Since 2016, The University of Maryland Environmental Law Program has served as the Secretariat for the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law along with the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law (“the Academy) is a world-wide organization with 200+ environmental law programs from over 60 countries. The Academy held its 20th Annual Colloquium in Joensuu, Finland August 1 - 4, 2023. Prof. Bob Percival led three Fedder Scholars to the Colloquium, where they gave outstanding presentations on a wide range of environmental topics:
Morgana Omaleki presented Criminal Enforcement of Corporate Environmental Violations: A Comparative Look at the United States and China that analyzed criminal enforcement mechanisms. Morgana concluded that in order to create incentives for corporations to perform responsibly, governments must collaborate due to the global nature of corporations and environmental problems. Specific recommendations included strengthening anti-corruption laws, back international agreements and create global corporate standards of responsibility and accountability.
Kathleen Gagnon presented Transnational Accountability for Violence Against Environmental Defenders that addressed the growing violence against environmentalists. Kathleen explored the root causes of this increase in violence which all too often is linked to multinational extractive industries. While some countries are applying international law principles and providing legal avenues for redress, other countries (such as the U.S.) are not. Kathleen argued that utilizing corporate liability as well as international human rights standards can contribute to ending extraterritorial support of violence against environmentalists.
Emily Schwartz co-presented with Prof. Chikosa Banda (University of Malawi) and Bill Piermattei Building Capacity and Resiliency through Collaboration that focused on the collaboration between the University of Malawi and our Environmental Law Program. Emily was part of the ELP’s “Environmental Justice, Human Rights and Public Health” course co-taught with the University of Malawi and travelled to Malawi in May 2023. The presentation focused on how the UMD-Univ. Malawi partnership can both teach students and utilize student research to help build environmental governance capacity in Malawi.