This issue of the newsletter describes program highlights from our busy spring semester including the highly successful environmental justice-themed Shapiro Symposium in March and other program events; several faculty and student achievement and activities; and the addition of Professor Giovanna Gismondi as our new Environmental Law Fellow.

Dean Randall Abate

Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies 

On March 27 and 28, 2024, GW Law’s Environmental and Energy Law Program hosted its annual J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Environmental Law Symposium. This year’s event, “Environmental Justice Solutions Summit: Strategic Litigation, Resilience, and Hope,” featured experts, advocates, and practitioners from the United States and around the world to address pressing issues on environmental and climate justice.

The symposium opened with a keynote presentation from Professor Robert R.M. Verchick, a nationally recognized expert on environmental law and climate change. Verchick called for prioritizing climate resilience and explained how the need for “hope” and “action” will drive the activism we need for a sustainable future. The keynote was based on his book, The Octopus in the Parking Garage: A Call for Climate Resilience, which explores a range of problems caused by climate change and the many creative solutions that can be pursued. The keynote address was followed by a book-signing event with Professor Verchick.

The second day of the symposium consisted of four panel discussions. The first panel, “Youth Community Organizing and Climate Justice,” brought together leading youth advocates from the U.S., Peru, and the Kingdom of Tonga. The speakers shared a range of personal anecdotes, case studies on climate victories, and their experience on the role of youth advocacy in influencing local, national and international law. They also shared their ideas for developing climate change initiatives through education, advocacy, and leadership. The second panel, “Climate Change Displacement and Migration,” focused on how climate change is driving human displacement and migration in South Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas and how the law can respond to this crisis in the future. The panel discussed progressive legal frameworks, especially national and regional, that can be adopted to protect people displaced and migrating due to climate change. The third panel, “Strategic Litigation to Promote Human Rights and Environmental Protection,” included scholars and practitioners involved in strategic climate litigation. The panelists presented an overview of international, foreign domestic, and U.S. climate litigation, discussed their experiences and perspectives in handling specific cases, and situated the litigation within the larger climate movement. The fourth panel, “Environmental Justice and Public Health,” addressed the environmental degradation that often disproportionately affects marginalized and vulnerable communities, resulting in a cascade of health problems. They provided examples of successful citizen efforts to address local environmental and public health problems in case studies in New York, Virginia, and Georgia. For additional information on the 2024 Shapiro Symposium, visit the Shapiro Symposium event page. 

The Environmental and Energy Law program is thrilled to announce that Professor Giovanna Gismondi joined GW Law as an Environmental Law Fellow and Visiting Associate Professor on March 1, 2024. Professor Gismondi is assisting in all facets of Environmental Law program management and contributing in her areas of expertise as a professor, scholar, and mentor at GW Law School. She is scheduled to teach Human Rights and Environmental Protection in Fall 2024.

Originally from Peru, Giovanna earned her first law degrees from Universidad de Lima, and then completed her LL.M. and S.J.D. degrees at Georgetown University Law Center. Her SJD dissertation, International Environmental Law and International Human Rights Law in Investment Treaty Arbitration, was published as a book in 2023 by Wolters Kluwer. She taught courses on a variety of international law topics for several years at University of Oklahoma College of Law and University of Oklahoma College of International Studies. Giovanna has also published articles at the intersection of international law, international environmental law, international indigenous peoples law, and international investment law in the Harvard International Law Journal and the Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal. 

We caught up with Professor Gismondi to learn more about her experience in the field of environmental law and her future plans. Visit the GW Point Source to learn more. 

Co-sponsored by the Environmental & Energy Law Program, GW’s Animal Law Program, and Earth Law Center

Ecuador is the first country to recognize constitutional rights of nature. A distinguished panel of experts from Ecuador addressed the contribution of the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court, the country’s top court, to the development of the Rights of Nature and its emerging application. Judge Teresa Nuques, a member of the Constitutional Court, emphasized that nature and its elements, including wild animals, are subjects of law. She further discussed the legal principles underpinning the rights of nature in the Ecuadorian legal system. Hugo Echeverría, an Ecuadorian attorney specializing in environmental law, explained the jurisprudential developments of the Rights of Nature, which have extended protection to rivers, forests, mangroves, and more recently, wild animals. Both panelists stressed the importance of the landmark “Estrellita” case concerning the protection of a woolly monkey. This case set an important precedent in the protection of wild animals within the scope of the constitutional Rights of Nature. Kevin Schneider, Counsel for Earth Law Center, moderated the panel and Fernando Muñoz Domínguez, an LLM student in International Environmental Law at GW Law, served as the interpreter for Judge Nuques. Randall Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies; Kathy Hessler, Assistant Dean for Animal Law; and Grant Wilson, Esq., Executive Director, Earth Law Center, offered introductory remarks.

Professor Chhaya Bhardwaj of Jindal Global Law School in Sonepat, India, delivered a lecture, Challenging the Concept of “Naturally Formed Land” Under UNCLOS through a Case Study of the Netherlands. Professor Bhardwaj argued that the notion of naturally formed land under UNCLOS did not take into consideration the man-made aspects that would allow the land (territory) of the Netherlands to continue existing naturally. Given climate change dynamics, the notion of man-made land and naturally formed land is changing. Like the Netherlands, several small island states that are losing a substantial part of their land argue for continuance of their statehood, despite current challenges. The lecture benefited from comments from the audience, particularly Professor Sean Murphy and Dean Randall Abate. Professor Murphy suggested that the UNCLOS argument could be intertwined with decisions from the International Court of Justice. Dean Abate recommended that this work should be coupled with human rights approaches.

The Environmental & Energy Law faculty and staff have been working hard publishing articles and textbooks, participating in panels, and delivering presentations on various topics. A summary of select faculty publications and presentations appears below. The full list of scholarship can be found on our Faculty Publications Page.

Energy Connectors Social Hour

Friday, April 26

Orrick

5:00 - 7:00 pm ET

Another opportunity for the GW Law network of current and future alumni in energy law to connect! Please join us for an evening of food and drink with students, professors, and alumni and learn more about your law school’s impressive footprint in the Energy Bar. Please note that this event is only open to GW Law students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Stay connected with us on social media. Check our event page for more news and updates.