Joseph Dellapenna教授做客珞珈环境法讲坛

Prof. Joseph Dellapenna visits Luojia Lecture Series on Environmental Law

In the morning of November 17, 2016, the 42th and 43th Luojia Lecture Series on Environmental Law invited Prof. Joseph Dellapenna from the Law School of Villanova University in America. He gave two lectures entitled “The Relevance and Status of Customary International Water Law” and “Lessons for Chinese Environmental Law from European, American and International Environmental Law”, respectively.

In the first lecture, Prof. Joseph presented the hydrological cycle, the global water scarcity, and the distribution of fresh water around countries by illustrating figures. He also analyzed the basic elements of a water law from the perspective of “ought to be”, and introduced the forms of existing international water law. Next, he illustrated the process of codification of customary international water law, which showed the general rules and theories of international water law. He argued that market-based instruments are not equivalent to economic incentives and not the best approach to primary water management, neither. In addition, he put forward that we should make full use of international conventions to regulate the utilization of water instead of simply relying on international customary water law.

In the second lecture, Prof. Joseph Dellapenna pointed out the common problem in EU and American environmental law is the high standards while insufficient actual implement. When talking about the basis of the origin and development of international environmental law, he expected that the hot spots and core issues on environmental impact assessment, regulatory system, market-oriented tools, biodiversity, pollution, and other specific problems can be properly addressed and standardized. Finally, he introduced “Drinking Water Pollution Crisis in Flint, Michigan” in detail and explained its background, progress and divergence to arouse attention and thinking of that.