international law-making, and international dispute settlement. Co-author of International Law and the Environment (2002) and The Making of International Law (2007). Also a barrister representing governments in the ICJ, the ITLOS and the PCA. General Editor of the ICLQ until 2006.
Navraj Ghaleigh, Lecturer in Public Law. Specialises in the law of climate change as a matter of public international, regional and transnational law, including governance processes and law making processes, litigation and the operation of trading schemes. Navraj is a member of the editorial board of the journal 'Climate Law'.
Dr James Harrison, Lecturer in International Law. Specialises in law of the sea, WTO law, international investment law, international environmental law.
Dr Elisa Morgera, Lecturer in European Environmental Law. Specializes in international, EU and comparative environmental law. Author of Corporate Accountability in International Environmental Law (2009).
Teaching on the programme is also conducted by staff in other schools within the University of Edinburgh.
Dr Elizabeth Bomberg
Dr Elizabeth Cripps
Dr Genevieve Patenaude
Mrs Sarah Ivory
Prof Donald MacKenzie
Dr Hamish Ross
Salman Hussain
Dr Simon Allen
Programme Structure
You may take the LLM in Global Environment and Climate Change Law in either full-time (over one year) or part-time (over the course of two years).
Students are required to complete 180 credits of study: this includes a 10,000 word dissertation to be submitted at the end of their studies (60 credits). The remaining 120 credits must be made up from taught LLM courses.
Read more about the degree structure
Courses
Compulsory Course (40 credits, taught over two semesters)
Optional one-semester courses in Law (for at least 40 credits)
First semester
Second semster
- EU and National Climate Change Law
- Biotechnology: Law and Society (on-line course)
- European Environmental Law
- Optional courses in other Schools (for a maximum of 40 credits)
- Business Response to Climate Change - Business
- Climate Change and Corporate Strategy – Geosciences
- Sociology of Environment and Risk– Political Sciences – Social and Political Sciences
- Management of Sustainable Development – Geosciences
- Foundations in Ecological Economics – Geosciences
- Society and Development – Geosciences
- Culture, Ethics and the Environment – Geosciences
- Climate Change, Justice and Responsibility - Social and Political Sciences
- Integrated Resource Management - Geosciences
- Principles of Environmental Sustainability - Geosciences
- Values and the Environment - Geosciences
- Political Ecology - Geosciences
- International Development - Geosciences
- Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation - Geosciences
- Energy Policy and Politics -Social and Political Sciences
- Climate Politics - Social and Political Sciences
Please note that the availability of courses in other Schools is determined by those individual Schools and the availability of places in specific courses cannot be guaranteed.
Research Environment
Students will also benefit from ongoing research projects and specialized research communities at the Law School, such as:
*The Scottish Centre for International Law, a research centre promoting research and study in international law and playing an active role in the development of international law in and outside Scotland, also provides support for postgraduate students and scholars to undertake study and research in international law and related fields. The Centre has recently been awarded a consultancy contract with the UN Environment Programme contributing to the drafting of a declaration on human rights and the environment.
*The Europa Institute is one of the most active and longest-established specialist centres of advanced study on European integration in the United Kingdom and Europe. The Institute is actively involved in research projects and the organization of workshops on climate change law.
See the following sites for examples:
-Perspectives on Post Kyoto Climate Change
-The EU, Climate Change and Global Environmental Governance
-The Environmental Dimension of the EU's External Relations After Lisbon
- International Workshop on Nagoya Protocol
*The University of Edinburgh Global Environment and Society Academy (GESA) is committed to the cross-disciplinary co-operation of academics and researchers in the field of Environment and Society.
*The Brodies Environmental Law Lectures are an annual series of public lectures by distinguished speakers in international, EU, national and comparative environmental law, to which all students are welcome and encouraged to attend. The series has been running since in 1993 with sponsorship from Brodies LLP.
*The European Commission-funded project on 'The legal framework on human rights and the environment applicable to European enterprises operating outside the EU' is based at the University of Edinburgh Law School, and aims to clarify the existing legal framework for human rights and environmental issues applicable to European enterprises operating outside the European Union, with a view to providing a basis for possible measures to further operationalise the UN 'Protect, Respect, Remedy' Framework on Business and Human Rights.
Funding
The School of Law will offer five Tercentenary Awards for Excellence across all the LLM and MSc Programmes in the School starting in 2012, including the LLM Global Environment and Climate Change Law. This award will provide funding of £1,000 towards tuition fees. To find out more about this scholarship, and the other sources of funding available, please consult the link below.
Read more about available funding opportunities.
How to Apply and Further Information
Applications for admission to the 2012-2013 Global Environment and Climate Change Law LLM programme are now welcome. Should you wish to discuss any aspect of the LLM degree or your application, please do not hesitate to contact the School of Law Postgraduate Office.
Contact the Postgraduate Office
Apply to the LLM in Global Environment and Climate Change Law
| | |
