DeepSummary
The podcast episode features an interview with Dr. Sarah Cassella, a professor of international law at Université Paris, discussing her book 'Global Risks and International Law: The Case of Climate Change and Pandemics.' Dr. Cassella explains the concept of global risks from a legal perspective, defining them as risks with multiple causes linked to lawful activities, affecting resources of common concern, and producing a series of interconnected damages.
Dr. Cassella highlights the challenges global risks pose to international law, as current legal regimes address risks individually and lack coordination. She emphasizes the need for a holistic approach and dialogue between different fields to manage global risks effectively. The book draws on the examples of climate change and pandemics to analyze the changes global risks bring to international law mechanisms.
The discussion covers various aspects, including the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research, the intersection between climate change and pandemics, case studies highlighting the complexities of international law in dealing with global risks, and the role of different actors, such as states, international organizations, and corporations, in addressing these risks.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Global risks, such as climate change and pandemics, pose significant challenges to international law due to their interconnected nature, involvement of multiple actors, and the inability of current legal regimes to address them effectively.
- A holistic and interdisciplinary approach is necessary to manage global risks, involving dialogue and cooperation between different fields, actors, and levels of governance.
- The relationship between climate change and pandemics highlights the interconnectedness of global risks, as climate change contributes to the emergence and spread of pathogens, while pandemics can degrade ecosystems.
- International law lacks a comprehensive definition and legal regime for global risks, currently addressing them on a sectoral basis, leading to a lack of coordination and failure to capture the interplay between stakeholders.
- Soft law instruments, sharing best practices, and initiatives from various actors, including states, international organizations, and corporations, could play a crucial role in addressing global risks more effectively.
- Litigation and cases related to global risks, both at the domestic and international level, highlight challenges such as standing, causality, and attribution of responsibility, as well as the need for courts to consider the responsibilities of multiple actors.
- The concept of responsibility in addressing global risks may benefit from a shift towards a perspective focused on maintaining balance and the role of actors as guarantors, rather than solely relying on the notion of fault.
- Integrating global risks into public policies, both at the domestic and international level, is essential for states and corporations to address these challenges effectively.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “The main problem, according to me, is that international law currently fails to capture this interplay between all the stakeholders and also the rapidity of the evolution of these risks. And as I mentioned, also, international legal regimes of responsibility, both of states and of international organization, have not been conceived to address this kind of liability and the liability of the different actors that are involved. And mainly we are talking about private actors.“ by Speaker A
- “When they occur, these risks influence each other's evolution, and this link between them is more and more studied by experts and experts in both fields. On one side, climate change is one of the causes of the emergence of new pathogens, the spread of which can also obviously lead to a pandemic. And the acceleration of climate change tends to modify their conditions of transmission, which is rather well studied by scientists today.“ by Speaker A
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Episode Information
New Books in Environmental Studies
Marshall Poe
5/20/24