International Environmental Governance: Contemporary Challenges and Prospects

A relatively latecomer to international law, the regulation of the environmental protection has considerably been evolving since 1972. There has been an impressive growth in the number of international instruments and institutions addressing environmental problems. However, it has not yet been possible to reverse the continuing environmental degradation.

The question of how well the international community addresses the environmental challenges is worth a renewed interest after the adoption of the Paris agreement for climate change in December 2015. What changes have taken place over the past forty-four years of environmental governance? How do international environmental agreements emerge and develop? To what extent are these agreements effective? How are they implemented and enforced? Have environmental concerns been incorporated into the human rights sphere? How does international environmental law interact with other branches of international law?

Course leader

Our faculty includes already Professors: Evangelos Raftopoulos (Panteion University, Greece), Emmanuella Doussis (University of Athens, Greece), Tullio Scovazzi (University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy), Malgosia Fitzmaurice (Queen Mary University of London,

Target group

The 2016 Thessaloniki Summer Course on “International Environmental Governance: Contemporary Challenges and Prospects” is open to graduate and postgraduate students, especially LLM students and PhD candidates, researchers and practitioners from all over the world, with a keen interest in international environmental law. In the framework of the course, participants will have the chance to engage in discussions and interact with some of the most renowned scholars in the field.

Course aim

The aim of the course is to introduce the topic of international environmental law in all its facets, and engage students in discussions on advanced topics in the relevant field. The course combines theoretical presentations and practical applications and aims at providing valuable skills both at the professional and the academic level.