Climate, environment, and international law: An international conference at Birzeit University

The Faculty of Law and Public Administration at Birzeit University is preparing to hold its annual international conference, entitled “The Quest for Climate and Environmental Justice in Palestine: National Laws and International Parameters,” on April 4, 2018.

The conference facilitates discussion and exploration of national policies and organizational frameworks by experts and researchers and aims to assess the legislative frameworks nationally and internationally to achieve environmental justice in Palestine.

The conference will showcase the realities of climate and environmental justice in Palestine by addressing the role of the relevant governing bodies and their effects both nationally and internationally.  The conference will facilitate expert, academic, and official discussion to formulate plans that tackle environmental challenges, and highlight best practices and legislative paradigms that can be modeled and implemented in Palestine.

Two themes constitute the main focus of the conference.  The first is national environmental justice, which includes civil and criminal liability, compatibility of national laws with international standards, alternative energy and sustainable development, environmental adaptation, and mitigation and reduction of climate change effects.

The second theme - climate and environmental justice from an international perspective -  includes the environment and human rights, trans-border environmental damage and state purview, international environment agreements and covenants, Palestine’s international climate and environmental obligations, Israeli violations of environment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the purview of international law, and climate change and natural resources.

The conference is part of the “Capacity Building in Higher Legal Education” project, funded by the Dutch government through the non-profit Nuffic, a Dutch organization for internationalization in education, and implemented in cooperation with law faculties in Al-Quds University, An-Najah National University, and Hebron University.