Call for Papers: The United Nations ‘Rio+20’ Conference on Sustainable Development: Appraisal and Prospects of a Paradigmatic Concept

The European Society of International Law's Interest Groups on International Environmental Law and on International Economic Law have issued a call for papers for a joint workshop on "The United Nations ‘Rio+20’ Conference on Sustainable Development: Appraisal and Prospects of a Paradigmatic Concept," to be held on September 12, 2012, in Valencia (just prior to the ESIL Biennial Conference). Here's the call:

The United Nations ‘Rio+20’ Conference on Sustainable Development:

Appraisal and Prospects of a Paradigmatic Concept

1st Joint Workshop of the ESIL Interest Groups on International Environmental Law and on International Economic Law

12th SEPTEMBER 2012

Call for papers- deadline 23rd April 2012

The ESIL Interest Groups on International Environmental Law and on International Economic Law are pleased to announce that the celebration of their First Joint Workshop will take place in the afternoon of Wednesday 12 th September 2012 (between 6-8pm), that is, the night before the opening session of the Fifth ESIL Biennial Conference, to be held in Valencia (Spain) on September 13-15 th 2012. The group convenors hereby invite the submission of abstracts on the theme of « The United Nations ‘Rio+20’ Conference on Sustainable Development: Appraisal and Prospects of a Paradigmatic Concept ».

Websites of the groups available at: www.esilgiel.wordpress.com (Interest Group on International Environmental Law); and http://inteurlaw.uni-goettingen.de/esil-iel/ (Interest Group on International Economic Law).

1) THE TOPIC

Twenty years after the 1992 Rio Summit on Environment and Development and ten years after the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, the international community will again gather on 4-6 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (information available at: www.uncsd2012.org). The objective of this major meeting is to renew and secure political commitment on sustainable development, a paradigmatic concept which has driven the exponential normative development of international environmental law and has become the main policy framework for global development in the last decades. As emerges from the preparatory work of the Rio+ 20 Conference, the summit will likely focus on two themes: green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication; and institutional framework for sustainable development.

Rather than discussing the outcome of the Rio+20 Conference, this Joint Workshop will seek to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the concept of sustainable development itself. We therefore invite the submission of abstracts which: 1) appraise the historical process of implementation of the concept of sustainable development, exploring its prospects and future evolutions; and/or 2) propose a critical approach to the notion of sustainable development, reflecting on the inherent and unveiled shortcomings of the concept.

2) APPLICATION PROCEDURE

The event will open with a statement by an invited speaker. This will be followed by three papers selected on the basis of this call for papers. Prominent scholars from both International Environmental Law and International Economic Law will run the Joint Workshop. Papers presented at the workshop will be selected through a competitive process. The selection process will be based exclusively on scholarly merit and priority will be given to unpublished papers and work in progress. We welcome proposals from professionals, academics and graduate students, and remain open to proposals which may challenge the importance given by this workshop to the notion of sustainable development as a central issue in the future development of IEL.

Each submission should include the following:

- An abstract of no more than 400 words in English or French.

- A short CV in English or French.

Applications should be submitted to both Peter-Tobias Stoll at PT.Stoll@jur.uni-goettingen.de and Alejandra Torres Camprubí at atorrescamprubi@yahoo.es, in WORD (version 1999-2007) or PDF format. Please write “Proposal 2012 Joint Event Workshop” in the subject of the email.

3) DEADLINE

The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday, 23 rd April 2012. The outcome of the selection process will be notified to all applicants by Monday, 14 th May 2012. After selection, each presenter will be expected to produce a draft paper by Monday, 16 th July 2012 for circulation among the other workshop participants.

We look forward to receiving your contributions!

4) INQUIRIES

Further information about the groups’ activities can be found at the following websites. Please do not doubt to contact us should you have more questions or queries:

• Interest Group on International Environmental Law: Alejandra Torres Camprubí (atorrescamprubi@yahoo.es); and Mario Prost (m.prost@law.keele.ac.uk)
• Interest Group on International Economic Law: Peter-Tobias Stoll (PT.Stoll@jur.uni-goettingen.de); Luis Hinojosa Martínez (hinojosa@ugr.es), and Marion Panizzon (marion.panizzon@wti.org)