The ESIL Interest Group on International Criminal Justice and the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Governance (‘CEENRG’, University of Cambridge) will welcome scholars and practitioners to the online conference titled ‘The Health-Environment Nexus and the Systemic Implications of Environmental Crimes’, which will take place on Zoom on 19 November 2021.
The conference is organized in collaboration with the ESIL Interest Group on International Health Law, the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies (Leiden University) and the Platform on International Energy Governance. Human health and well-being are intimately linked to the state of the environment. Clean air, a stable climate, adequate water, sanitation and hygiene, safe use of chemicals, protection from radiation, healthy and safe workplaces, sound agricultural practices, health-supportive cities and built environments, and a well-preserved nature are all prerequisites for good health. Environmental risks to health include environmental physical, chemical, biological and work-related factors external to a person, and all related behaviours. Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heatwaves, droughts, extreme rainfall and severe cyclones in many areas, and modifying the transmission of food-borne, water-borne and zoonotic infectious diseases (such as COVID-19), resulting in large impacts on health. Moreover, current approaches to environment-related risks fell short to efficiently mitigate such risks, to impact sustainability and, importantly, to examine the complex interaction between environment, climate change and health from an international legal perspective. The conference intends to address the question on how to bridge the nexus between health, environment and climate change and to critically discuss the role of international law and institutions as well as of political cooperation in building such a nexus. The aim of the conference is also to provide a platform to debate the outcome of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which will be held in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November 2021 under the presidency of the United Kingdom.