Author: dariopiselli

First two webinars of the 2019 EULawSD Webinar Series announced

Posted on by dariopiselli in EULawSD Module, Events and Opportunities

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The academic staff of the Jean Monnet Module in European Union Law and Sustainable Development is honoured to announce the first two webinars of the 2019 EULawSD Webinar Series. On April 4th (at 3pm CET), we will host Marianne Kettunen, Principal Policy Analyst and Head of the Programme on Global Challenges and SDGs for the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP). Kettunen will discuss the current prospects for SDG implementation in the European Union in the light of the recent Reflection Paper ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030‘, published by the European Commission in order to highlight different strategies and priorities for the further incorporation the 2030 Agenda in the policies and actions of European institutions and the Union’s member states.

On April 26th (at 12pm CET), Gabriela A. Oanta, Associate Professor of Public International Law at Universidade da Coruña and Director of its University Institute for European Studies, will instead deliver a lecture on whether the European Union’s current approach to negotiating Fisheries Partnership Agreements with third countries can contribute to (or undermine) global efforts to achieve SDG 14 on ‘Life Below Water’.

Both webinars will be visible live on our YouTube channel.

Riccardo Pavoni joins Global Strike for Future’s Siena event

Posted on by dariopiselli in EULawSD Module, Events and Opportunities

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The Jean Monnet Module in European Union Law and Sustainable Development is pleased to announce its support for the Global Strike for Future, taking place on 15 March 2019 thanks to the efforts of thousands of students and young climate activists from around the world.

On that occasion, coordinator Prof Riccardo Pavoni will join students from the Siena chapter of the Fridays for Future movement and participate in a public panel in which he will discuss the actions that the European Union needs to take to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and mitigate climate change by 2030.

You can learn more about the Siena event at the following link: https://www.facebook.com/events/4729152600771646/.

UNAB celebrates the visiting professorship of EULawSD’s Riccardo Pavoni

Posted on by dariopiselli in Collaborations and Partnerships

Tertulia 11.2.2019

Following his recent visiting professorship, the Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB) has taken time to acknowledge the contribution of EULawSD academic coordinator Riccardo Pavoni in advancing the teaching of sustainable development in international and EU law at the Colombian institution.

In an article on its website, UNAB quoted Prof Pavoni as saying that ‘institutions need to design public policies that take all three pillars of sustainable development into account,’ and particularly make sure that economic policies always ‘incorporate principles, actions and provisions on environmental protection,’ thus reflecting the integrated vision contained in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in September 2015.

The full web article (in Spanish) is available below.

El docente de derecho internacional y europeo, además de ser coordinador de Erasmus +, Riccardo Pavoni, visitó la UNAB como parte de las actividades de intercambio entre esta institución y dicho programa de la Unión Europea, que tiene como fin brindar apoyo a la educación, formación, juventud y deporte en ese continente.

En su ponencia sobre el principio del desarrollo sostenible en el derecho internacional y el derecho europeo, Pavoni explicó que hay que conciliar el desarrollo económico con la protección del medio ambiente, y para ello es importante que se encuentre el equilibrio entre tres pilares: ecológico, social y económico.

“Las instituciones tienen que proporcionar políticas públicas, medidas que tengan en cuenta todos los pilares, no solamente de manera destacada, el pilar económico y no el ambiental, por ejemplo. Si hay una medida o una ley que conserve la economía o el mercado, esta ley económica tiene que integrar principios, medidas y disposiciones de protección ambiental”, señaló.

Asimismo, habló sobre los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), los cuales, según él, si se implementan de manera integrada y no destacada, serán un gran éxito para la humanidad.

Pavoni destacó también el papel fundamental de las universidades en este proceso. “Es claro que es un desarrollo sostenible global que se debe hacer a nivel local. Si no hay un nivel local que implemente los objetivos, no podemos ver el impacto global. Desde las universidades se puede hacer mucho en materia de desafíos. Hay muchas acciones prácticas, pequeñas, que sumadas pueden conducir a un desarrollo sostenible”, indicó.

Desde 2018, la UNAB es una de las 49 instituciones educativas que hace parte del Pacto Mundial de Naciones Unidas que promueve principios para lograr el desarrollo sostenible y el cumplimiento de los ODS.

UNAB Tertulia 11.2-2019

European Commission’s Reflection Paper on a Sustainable Europe by 2030 is out!

Posted on by dariopiselli in EU News and Info, Sustainable Development Goals

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On 30 January, the European Commission has finally presented its long-awaited reflection paper on implementing the 2030 Agenda in the EU, which was originally expected in the first half of 2018. The paper, titled ‘Towards a Sustainable Europe by 2030‘, discusses the key policy foundations and horizontal enablers needed to achieve a sustainable Europe by 2030. In addition, the paper presents and analyses three possible scenarios that could shape a Union-wide strategy on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and namely: (i) an overarching SDG strategy to guide all the actions of the EU and its member states; (ii) a continued mainstreaming of the SDGs in the policies of the Commission, without enforcement at the member states’ level; and (iii) a consolidation of existing policies, coupled with an increased focus on the SDGs in the external action of the EU.

In its preliminary assessment of the paper, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) has welcomed the urgency and wide scope of the Commission’s work, while also emphasising that only the adoption of the first proposed scenario would be able to deliver on the EU’s commitments by 2030. Moreover, the IEEP recommended a series of concrete policy actions that would be required to implement (and improve upon) the policy foundations and horizontal enablers identified by the Commission.

Visiting professorship of Riccardo Pavoni at UNAB

Posted on by dariopiselli in EU News and Info

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We are happy to announce that EULawSD Coordinator Riccardo Pavoni will be visiting professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga in Colombia from 4 to 18 February. He will develiver a series of lectures and presentations covering international and European law on environmental human rights, the principle of sustainable development, and EU citizenship rights and the protection of the environment. The visiting professorship is financed by the EU Erasmus+ programme and it will certainly benefit the development of our EULawSD activities.

In the document below, you can find the final calendar of Prof Pavoni’s teaching activities at UNAB.

EULawSD Academic Coordinator at UNESCO Expert Meeting on World Heritage in the High Seas

Posted on by dariopiselli in Sustainable Development Goals

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In bid to boost global biodiversity conservation, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre is convening an Expert Meeting on the Protection of World Heritage in the High Seas, to which EULawSD Academic Coordinator Riccardo Pavoni has been invited. 

Right in the aftermath of EULawSD Keynote Lecture by Prof Giuseppe Cataldi (University of Napoli L’Orientale) on law-of-the-sea-issues, we are happy to announce that EULawSD academic coordinator, Prof Riccardo Pavoni, has been invited by UNESCO World Heritage Centre to take part in a forthcoming expert meeting on ‘Protecting sites of potential Outstanding Universal Value in the High Seas: the practical modalities’.

The Meeting (Monte Carlo, 11-12 December) will examine the legal and policy options available to extend the World Heritage Convention (WHC) List to those marine sites located in areas beyond national jurisdiction that are of exceptional value in terms of biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability, such as the Costa Rica Thermal Dome or the Sargasso Sea. It follows the publication, by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), of the 2016 report on World Heritage in the High Seas: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.

The meeting takes place at a time where international processes and initiatives on marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, which are crucial to the realization of SDG 14, are intensifying. It may in particular take advantage of the momentum created by the parallel negotiations of a treaty instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (this Intergovernmental Conference held its first session last September).

Synergy between the UNCLOS process and the UNESCO WHC process may translate into a significant factor paving the way for successful outcomes for the protection of our oceans, their sites of outstanding universal value, and the precious biodiversity they contain.

Publication of ASviS Report 2018

Posted on by dariopiselli in Sustainable Development Goals

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On October 4th, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS) launched its 2018 Report on “Italy and the Sustainable Development Goals” during a public event hosted by the Chamber of Deputies of Italy.

The Report has four main components. First, it presents an update of the international efforts that are currently being promoted at the United Nations and European level in order to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Second, it assesses Italy’s progress towards the achievement of the SDGs, discussing the recent policies of the Italian government, the ongoing evolution of the legislative framework, and the wide range of initiatives proposed by civil society. Third, it focuses on the sub-national dimension of SDG implementation, suggesting the need to more effectively localise the Goals and analysing current progresses and challenges at the level of cities and regions. Lastly, it highlights ASviS’s proposals to accelerate Italy’s transition to a sustainable development trajectory through cross-sectoral and systemic actions.

With respect to the European Union, the Report introduces a set of composite indicators (first presented in July 2018) to collate data from EUROSTAT’s monitoring reports and more immediately illustrate the situation of SDG implementation in the EU. In doing so, the Report shows that moderate or significant progress across nine Goals has gone hand in hand with a worrying negative trend for Goal 15 (Life on Land) and Goal 10 (Reduced Inequalities), affecting the chances of the EU and its member states to achieve the 2030 Agenda in its entirety.

SDGs 15 and 10

Even more importantly, the Report suggests that European institutions have so far failed to accelerate the pace of change, in a wider context characterised by geopolitical insecurities and rising clashes between EU member states. According to ASviS, the periodic announcements of the European Commission have not yet translated into an expected EU-wide strategy for achieving the SDGs, despite positive developments including the newly-adopted European Pillar of Social Rights, the 2018 Circular Economy Package, and the actions taken to implement the recommendations of the High-level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.

From this perspective, ASviS also recalls the resolution of the European Parliament of May 31st, which criticised the failure to effectively integrate the SDGs into existing proposals for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027). At the same time, however, the Report highlights the wide range of initiatives being undertaken by civil society organisations and businesses (including through the work of the Multi-stakeholder platform on SDGs), and notes the fundamental role that these actors can play in pushing the EU on the sustainable development trajectory required to implement the 2030 Agenda.

Read the ASviS Report (Italian)
Read ASviS’s Press Release (Italian)
Watch the launch event on Facebook

EULawSD to co-host keynote lecture on human rights and the environment in the Inter-american System

Posted on by dariopiselli in EULawSD Module, Events and Opportunities

Julian Eduardo Prada Uribe

The EULawSD staff is honored to announce that on October 24th at 10.00am it will co-host Prof. Julian Eduardo Prada Uribe (Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga), for a keynote lecture on “Medio Ambiente y Derechos Humanos en el Sistema Interoamericano de Derechos Humanos“.

The lecture, which will focus on the interplay between human rights and the environment at a time of critical developments within the Inter-american System of human rights, will take place in the Aula Vitale of the University of Siena’s Plesso San Francesco (Piazza San Francesco 7, 53100 Siena, Italy). It is co-organized with the Jean Monnet Module on The Europeanization of Constitutional Law, coordinated by Prof Tania Groppi.

Prof Julian Eduardo Prada Uribe is a full time associate professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga (UNAB) since January 2010. He has been the academic coordinator of the Law School of the UNAB from 2013 to 2017 and previously worked as legal counsel in Bucaramanga for a number of years.

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The keynote lectures of the EULawSD Module are public events aimed at exposing the course participants to a leading figure (scholar, expert or practitioner) in EU or international law and sustainable development, which touch on the most relevant issues and challenges in the field while also focusing on key themes that will be different each year. The 2-hour lectures seek to raise awareness among the general public about the importance of the EU in realizing the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

You can join the event page on Facebook here.

New EULawSD Webinar announced: Enrico Giovannini on the SDGs and the future of the European Union

Posted on by dariopiselli in EULawSD Module, Events and Opportunities

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The EULawSD academic staff is proud to announce that the fourth session of the 2018 EULawSD Webinar Series will take place on 16 October 2018 at 10.00am CEST. For the session, we will have the pleasure of hosting Enrico Giovannini, Full Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Spokesperson of ASviS, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development. 

A former Chief Statistician at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Minister for Labor and Social Policies of Italy in 2013-2014, Prof Giovannini will analyse the challenges facing Italy and the European Union in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In doing so, Prof Giovannini will also illustrate the findings of the 2018 ASviS Annual Report and discuss the current and future efforts of European institutions towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The webinar will be visible live on our YouTube channel, and will be recorded at this link for future viewing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC0sMl1hmRM. Set a reminder to save the date!

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About Enrico Giovannini:
Enrico Giovannini is an Italian economist and statistician, member of the Club of Rome. Since 2002 he is full professor of economic statistics at the Rome University “Tor Vergata”. He is professor of public management at the LUISS University, Senior Fellow of the LUISS School of European Political Economy, Visiting Fellow at the European Political Strategy Centre of the European Commission, Vice-president of the High Level Group on Competitiveness and Growth of the European Council, Member of the European Statistical Governance Advisory Board (ESGAB) responsible for supervising the functioning of the European Statistical System, Co-chair of the “Independent Expert Advisory Group on the Data Revolution for Sustainable Development” established by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Member of the “Commission économique de la Nation” established by the French government.

From 28th April 2013 to 22 February 2014 he was Minister of Labour and Social Policies in the Italian Government. From August 2009 to April 2013 he was President of the Italian Statistical Institute (Istat). From January 2001 to July 2009 he was Director of Statistics and Chief Statistician of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He is author of more than ninety articles on statistical and economic topics, as well as four books.

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About the EULawSD Webinar Series:
The EULawSD Webinar Series complements the teaching activities of the Jean Monnet Module in European Union Law and Sustainable Development hosted by the Università degli Studi di Siena. Each webinar is aimed at fostering outreach to (and debate with) the general public on highly relevant European issues, and offers all interested citizens the opportunity to engage with leading experts and practitioners in the fields of European Union law and governance, sustainability science, international economics, and many more.

For more information about our speakers, visit https://eulawsd.org/videos/eulawsd-webinars/

2018 EUROSTAT Monitoring Report highlights mixed progress on SDGs

Posted on by dariopiselli in EU News and Info, Sustainable Development Goals

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On 18 September, EUROSTAT issued the 2018 version of “Sustainable Development in the European Union“, its monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in an EU context. The Report is complemented by a range of additional materials, including a short brochure providing a visual summary of the Report’s findings, the “SDGs & Me” digital publication, a series of Statistics Explained articles on individual SDGs, and a revamped EUROSTAT’s website section dedicated to the Goals.

The 2018 Report highlights significant progress on Goal 3 (“Good Health & Well-being”, Goal 4 (“Quality Education”) and Goal 7 (“Affordable and Clean Energy”), as well as moderate progress for eight additional goals. However, the Report also underscores a worrying shift away from a sustainable development trajectory for Goal 10 (“Reduced inequalities”), owing to the ongoing rise of income inequality within EU member states.  Moreover, EUROSTAT continues to be unable to track trends for Goal 6 (“Clean Water and Sanitation”), Goal 13 (“Climate Action”), Goal 14 (“Life Below Water”) and Goal 16 (“Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions”), due to the conspicuous absence of reliable data over the past five years. Lastly, broad progress on a Goal is in some cases hiding insufficient progress, or even negative developments, for specific areas within that Goal.

Overall, the EUROSTAT Report follows the evidence presented in July by the 2018 SDG Index & Dashboards Report of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), suggesting that the EU is not on track to meet all 17 SDGs by 2030 and that the level of ambition should be raised on the part of both EU member states and European institutions.