*** SABINE VON SCHORLEMER, SYLVIA MAUS (Eds.): Climate Change as a Threat to Peace. Impacts on Cultural Heritage and Cultural Diversity. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P. O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Dresdner Schriften zu Recht und Politik der Vereinten Nationen - Dresden Papers on Law and Policy of the United Nations“, No. 19. 2014, 209 pp, €59.95. ISBN 378-3-631-66223-6.
Although it is difficult to scientifically demonstrate that there is a direct connection between climate change and armed conflict, it is reasonable nevertheless to think, as did the Security Council in 2011, that the negative consequences of climate disorder (shown by the fact that winter is so late to arrive) 'may, in the long run, aggravate certain existing threats to international peace and security.' Moreover, it poses and will continue to pose an ever-greater threat to the protection of global cultural heritage and therefore to cultural diversity, as it is clear that changing temperatures, soil erosion, floods and storms are the type that force populations to change their lifestyles, fighter over resources and, in fine, migrate to places on the planet that have remained more welcoming. There is no need to point out that these potential challenges to be dealt with concern everyone, no matter how distasteful that is to people who tend to dream of watertight borders that are able to protect their bit of heaven, be it national or European…
The German Commission for UNESCO and the UNESCO Chair in International Relations at the Technische Universität Dresden held a conference to this genuinely crucial issue. At the conference, explain this book's editors, the focus was laid in particular on the connection between cultural heritage, cultural diversity and peace, since 'the crucial role of cultural policy as a reconciliatory, proactive element of building and securing of sustainable peace has so far been largely underestimated.' The organisers of this scientific event accurately reported upon in this book say this question deserves to be taken into consideration when it comes to averting the potentially damaging consequences of climate change, which in this case have essentially been considered from the angle of the legal and institutional challenges they raise.
The first part of the book is devoted to the presentation of 'Interdisciplinary approaches of Linking Climate Change with Politics and Law of Cultural Heritage.' Former deputy director general at UNESCO Bernd von Droste zu Hülshoff begins by stressing the particular obligation on rich countries to 'commit to protecting our common heritage,' and calls for caring for the world climate and cultural and natural inheritance to take the form of enforceable international obligations. Ambassador Gunter Pleuger, Germany's Permanent Representative at the United Nations from 2002 to 2006, says that the Security Council will be perfectly able to take binding decisions, where necessary, to get round the current lack of legally enforceable obligations, while stating that he doesn't yet see any need to put the question of threats to peace arising from climate change on the Security Council's agenda. Finally, Franziska Knut underlines how a human-rights-based approach could be fruitful in this domain. In the second part of the book, other contributors provide detailed enlightenment about various, occasionally very severe impacts of climate change on cultural heritage and cultural diversity, looking in turn at subjects such as the fact that the north of Europe will not be spared the slow deterioration of monuments, which leads to evidence, writes Roland Berneckers in conclusions, that 'our inventiveness and our hunger for improvement not only compromise our future, but consume our past.' Michel Theys
*** Futuribles. L'anticipation au service de l'action. Futuribles Sarl (47 rue de Babylone, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53633770 - Fax: 42226554 - Email: revue@futuribles.com - Internet: http://www.futuribles.com ). November-December 2015, No. 409, 127 pp, €22. Annual subscription: €115. ISBN 978-2-84387-422-2.
This issue of this well-known French future prospects review looks, right from the editorial by Hugues de Jouvenel at the relationship between climate and development. The issue hence includes an interview with Jean-Christophe about the situation in the Aortic, which is enough to illustrate the consequences of global warming and the ecological, economic and geopolitical issues at stake. Jacques Theys draws up a balance sheet of half a century of the environment and it being taken into account politically, looking at the specific case of France, which brings him to point out that environmental policy needs to be transversal to all other policies: 'How in fact could we hope to progress in the fight against greenhouse gas emissions - while adjusting (...) to the already unavoidable global warming - without addressing energy issues and more generally the question of a development model that needs to be sustainable and fair, unlike the one followed in the past?' The editorialist goes on to point out that Pope Francis said at the United Nations that 'economic and social exclusion' was 'a very serious attack on human rights and the environment.' In his view, negotiations about the climate must not be separate from 'a wider issue, that of the development model, which for a long time will remain the monopoly of a handful of countries and which cannot be transposed in an identical manner all around the globe.' Other contributions encourage readers to think that civil society and even a number of companies would be keener to get involved in the economic transition than are States. There is also a reflection by Jean-François Drevet about the European Union's positioning on the nuclear question in Iran. (MT)
*** TOMASZ ZYLICZ: The Economics of International Environmental Cooperation. Peter Lang (see above). 2015, 152 pp, €44.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65233-6.
This book focuses on environmental issues that require international cooperation, such as the management of water courses and rivers, cross border air pollution and climate change. The author presents economic models that he says underlie various national positions in the negotiation of international accords in this domain. He explains the methods used to reduce various problems arising in the context of protecting common goods, such as 'the free rider problem.' In fact, some countries are not prepared to pay the economic costs of protecting environmental heritage. Given that the benefits of a healthy environmental at the end of the day are shared throughout the world, some prefer to wait for others to invest on their behalf. In these pages, Tomasz Zylicz analyses some agreements that have given rise to tangible and satisfactory outcomes, such as the Montreal Protocol, but also less ambitious or less effective agreements. In the absence of a supranational authority capable of imposing and ensuring respect of viable solutions for the interest of wider areas of the world, voluntary agreements should also be negotiated by independent agents. These accords should not respond solely to economic cost-benefit criteria at global level, but should also satisfy other characteristics that encourage the support of all stakeholders. The author concludes by coming forward with political considerations: international environmental cooperation does not just concern climate agreements, but must also be just as much about responsible management of other economic domains, each of which has a role to play in protecting the environment. (JBe)
*** MARTHA ROGGENKAMP, HENRIK BJORNEBYE (Eds.): European Energy & Law Report X. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - Fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). 2014, 257 pp. ISBN 978-1-78068-254-9.
This book provides an overview of recent developments in energy law at international, European and national level. The authors examine recent progress in this domain, as presented at the twenty-fifth Seminar of Energy Law, which took place in Noordwijk aan Zee in the Netherlands on 16 and 17 April 2012. The first part of the book is devoted to developments in primary and secondary energy law; rules that affect the energy sector are described, for example environmental protection. Plenty of space is devoted to application of the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EUETS). The book also covers consumer and investment protection, given that finance plays a key role when it comes to progress in the energy sector. In this connection, Hans Vedder examines how the regulatory framework for competition and state aid influence investment opportunities, explaining that European law strikes a satisfactory balance between the need to put all economic players on an equal footing, and the promotion of the Union's energy objectives.
The second part of the book focuses on changes upstream and down relating to the production and distribution of gas in the Union, such as the development of the internal market for gas and electricity. Here, Daisy Tempelman describes the remaining obstacles - physical, technical and fiscal - on the path to harmonisation of the member states' energy grids. However, the free circulation of gas is not the only objective that the institutions are pursuing in the framework of the strategy to ensure reliable and sustainable secure energy supplies for the Union. In recent decades, following the energy revolution separked by the fracking boom in the United States, various voices have called for a similar development of this resource in Europe. The book also examines the regulatory context that influences the debate about the extraction of schist gas in the Union. The Commission has not closed the door to this development, but there are doubts about the whether the option is compatible with ensuring human and environmental security. The report concludes by focusing on the greening of the Union's energy market. This dynamic is favoured by recent expansion in the production and use of renewable energy sources such as biomass and by gradual harmonisation of standards for the sale of green energy among the member states. (JBe)
*** MARTIN GERIG: Vollendung des EU-Energiebinnenmaktes vs. nationale Marktabschrottungen, Europarechtskonformität mitgliedstaatlicher Fördermaßnahmen und Kapazitätsmärkte am Beispiel Deutschlands. Peter Lang (see above). "Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für deutsches und europäisches Wirtschafts-, Wettbewerbs- und Regulierungsrecht der Freien Universität Berlin" series. 2014, 301 pp, ISBN 978-3-631-65482-8.
The European Union and the federal German government aim to pursue a sustainable e and financially affordable energy policy, but the Union is pursuing this aim by trying to conclude the single market in energy, whereas Berlin is pursuing an autarchic energy policy, as is shown by measures under the German renewable energy law (the EEG law) and the hypothesis discussed in Germany of creating a German capacity market. In this thesis, the author starts by analysing the need to set up a German capacity system and studies the corresponding European legal framework. He goes on to address the compatibility of measures in the EGG with European standards, notably state aid and the freedom of circulation of goods. Although the author recognises the validity of some of the German government's arguments in its autarchy-leaning energy policy, the author ends his thesis with a call for the government to respect of European measures in this domain. He does, however, invite the European Union to force its views on the member states in a more regular and appropriate manner. (GLe)
*** PATRICK THIEFFRY: Manuel de droit de l'environnement de l'Union européenne. Editions Bruylant (Groupe Larcier, rue Haute 139/6, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-10) 482511 - Fax: 482693 - Email: commande@deboeckservices.com - Internet http://www.bruylant.be ). 'Droit de l'Union européenne - Manuels' series. 2014, 388 pp, €62. ISBN 978-2-8027-4712-3.
Written by a lawyer who lectures at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne school of law, this handbook provides an initiation into the complex subject of European Union environment law. An early section of the book looks at the unique institutional framework for environment law. The author then reviews the big environmental domains, (the atmosphere, water and 'natural' milieus, which essentially means flora and fauna), followed by the main things that impact on the environment or are likely to do so, namely waste, noisy objects and dangerous or reputedly dangerous substances. The third section reviews and describes non-sectoral, transversal or horizontal regulations, examining economic and tax instruments in the fourth section. The fifth part is devoted to how environmental protection demands are taken into account in other policies. All these subjects are addressed in more detail in 'Le Traité de droit de l'Union européenne' by Patrick Thieffry, published recently by the same publisher. (PBo)
*** Politica Exterior. Editions Estudios de Politica Exterior (49 Nuñez de Balboa, E-28001 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312628 - Fax: 5777252 - Email: revista@politicaexterior.com - Internet: July/August 2015, 162 pp, €13. This issue notably includes a very rich special report on the nuclear world that kicked off in Hiroshima and Nagasaki seventy years ago. (MT)