Environmental Protection

Environmental Protection Under The Ugandan Model Bilateral Investment Treaty: A Call For Reform

This blog argues that the conservation of the environment is essential to the realisation of sustainable development. Environmental conservation can be achieved by having express inclusion of environmental protection provisions in BITs. Where such provisions are lacking, it may be difficult for a third-world country to argue that measures that directly or indirectly expropriate an investor's investment were taken to protect the environment. critiqued the Ugandan Model BIT for lacking provisions on the conservation and protection of the environment in FDI. Using the Morocco-Nigeria BIT as a case study and the increasing environmental degradation in Uganda, the blog has recommended that the Ugandan Model BIT be reviewed and amended to safeguard the environment.critiqued the Ugandan Model BIT for lacking provisions on the conservation and protection of the environment in FDI. Using the Morocco-Nigeria BIT as a case study and the increasing environmental degradation in Uganda, the blog has recommended that the Ugandan Model BIT be reviewed and amended to safeguard the environment. Further, it critiques the Ugandan Model BIT for lacking provisions on the conservation and protection of the environment in FDI. Using the Morocco-Nigeria BIT as a case study and the increasing environmental degradation in Uganda, the blog has recommended that the Ugandan Model BIT be reviewed and amended to safeguard the environment.

The Law of Global Value Chains as Transmission Nodes for Global Inequality

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of the current patterns of production and consumption, exemplified by GVCs and the global trade and investment order in which they operate. These fragilities have resulted in the aforementioned social, economic and financial crises but what they represent most of all, is a crisis of responsibility in which powerful actors, state and private, that have been the main beneficiaries of GVCs, have failed to discharge their ethical and normative obligations to those most vulnerable within their production and supply chains. To this end, a new approach is sorely needed to address the vulnerabilities of a global economy built on fragile GVC governance that serves as new nodes of global inequality and precarity.

Global Value Chains (GVCs), Trade and Inequalities

This post engages with the Global Value Chain Development (GVCD) reports co-published by the World Trade Organization and the World Bank. It focuses on one central claim these reports have made about the development-related benefits of firms’ participation in GVCs, and on the policy recommendations that follow. The claim is that by inserting themselves into global value chains (GVCs) and technologically upgrading, firms can move up the value-added ladder and capture a greater share of the economic rewards, thereby also benefiting workers and their states in terms of employment, income and taxation.

Symposium Introduction - Global Value Chains, Trade and Development

This online symposium is the outcome of a workshop on ‘GVCs, Trade and Development’ hosted by the Kent Law School and IEL collective in July 2020 and supported by the British Academy (Grant no. MD19\190020). The workshop engaged with the policy research literature produced by the World Trade Organisation and World Bank since 2013, in particular their Global Value Chain Development (GVCD) reports of 2017 and 2019.

Towards an African Approach to Free Trade in the Post-COVID-19 Era

The Agreement Establishing the AfCFTA is far more than just a trade agreement. It embodies long-held aspirations for an integrated Africa which, in the words of Ghana’s first Prime Minister and President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, would be better equipped to “tackle hopefully every emergency, every enemy and every complexity.” As one of the flagship projects of the AU’s Agenda 2063, the free trade initiative is envisioned as a pathway to an African renaissance in both economic and cultural terms. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the AfCFTA could integrate 55 African Union (AU) member states in a market of about 1.2 billion people with an estimated gross domestic product of US $ 2.5 trillion. Moreover, the area is expected to reflect the continent’s “common identity by celebrating our history and our vibrant culture.”

Justifying COVID-19 Exportation-Related Quantitative Restrictions within the framework of the World Trade Organization Law

The reading of the travaux préparatoires of Article XXI GATT indicates that the GATT Contracting Parties did not envisage that a global pandemic such as a virus could amount to a national security exception under the said Article. However, the drafters of GATT 1947 cannot be put to blame since no global health crisis has ever necessitated the applicability of the Article. The 2020 Corona virus (Covid 19) is an example of a global health crisis. In response to the crisis and in a bid to protect their nationals, states are restricting the exportation of medical related equipment. This amounts to quantitative restrictions which is a violation of the World Trade Organisation rules of trade. This paper analyses such measures in lieu of WTO member’s obligations.

Environmental Protection under Bilateral Investment Treaties

Although developing countries are very eager to attract FDI through BITs, for most parts, they deliberately water down the environmental concerns. However, recently we have witnessed the incorporation of environmental standards and provisions in BITs. This ambitious effort however is usually frustrated by decisions of international arbitration tribunals.

Can Transnational Private Regulation Facilitate Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?

This essay highlights the traditional, hybrid and private regulation-inspired approaches through which the private sector arguably facilitates the achievement of the SDGs. Private regulation is not a silver bullet in the global quest for sustainable development, considering the inherent legal, administrative, institutional and political concerns. However, seeing the private sector as a partner in rule making and enforcement opens a realm of possibility in terms of possible collaborative models among stakeholders towards achieving the SDGs.

Symposium on Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, Investment, and Inequality

In short, the SDGs and its interesting set of targets are a fertile ground not only to reimagine past UN led decade themed goals and their implications for (sustainable) development, but, to also situate them in contemporary discourse of the activities of nations, transnational corporations and other non-state actors. As part of the 2019 Purdy Crawford Workshop, the contributions to the symposium on “Sustainable Development Goals, Trade, Investment, and Inequality” critically examine these goals from the vantage point of each contributor’s scholarly expertise.

Promoting Investment in the Renewable Energy Sector: Concluding Remarks and Future Legal Research Agenda

The blog posts presented in this symposium indicate that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the renewable energy (RE) sector is desirable to support decarbonisation and clean energy transformation in developing countries such as Nigeria. Despite the enormous potential for RE based on the natural conditions in Nigeria, there is high level of energy poverty and low level of investments in RE sector by both government and private investors.