Literature Review

Urban expansion has created a structural and ecological modification of the urban fabric, thus leading to complex interactions between land change and land cover. Land is essential for peace and human survival. However, various challenges must be addressed to ensure effective land management in urban areas. Several policies have been formulated to mitigate the effects of unplanned urban settlements in order to boost economic activities. This paper reviewed all the land-related policies in the past three decades and extricated the inherent environmental, agricultural, and economic implications of the policies in cities of Nigeria. Urban land management was conceptualised, while the systemic review was adopted as a methodology. Remarkably, the study revealed that: there are challenges to the documentation of rights to property on land-related disputes; unauthorised land development and inadequate access to developable land for housing led to slum formation and land use conflict; frequent flooding contributed to environmental degradation while rising land insecurity is limiting the achievement of sustainable development goals (SDG 1.3, 2.3, 5.6, and 10). The paper concluded that urban land management policies could not be effective without the comprehensive and interactive processes involving policy makers, urban planners, real estate developers, farmers; land-holding families; land speculators, decision-makers, and researchers while adaptation of modern technologies in land management, sustainable land use control policies on documentation of property rights, access to developable land for housing and open-grazing, mitigation policies on carbon emissions, physical environment, water and air quality were recommended.

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is rich in natural resources, but it has also been plagued by poverty, conflict, and environmental degradation. This paper explores the role of property rights in this so-called "unspoken curse." The lack of clear and enforceable property rights has led to conflict, a power imbalance, and destructive practices. This has created a cycle of poverty and conflict such as conflict over land ownership, conflict over resource extraction, and conflict between communities that has been difficult to break. The paper concluded that the lack of property rights has contributed to environmental conflict, as well as other forms of conflict, including violence and social unrest. Meanwhile, resolving these conflicts will require addressing the underlying issue of property rights, as well as other issues such as poverty and marginalization. The paper suggested among others that the government should ensure the creation of a system of land registration that recognizes both legal and customary claims, and establish a process for resolving conflicts as well as involving local communities in decision-making around oil production and environmental management in order to improve the region's development and sustainability.

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to examine the theories that underpin the ownership and management of oil rights in Nigeria and the need for a new ownership model. The economy of Nigeria is majorly supported by revenues from natural resources, especially crude oil. With the downturn in the country’s economy, the Nigerian Federal Government recently embarked on a series of crude oil discoveries to increase revenue despite the unresolved violations of human rights of the indigenous peoples and environmental abuses committed during oil exploration in the Niger Delta region of the country. The Nigerian government finds justification for this uncontrolled exploration of natural resources in the doctrine of discovery and the rule of capture. The author argues that basing the right of the Nigerian Federal Government to explore natural resources on the two doctrines has negative implications on the rights of indigenous peoples in Nigeria and environmental protection, and is a continuation of the philosophies behind colonialism. Therefore, the article examines the doctrine of discovery, the rule of capture, the colonial philosophies of property rights, and the legal regime regarding ownership of natural resources in Nigeria. It suggests a hybrid ownership model where ownership is shared between indigenous groups and the government.

The talk focused on the relation between transformative climate action and individual property rights, in particular on tensions between the fundamental right to property and spatial planning law. The rule of law and the classical, liberal structure of legal systems guarantee fundamental rights for individuals, among other also the right to property, the freedom to carry on a business or the free movement of capital within the European Union, all of which might impede the efforts of environmental and climate protection policies. The talk discussed to which extent economic fundamental rights render climate actions impossible or harm its effects.

Equity has become a fundamental concern in contemporary discussions on legal and socio-economic aspects of property rights. From the legal perspective, equity is seen as a reflection of distributive justice and it is taken as a matter of political deliberation on socio-economic grounds, while leaving the accomplishment of equity standards totally to legal and economic measures. In this backdrop, the importance of the concept of equity as an ethical and virtuous concern from a moral and ecological perspective has been largely neglected in the contemporary property rights discourse. This lack of attention on the moral aspect of equity in property rights permits limitless exploitation of natural resources. Failure to extend the moral aspect of equity over the entire ecological domain in a holistic approach has created a lot of failures in preserving natural environment and ensuring sustainability. Having noticed the need for scrutinizing the role of property rights in upholding equity in a broader moral and ecological ground, this chapter seeks an alternative approach to fill the gap of philosophical and ethical insights in the current understanding of the concept of equity in property rights. As a reflection of time-tested wisdom accumulated over generations, Indigenous knowledge brings a wide range of solutions to this problem. Thus, the present study aims at investigating the underlying ideological concerns embedded in the Indigenous systems of property rights in Sri Lanka, based on ante-narratives found in archival sources. Accordingly, the fundamental principle behind Indigenous systems of managing property rights which ensured sustainability was seen as the balance of interests, manifested in conciliation between rights and obligations, exploitation and conservation, and self-interests and collective interests. In fact, it shows the possibility of incorporating the moral aspect of equity into property rights through different context-appropriate strategies, upholding equity in a broader sense to promote sustainability.

Aim: To show the constitutional recognition that nature has gained in the Ecuadorian nation, which has allowed it to be subject of rights and duties as a legal novelty in the construction and evolution of the 21 st century, as well as its regulatory development within positive law and public policies.   Methods: For this, the historical-legal, analysis-synthesis and induction-deduction methods were em- ployed.   Findings: From the last decades of the 20th century, legal pluralism has become relevant due to its impact on the social scene. While having various orientations and positions, Philosophy of Law and Sociology deal with the definition of new theoretical constructs required to address the essence of legal pluralism in the current context, reevaluating it and providing new aspects of analysis.   Conclusions: The Ecuadorian State guarantees the conservation and development of the indigenous peoples’ traditional forms of coexistence and social organization since they constitute an expression of interculturality. This has had a positive effect on the constitutional protection of nature and its regulatory development based on constitutional texts.

Rights of Nature (RoN) have become a worldwide legal phenomenon in which Nature and ecosystems are recognised as legal entities which have rights, duties, and liabilities. This eco-centric legal discourse attempts to shift away from anthropocentric conceptualisations of Nature as ‘property’ or a ‘commodity’ to be exploited for economic gain. RoN have characteristically been ideated outside Western legal cultures, where Nature is largely considered an object, rather than a subject. Subjectivising Nature, in accordance with non-Western knowledges (epistemologies) and worldviews (cosmovisions), seeks to reframe human-Nature relations in harmony with one another. RoN have been emblematised by innovative legal precedents such as the 2008 constitutionalisation of Pachamama in Ecuador, 2010/2012 recognition of rights to Mother Earth in Bolivia, and the legal personality of rivers in countries such as Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ), India, Bangladesh, to name a few paradigmatic examples. Courts have played a paramount role in promoting and bolstering such processes of legal innovation. Hence, RoN provide a fruitful testing ground for investigating the extent to which inter-judicial exchanges between domestic courts in jurisdictions formally submitted to colonial domination are promoting the diffusion of non-Western legal epistemologies (jurisprudences). In the context of my doctoral research, I test this hypothesis in two intertwined ways. Firstly, by understanding to what extent the diffusion of RoN epistemologies is contributing to the development of genuinely cosmopolitan jurisprudences[i] in borrowing jurisdictions. Secondly, by investigating whether the application of RoN in these jurisdictions are overcoming tensions between legal traditions by hampering or accommodating legal ecumenism.

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In this chapter Moyo addresses an important subject of ecological debt which he argues is owed by both the Global North and the Global East to Africa. Arguing from a capitalogenic perspective, Moyo advances the notion that the ecological debt is a result of the operations of the global agents and beneficiaries of Africa’s resources who have been involved in ecological destruction of the continent for more than 500 years of slavery, colonialism, apartheidism, neo-imperialism, globalisation, and globalism. This critique does not spare the emerging and re-emerging economies of the Global East which are viewed as sub-imperialist not dissimilar to the Western extractivists. Moyo also draws the attention of the reader to the contradictions that are associated with global climate finance which is provided by the Euro-Western states in the form of loans thereby reproducing debt colonialism amid ecological destruction. Moyo stresses that the proposed solutions to climate financing such as green bonds, nature swaps, blue bonds, catastrophe bonds, and nature performance bonds are predominantly techno-managerial and they are pursued within the neo-liberal system which is itself guilty of perpetuating the marginalisation, pauperisation, and subalternisation of Africa and its peoples from the global geoeconomic governance.

The rising tide of technological progress has led to an increase in technological disasters that harm the environment, prompting global concern. Initially, the response to these disasters was centred on relief and compensation, but the focus has now shifted to preventive measures for environmental protection. Environmental protection involves a multifaceted strategy, encompassing various legal agreements, public engagement, and penalty enforcement. Social and economic consequences are also significant aspects of environmental preservation. Criminal law plays a pivotal role in safeguarding the environment. Environmental and human rights issues often overlap, as human well-being and access to basic needs are linked to the environment's state. Preserving the environment is vital for maintaining acceptable living conditions and safeguarding human rights, which are already covered by international legal frameworks. International criminal liability is closely linked to international humanitarian law and human rights law. After World War II, the Tokyo and Nuremberg Tribunals addressed serious offences, and later developments included the Genocide Convention and Adhoc Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, expanding the scope of international criminal liability. This article is separated into two main portions. The initial examines international criminal law from the perspective of environmental protection, while the second explores environmental safeguarding during armed conflicts within the background of international human rights.

This article emphasises the need of improving environmental protection through the application of international criminal law, as described in the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute. After offering a brief summary of how international criminal law treats environmental protection during both times of war and peace, it is clear that the existing system falls short of maintaining effective environmental safeguards. This study contends that there is no compelling reason in international criminal law to regard environmental harm differently depending on whether it happens during war or peacetime. Instead, it indicates that using aneco-centric approach to environmental protection, which priorities the environment overhuman interests, will improve environmental protection more successfully. As a result, thepaper proposes for the Rome Statute to include a new comprehensive and eco-centric international crime targeting environmental harm. The paper then examines previous suggestions for such a crime and provides insights into its distinctive qualities. It focuses on identifying the level of severity necessary for the new crime and defines the fundamental mental state (mens rea) conditions that must be met.

This article examines whether mass deforestation could be prosecuted as a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute. It does so in respect of the situation in the Brazilian Legal Amazon in 2019–2021, where the unbridled exploitation and destruction of the rainforest had a disastrous impact at local, regional and global levels. The article covers three main aspects. First, it explores the existing limits of international criminal law for prosecuting mass deforestation as a crime against humanity, and the contours within which criminalization would be possible. Secondly, it discusses the challenges inherent in the anthropocentric nature of the chapeau requirement of Article 7 for the criminalization of mass deforestation under that provision. Thirdly, it analyses the extent to which mass deforestation could qualify as persecution and/or an ‘other inhumane act’ under Articles 7(1)(h) and (k) of the Rome Statute.