UCLouvain / UAntwerpen / International Environmental Law – Biodiversity & Agrobiodiversity Law
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- Concerns in my field of expertise
1.1 Lack of commitments by states in designing strong, urgent and effective legally binding plans of actions and in implementing existing international environmental obligations. Major stakeholders in the playing field contributing to the destruction of our environment should be held accountable for environmental pollution and damages.
1.2 Major gaps in our education & training programs:
International environmental law is far from being sufficiently taught to our students. There are too little course-offers in Belgian universities on law and the Anthropocene, the environment, or the socio-ecological transition, taught from a transversal and transdisciplinary perspective. How can we train students to tackle all major issues we are facing today if our universities do not provide them with the necessary training? - My changes and actions
Personal actions: Travel by train & avoid as much as possible airplanes, have an ecologically responsible consumption, involvement in local initiatives on the ecological transition…
Societal actions: popularize my research results shared on social media; participation to public debates; work with my city council to promote local, sustainable food for our schools; work with my children’s school to inform, train school workers and develop projects related to sustainable and healthy food; adapt my methods and content of teaching to provide my students with the necessary tools to address legal environmental challenges… - Difficulties
The precarious working position I am in does not allow me to be 100% coherent with my social and ecological values. The overload of work and the necessity to secure a fixed academic position force me to have behaviours I would prefer to avoid, such as participating to an important conference abroad (forcing me to take the plane when access by train is not possible), living far away from one the of institution I work in, or delegating household work to generally precarious female worker. - Key changes
STRUCTURAL changes!!! No more subsidies for highly polluting activities; support for socially and ecologically valuing enterprises; develop public transport (more trains, busses, redevelop prior existing tram lines in small cities); invest in education (socially and ecologically oriented); support local enterprises willing to produce with a social end ecological effective concern); support transition initiatives; no more short-term political objectives (accountability on the long run for politicians); supporting major democratic changes of our societal functioning…
Originally posted 2018-06-01 10:32:47.