About this Event
Edinburgh Law School presents the Inaugural Lecture of Professor James Harrison
The Mediating Function of Environmental Law: Obstacle or Opportunity in Responding to the Climate and Nature Crises?
About the Lecture
This lecture will address a fundamental question of environmental legal scholarship: how much environmental protection can we expect environmental law to deliver? Whilst protection of the environment is undoubtedly the underlying objective of much environmental legislation, environmental law rarely, if ever, offers absolute protection. Often, environmental legislation is instead concerned with setting out the processes and parameters for determining the level of protection that should be offered in particular contexts, whilst also recognising that other social and economic interests may need to be brought into the balance. In other words, the protection of the environment is not the only issue at stake in environmental law and mediation between competing interests, in the search for a multidimensional concept of sustainability, is at the core of the discipline. The lecture will explore how this mediating function manifests in various spheres of environmental law, before asking whether this account of environmental law is an obstacle or an opportunity for current efforts aimed at responding to the pressing environmental challenges of the day, such as the climate and nature crises, where urgent and transformative actions are required.
About the Speaker
James Harrison joined the School of Law as a member of academic staff in July 2007 and he was appointed as Professor of Environmental Law in 2019. James teaches on a number of specialist courses in environmental law, international environmental law, and international ocean governance. His research interests span these areas, considering how the legal rules evolve and interact, as well as examining how international law and policy influences the domestic legal framework. He has a particular interest in the legal framework for the protection of the marine environment, including the regulation of fishing, shipping, disposal of waste at sea, and seabed mining.
This lecture will be followed by a reception in the Playfair Library.
This event is free and open to all but registration is required.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Playfair Libarary, Old College, The University of Edinburgh, South Bridge, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
