Research areas – Faculty of Law

Our work on climate change focuses on anthropocentric climate change and the complex and interconnected challenges that climate change poses to the pursuit of sustainable development. The research under this theme aims to analyse and compare legal and governance structures and approaches for addressing climate change and enhancing sustainable development across national, sub-national, transnational and global contexts.

We are particularly interested in the following:

• Law and governance approaches to climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience
• Legal regulation of energy, technologies and transport;
• Legal requirements for just transition processes to a low-carbon economy
• Climate litigation – current trends, damages, and the role of the judiciary
• Emission trading systems
• Climate obligations in trade and investment law and policy
• Climate justice and corporations
• Climate resilient cities and the role of law
• Cities as key actors for climate governance and sustainable development
• Meeting global commitments for climate change in terms of the SDGs and the 2015 Paris Agreement

Climate change and sustainability

The research under this theme aims to investigate the points of intersection and tension between environmental law (international, national and regional laws) and human rights. We are particularly interested in the conceptualization and scope of human rights protections in relation to climate change, environmental conflict and security, environmental justice, environmental displacement, and procedural environmental rights, amongst others. We aim to analyse these issues from both empirical and theoretical perspectives.

We are particularly interested in the following:
• The rights of indigenous peoples and local communities as the holders of traditional knowledge and as ecosystem stewards/biocultural rights
• Human rights obligations and climate change
• Procedural environmental rights (access to information, participation in decision-making, etc.)
• Environmental activism
• Notions of justice – environmental justice, climate justice, resilience justice, etc.
• Meeting global commitments in terms of international human rights law and the SDGs

Human rights and the environment

The age of the Anthropocene is increasingly infiltrating environmental law and governance discourse providing a new perspective for environmental lawyers, practitioners, academics and actors in government to reconsider the conceptual foundations of law and to re-evaluate the composition and effectiveness of existing institutional governance structures and mechanisms in mediating the human-environment interface during a period of a global socio-ecological crisis.

Accordingly, the work in this research area engages with a range of topics which traditionally form the backbone of environmental law and governance in a manner that illustrates their inadequacies to manage to manage the systemic environmental and societal risks that the Anthropocene entails. This research aims to develop reflexive and responsive legal frameworks and governance structures fit for responding to the local and transboundary social, economic and environmental consequences of earth system changes in the Anthropocene.

We are particularly interested in the following:

• State sovereignty and transboundary or global environmental governance
• Legal personhood and rights of nature
• The role of justice and ethics in environmental law
• Constitutional law and the scope of its environmental protections
• Environmental rule of law
• Environmental democracy
• Earth jurisprudence

Re-imagining the future of environmental law and governance

The work under this research theme aims to critically assess the role of law in promoting the conservation, sustainable use and management of earth’s natural resources and systems both within national jurisdictions and across borders. The research specifically focuses on the legal protection of terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems including the conservation of the species and resources found within these systems. We aim to analyse these issues from both empirical and theoretical perspectives.

We are particularly interested in the following:

• Protected areas management
• Endangered species and wildlife crimes
• Wildlife law
• Natural resources law
• Law and governance for transboundary environmental pollution and conservation
• Domestic and international water law and governance
• Law of the Sea and the conservation of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction
• Ocean governance – including equitable and sustainable fisheries, and marine plastic pollution
• Mining and the environment
• Meeting global conservation commitments in terms of the SDGs

Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Oceans