Human Rights and the Environment: Key Issues

The field of human rights and the environment has grown phenomenally during the last few years and this textbook will be one of the first to encourage students to think critically about how many environmental issues lead to a violation of existing rights.

Taking a socio-legal approach, this book will provide a good understanding of both human rights and environmental issues, as well as the limitations of each regime, and will explore the ways in which human rights law and institutions can be used to obtain relief for the victims of environmental degradation or of adverse effects of environmental policies. In addition, it will place an emphasis on climate change and climate policies to highlight the pros and cons of using a human rights framework and to underscore its importance in the context of climate change. As well as identifying emerging issues and areas for further research, each chapter will be rich in pedagogical features, including web links to further research and discussion questions for beyond the classroom.

Combining their specialisms in law and politics, Atapattu and Schapper have developed a truly inter-disciplinary resource that will be essential for students of human rights, environmental studies, international law, international relations, politics, and philosophy.

Sumudu Atapattu is the Director of Research Centers and International Programs at the University of Wisconsin Law School, USA. She teaches seminar classes on "International Environmental Law" and "Climate Change, Human Rights and the Environment." She is affiliated with UW-Madison's Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Center for South Asia and is the Executive Director of the Human Rights Program. She serves as the Lead Counsel for Human Rights at the Center for International Sustainable Development Law, Montreal, and is affiliated faculty at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights, Sweden. Her publications include Emerging Principles of International Environmental Law (2006), Human Rights Approaches to Climate Change: Challenges and Opportunities (2016), International Environmental Law and the Global South (2015), and The Cambridge Handbook on Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development (forthcoming).

Andrea Schapper is a Lecturer in International Politics and Programme Director of the MSc International Conflict and Cooperation at the University of Stirling, UK. She is the Co-Director of the Centre for Policy, Conflict and Cooperation and member of the Human Security, Conflict and Cooperation interdisciplinary research group at Stirling. She coordinates and teaches modules on "Human Rights in International Politics", "The United Nations in a Globalized World", "International Organizations" and "Political Concepts and Ideas." Previously, when she worked at the University of Darmstadt in Germany, Andrea also taught a seminar on "Climate Change and Human Rights." Her publications include, among others, a monograph titled From the Global to the Local: How International Rights Reach Bangladesh’s Children (2014) and the special journal issue Human Rights and Climate Change: Mapping Institutional Interlinkages (2014). Her journal articles have been published in, among others, International Relations, Human Rights Quarterly, International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, and the Journal of International Relations and Development.