Social and legal aspects of the environment

Environmental issues, such as pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss or landscape degradation, function not only as biophysical realities but also as social ones, which are shaped by, and shape, social structures, discourses, worldviews, and power dynamics. Within this complex socio-ecological system, law is a central, yet interdependent component, interacting dynamically with institutions, norms, and behaviors to either consolidate unsustainable and inequitable pathways or catalyse transformative change for a more sustainable future. This master-level course analyses the role of social forces, with particular attention to law, in hindering or enabling the societal shift toward sustainability. The course aims both to develop a critical understanding of the socio-legal systems and to foster the knowledge and skills required for students’ intervention in pressing environmental challenges.

No prerequisites are required.

Block I: The approach
* Course outline and expectations (Moving from studying law as a rule to examining law as a site of struggle. What does it mean to study the social and legal aspects of the environment?)
* Multiplicity of environmental issues, nexus and polycrisis (What environmental issues exist in the world today? What connects these issues?)
* From ‘Environmental problems’ to ‘Transformations for sustainability’ (What are socio-ecological systems? Why is it important to consider issues in the framework of sustainability rather than environmental protection?)

Block II: Tools
* Governing Complexity (What features characterise our time? How do we need to govern in such times? Wicked problems, Risk, Precaution, Adaptive governance.)
* Environmental Law (What are the foundational principles, legal instruments, and justice concepts that constitute the core framework of modern environmental law?)
* Law and Society (What is/are the roles of law and policy? Is law a lever in transformation or a barrrier?)
* Power and Equity (How does law prioritise competing interests and what are the consequences of that prioritization? Is the law a neutral tool for solving environmental problems, or is it a weapon in political struggles; can it be both?)

Block III: Themes
* Environment and human rights
* Rights of nature
* Pollution
* Biodiversity and conservation of nature
* Climate change
* Conservation of cultural and natural heritage, indigenous lands and knowledge

Block IV: From understanding to acting
* Diagnosing a socio-legal system (Mapping stakeholders, laws, power dynamics, and barriers to change using all course tools.)
* Design an intervention in the area of interest/in a selected challenge

By the end of this course, the students will be able to:
* Understand key concepts in socio-legal and sustainability studies (e.g., law, policy, regulation, governance, socio-ecological systems, equity, participation, resilience, transformative change).
* Explain the interrelationships between legal instruments, social dynamics, and specific environmental issues.
* Apply interdisciplinary approaches to analyze the socio-legal dimensions of contemporary cases, conflicts, or policies.
* Propose a possible or coherent intervention strategy that addresses the socio-legal root causes of a sustainability challenge.

ARTICLES

• Ostrom, E. "A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems" in Science (2009) E-version
• Dewulf, A., & Biesbroek, R. (2018). "Nine lives of uncertainty in decision-making: Strategies for dealing with uncertainty in environmental governance." Policy and Society, 37(4), 441–458. E-version
• Head, B. W., & Alford, J. (2015). "Wicked Problems: Implications for Public Policy and Management." Administration & Society, 47(6), 711–739. E-version
• Stone, D. (2019). "Making global policy." Global Policy, 10(S2), 5-19.
• Termeer, C. J. A. M., Dewulf, A., & Van Lieshout, M. (2010). "Disentangling scale approaches in governance research: comparing monocentric, multilevel, and adaptive governance." Ecology and Society, 15(4), 29. E-version
• Gearty, C., ‘Do Human Rights Help or Hinder Environmental Protection?’, 1 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment 7, 2010. E-version
• Purdy, J. “The Politics of Nature: Climate Change, Environmental Law, and Democracy” 119 Yale Law Journal 1122-1209 (2010) E-version
• Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2011).
• Fisher, E., Lange, B., Scotford, E., & Carlarne, C. (2019). Environmental Law: Text, Cases & Materials (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. Chapter 1, Part 1: "What is 'Environmental Law'?" (Sections 1.1 - 1.3).
• Julia Black, "Critical Reflections on Regulation" in Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy (2002) E-version
• Soininen, N., Romppanen, S., Huhta, K. and Belinskij, A., “A brake or an accelerator? The role of law in sustainability transitions” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions (2021), Volume 41. E-version
• O’Donnell, E. L., & Talbot-Jones, J. (2018). "Creating legal rights for rivers: lessons from Australia, New Zealand, and India" in Ecology and Society E-version

REPORTS

• IPBES (2024). Thematic Assessment Report on the Underlying Causes of Biodiversity Loss and the Determinants of Transformative Change and Options for Achieving the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. O’Brien, K., Garibaldi, L., and Agrawal, A. (eds.). IPBES secretariat, Bonn, Germany. E-version
• Unpacking the Right to a Healthy Environment: How national and regional laws and jurisprudence clarify the scope and content of the universal right, 2023, E-version
• IPCC, 2023: Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, H. Lee and J. Romero (eds.). IPCC, Geneva, pp. 35-115, doi:10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647 E-version
• Setzer, Joana, and Higham, Catherine (2023) Global trends in climate change litigation: 2023 snapshot. Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London, UK. E-version

BOOKS

• Leichenko, Robin and O'Brien, Karen, Climate and Society: Transforming the Future, 2nd Edition (Polity, 2024)
• Fisher, Elizabeth, Bettina Lange, and Eloise Scotford (eds) Environmental Law: Text, Cases & Materials (Oxford University Press, 2019), https://doi.org/10.1093/he/9780198811077.003.0018. E-version
• Coplan, Green and Fisher et al. (eds) Climate Change Law: An Introduction (Edward Elgar, 2020)
• Meguro M. (2020) Litigating climate change through international law: Obligations strategy and rights strategy. Leiden Journal of International Law. 33(4):933-951. doi:10.1017/S0922156520000473 E-version
• Krämer, L. and Badger, C. Krämer’s EU Environmental Law (Hart, 2024) – 1 - Objectives, Principles and Conditions; 2. Actors, Instruments and Decision-Making Procedures; 9. Climate change

50% regular engagement notes (short paragraph critically engaging with a key concept, argument, or tension from the week's readings) , 50% presentation at the end of the course (15-minute live presentation followed by Q&A, accompanied by a concise slide deck with 3-5 slides and a one-page summary)

Jerneja Penca is a Senior Research Fellow at the Science and Research Centre Koper and Head of its Mediterranean Institute for Environmental Studies. She researches aspects of governance of socio-ecological systems at global, regional (EU, Mediterranean) and national levels. Her research covers various regimes, including biodiversity, climate change, energy, fisheries and plastic pollution. She is strongly committed to the exchange between the scientific community and policy makers in order to inform policy decisions and shape research questions, including via the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the MedECC and other science-policy interfaces. She holds a PhD in International Law from the European University Institute in Florence, a Master's degree in Environmental Law from the University of Nottingham, UK, and a BA in International Relations from the University of Ljubljana. Her bibliography is available at https://bib.cobiss.net/biblioweb/biblio/si/slv/cris/38797

Research areas: Environmental and Sustainability Governance; Transnational Environmental Law; Biodiversity Governance; Interdisciplinary Marine Sciences and Sustainable Blue Economy; Science-Policy Interface.

Recent publications:
• DARNAUDE, Audrey, TANNER, Susanne E., BLANCO, Andreu, STURROCK, Anna M., SEKER, Yael Teff, PÉREZ-RUZAFA, Angel, KOTTA, Jonne, GUY-HAIM, Tamar, BARBOZA, Francisco R., HIDALGO, Manuel, GUIZIEN, Katell, PENCA, Jerneja, et al. Shaping research in marine functional connectivity for integrated and effective marine science and management. Biological reviews. 2026, vol. 101, iss. 3, str. 1143-1180.
• PENCA, Jerneja, CRNČEC, Danijel, LOVEC, Marko. Planning for renewable energy without conflict : the potential of using sensitivity mapping as a decision-support tool. Journal of environmental policy & planning. 2025, vol. 27, no. 5, str. 524-542
• PENCA, Jerneja, ERTÖR, Irmak, BALLESTEROS, Marta, BRIGUGLIO, Michael, KOWALEWSKI, Maciej, PAUKSZTAT, Birgit, CEPIĆ, Dražen, PIÑEIRO-CORBEIRA, Cristina, VAIDIANU, Natașa, PASCUAL-FERNÁNDEZ, Jose. Rethinking the Blue Economy : integrating social science for sustainability and justice. npj ocean sustainability. 2025, no. 4, str. 1-6.
• PENCA, Jerneja. Biodiversity offset mechanisms and compensation for loss from exceptional to popular : rediscovering environmental law. Journal of international wildlife law and policy. 2024, vol. 27, no. 3, str. 137-160