a) Description
This module examines international, regional and national legal and institutional arrangements concerning the conservation and use of natural resources. It introduces legal principles relevant to the conservation and use of natural resources in international and national law. It examines in particular focuses on the international law aspects of natural resource use and conservation, the North-South dimension and on individual developing country case studies. It focus on issues of governance (state, commons and private aspects), rights (including human rights, property rights), and on land as the main resource through which other natural resources are accessed.
b) Indicative syllabus (subject to change)
Semester 1
Week 1. Context, Sustainable Development and Inequality
Week 2. Framework for the Use and Conservation of Natural Resources – Basic Principles
Week 3. Evolving Governance and Role of International Financial Institutions
Rights, Participation and Access to Justice
Week 4. Human Rights and Natural Resources
Week 5. Property Rights over Natural Resources
Week 6. Participatory Natural Resources Management
Week 7. Access to Justice and Natural Resources
Land
Week 8. Land Rights, Land Reform and Land Acquisition
Week 9. Large Scale Land Acquisitions and Beyond
Week 10. Land Rights and Indigenous Peoples
c) Assessment (subject to change)
Assessment: Essay: 3’500 words (100% of the total mark)
d) General Reference Books Related to the Course
Elena Merino Blanco & Jona Razzaque, Globalisation and Natural Resources Law: Challenges, Key Issues and Perspectives (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011).
Elisa Morgera & Kati Kulovesi eds, Research Handbook on International Law and Natural Resources (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 2016).
Carol Chi Ngang & Serges Djoyou Kamga eds, Natural Resource Sovereignty and the Right to Development in Africa (Routledge, 2022).
Melanie Pichler et al eds, Fairness and Justice in Natural Resource Politics (Routledge, 2017).
Wolfgang Sachs & Tilman Santarius eds, Fair Future – Resource Conflicts, Security and Global Justice (London: Zed Books, 2007).