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Key research themes
1. How can environmental harm be systematically characterized and prioritized for strategic legal and policy responses?
This research area develops conceptual frameworks and qualitative assessment methods to capture both technical and socio-economic characteristics of environmental harm. The focus is on moving beyond traditional environmental standards to integrate dimensions such as severity, reversibility, spatial and temporal extent, and societal perceptions (e.g., dread, equity, distrust). This approach is critical for strategic prioritization of environmental issues, enhancing legal responses, and informing governance decisions.
Key finding: Developed a qualitative framework incorporating physical detriment, economic loss, and societal loss of value to understand and prioritize environmental harm. The framework uses attributes like magnitude, reversibility,... Read more
Key finding: Proposed a qualitative assessment model to score both technical and social attributes of environmental harm, including severity, reversibility, latency, dread, equity, and imposition. Demonstrated application to radioactive... Read more
Key finding: Conducted an empirical analysis of environmental crimes prosecuted by the New South Wales Land and Environment Court, illustrating how environmental harms—particularly pollution—are legislated against and sanctioned.... Read more
Key finding: Analyzed environmental harm through the lens of economic theory and law, highlighting how legal institutions can address market failures and externalities that cause environmental injury. Demonstrated that environmental law’s... Read more
2. What are the health and societal impacts of environmental degradation, and how do they inform environmental policy and law?
This theme addresses the concrete consequences of environmental degradation on human health and society, focusing on causal links between environmental changes such as pollution, resource depletion, and ecosystem disruption, and adverse outcomes like morbidity, loss of biodiversity, and socioeconomic effects. Understanding these impacts is vital for shaping responsive environmental policies and integrating multidisciplinary approaches into environmental governance.
Key finding: Empirical study in Niger Delta oil-producing communities demonstrated high prevalence (95.2%) of environmental degradation effects linked to lax enforcement and regulatory failures. Identified government negligence,... Read more
Key finding: Provided a comprehensive overview of how environmental degradation—including air, water, and soil pollution—negatively affects ecosystems and human populations. Highlighted the interplay between industrial activities,... Read more
Key finding: Documented public perceptions and social attitudes toward high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) repositories, revealing widespread distrust, fear, and opposition across demographics. Demonstrated that concerns over health and... Read more
Key finding: Synthesized green criminology concepts framing environmental victimology as the study of victims of environmental harm. Emphasized how pollution and environmental degradation disproportionately affect vulnerable populations,... Read more
3. How do legal regimes and international frameworks address environmental harm, and what are the challenges in enforcement and justice delivery?
Focused on the analysis of environmental law—domestic and international—this theme investigates the efficacy, challenges, and gaps in legal frameworks dedicated to preventing, sanctioning, and mitigating environmental harm. It highlights difficulties in enforcement, transnational dimensions, the emergence of specialized environmental courts, and the need to incorporate broader harms such as animal suffering and military-related environmental damage within legal doctrines.
Key finding: Argued that animal suffering constitutes a cognizable environmental harm under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and should trigger Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) requirements. Highlighted the procedural gaps... Read more
Key finding: Analyzed the development and functioning of the New South Wales Land and Environment Court as a specialist environmental judicial body, showing how green crimes are prosecuted and environmental justice pursued. Demonstrated... Read more
Key finding: Provided a detailed review of Albania’s legal framework addressing environmental crimes, identifying current criminal offenses and highlighting deficiencies in enforcement and statutory protection. Assessed forthcoming... Read more
Key finding: Critically examined the limited role of Public International Law (PIL) in effectively addressing environmental problems due to weak enforcement mechanisms, fragmented legal regimes, and the lack of higher-order norms. Argued... Read more
Key finding: Developed a typology of environmental harms caused by peacetime military activities affecting land, water, and air. Posited that many such activities, although legal and systemic, impose significant environmental damage.... Read more