Meets the following requirements: HS   

This course is designed to provide an overview of the use of international law in solving transnational environmental problems and shaping international behavior.  We examine, as background, the nature and causes of several global environmental problems and the existing legal mechanisms available to nation-states to address these problems.  The course attempts to have students critically analyze the role of international law in addressing the complex environmental issues facing the world.  Special attention is given to international policy debates currently underway such as global warming, misuse of oceans, development of Antarctica, ozone depletion, biological diversity, tropical rainforest destruction, export of toxic chemicals, and the host of issues raised by the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development.  Students examine in detail the provisions of Agenda 21 and other products of the 1992 Earth Summit.  Depending on the availability of relevant negotiations, students attend negotiation sessions at the United Nations in New York to see first-hand international environmental negotiations.  A significant portion of the students' time in the term is spent role-playing as national representatives in negotiations to draft an International Protocol on Global Climate Change.  There is a separate lab period for this negotiation.

Level:  Intermediate.  Prerequisite:  Environmental Law and Policy.  Offered every other year.  Lab
fee $100.  Class limit: 16.    *HS*