The University of Bristol Law School's Centre for Environmental Law and Sustainability and the Centre for Health Law and Society are pleased to be co-hosting a symposium on Climate, Health and the Law. 

 

To register for this event please use the registration form.

As the impacts of climate change such as extreme heat and flooding become more severe, the consequences for human health and wellbeing are being brought into much sharper focus. These health impacts include increased heat-related mortality and morbidity, a wider spread of vector-borne and water-borne diseases, impacts on mobility, and on mental health and wellbeing. A wave of recent climate cases including judicial review claims in the UK, human rights cases at the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, along with many more around the globe have raised the health impacts of climate change in order to hold governments to account for their climate policy decisions.

Through this event, we aim to facilitate the interdisciplinary sharing of knowledge and ideas between those working on climate-related health impacts and attribution (including climate modellers and health policy experts), those working to inform the development of policy, and those examining legal responses, including practitioners bringing human rights and health related claims before the courts. Climate change and health is now a strategic research priority for the University of Bristol, led by the Cabot Institute for the Environment and the Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research.

This sharing of ideas will enable more informed approaches to research and practice, particularly from the perspective of current climate policy reform, developing more impactful research capable of responding to policy gaps. It also aims to enable the more informed development of future climate litigation strategies by drawing on current scientific and policy developments and identifying gaps where litigation could be used to prompt future action.

The event brings together the following speakers:

• Professor Sébastien Jodoin (Faculty of Law, McGill University)
• Professor Dann Mitchell (School of Geography, University of Bristol)
• Dr Sarah Bell (European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter)  
• Andy Shipley (European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter)
• Dr Ed Kirton-Darling (University of Bristol Law School)
• Dr Alice Venn (University of Bristol Law School)
• Will Rundle (Head of Legal, Friends of the Earth)

Professor Sébastien Jodoin will be delivering a keynote address on the topic of 'Disability-Focused Climate Litigation: Trends, Opportunities, and Barriers’ and this will be followed by two panel discussions on the following topics:

Panel 1: Exploring climate-related health impacts and their policy implications

Panel 2: Legal responses and litigation

The panel discussions will be chaired by Dr Alix Dietzel (University of Bristol School of Politics, Sociology and International Studies) and Professor Elen Stokes (University of Bristol Law School). 

The keynote address and each panel discussion will be followed by Q&A and discussion opportunities with the audience.

Light refreshments will be provided.