After several years of pressure from advocates, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for the first time in July 2022. Our distinguished panelists discussed the fight to obtain the declaration and how recognition of a human right to a healthy environment helps with efforts to improve environmental conditions around the world.
"The Right to a Healthy Environment: From Recognition to Practice" was held Thursday, February 23, 2023, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Alma Jennings Student Lounge at the University of Miami School of Law, 1331 Miller Drive, Coral Gables.
The Environmental Law Program Distinguished Speaker Series brings leading thinkers to campus to discuss pressing and novel legal issues. The University of Miami School of Law established the lecture series to create a dynamic exchange between students, faculty, researchers, and activists shaping environmental law today. Each year a panel of experts gathers to engage in an area of environmental law from multiple angles. The inaugural lecture examined the United Nations' recognition of a universal human right to a healthy, safe, and sustainable environment.
Panelists included Osvaldo Jordán, staff researcher of Centro Internacional de Estudios Políticos y Sociales AIP, a Panama-based public interest association and research center with the mission of producing knowledge for the formulation of public policies and decision-making in the public and private sectors; Smita Narula Haub, Distinguished Professor of International Law, Pace University School of Law; Nadia Ahmad, associate law professor, Barry University; Sumudu Atapattu, director, Global Legal Studies Center, University of Wisconsin Law School; and Daniel Magraw, senior fellow, Johns Hopkins University SAIS and a visiting Miami Law professor.
The event was approved for 2.5 general CLE credits by The Florida Bar, and was free and open to the public in-person or virtually with registration.
The event was co-sponsored by the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science & Policy, Environmental Law Program, Environmental Law Society, Global and International Law Program, HOPE Public Interest Resource Center, Human Rights Program, Native American and Global Indigenous Studies, and the Human Rights Society.
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