Online: Regulating Air Quality - A Discussion on the UNEP Report

About this event

This webinar discussed the recently launched UNEP report on ‘Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation’.
 
The report - co-authored by Prof Eloise Scotford (UCL) and Prof Delphine Misonne (USL) - outlines findings of a study of air quality legislation in 194 countries and the European Union. Using the 2005 Air Quality Guidelines developed by the Word Health Organization as a starting point, the report examines the legal measures for determining whether air quality standards are being met and what legal obligations and processes exist for failure to meet them. The report emphasizes that robust air quality governance is critical to attaining air quality standards and public health goals. This includes legislation for air quality control which integrates accountability, enforceability, transparency, and public participation. The report provides recommendations to assist countries in strengthening air quality governance and serves as a resource for countries wishing to effectively address air pollution and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Speakers include

• Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, UNEP
• Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
• Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles (USL-B)
• Prof Ally Lewis, University of York

Chair:
Dr Isra Black

The programme and slides

• Introduction and background to the project - Professor Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Director, Law Division, UNEP
• A Model for Air Quality Governance and Report Key Findings - Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
  
  File

  ucl-air-quality_scotford_slides.pdf

• The International Law Picture for Air Quality and Report Key Findings - Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles (USL-B)
  
  File

  ucl-air-quality_missone_slides.pdf

• Reflections on the Report from Air Quality Science and Policy - Prof Ally Lewis, University of York
  
  File

  ucl-air-quality_lewis_slides.pdf

About the speakers

Prof Eloise Scotford, UCL
Eloise Scotford is Professor of Environmental Law in the Faculty of Laws and Centre for Law and Environment, University College London.  Professor Scotford is a leading scholar on the legal treatment of environmental principles (Environmental Principles and the Evolution of Environmental Law (Hart 2017)), air quality law, climate change governance, waste law, and legislative processes concerning the environment. She co-authors Fisher, Lange & Scotford, Environmental Law: Text, Cases and Materials (2nd, OUP 2019). In 2018-20, she held a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant to investigate air quality governance in England. Through 2019 and 2020, Professor Scotford appeared before various UK parliamentary committees to give evidence on new post-Brexit environmental legislation across the UK, including in relation to air quality law. She is co-author of the 2021 UNEP Report on global air pollution legislation (Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation). Professor Scotford is an Associate Member of Landmark Chambers, a member of the Avosetta group of EU environmental law experts, and co-chairs the UK Environmental Law Association’s Governance and Devolution Group.

Prof Delphine Misonne, Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles
Delphine Misonne, PhD, LL.M, is FNRS Research Associate ( Belgian Fund for Scientific research), professor of environmental law and head of the Environmental Law Center (CEDRE) at Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles. She holds a chair on “Droit, gouvernance et développement durable” and is special adviser to the head of the University on sustainability issues. Her research addresses the legal determinants of ambition ( level of protection) in environmental matters, at the junction of different legal orders, with a strong base in European Union Law. She is a leading scholar on climate change governance and ambient air quality issues, as demonstrated by various publications and recent invitations to speak before the Belgian Federal Parliament. She is a board member of the Environmental Law Network International (ELNI) and a Board member of the Belgian Council for Sustainable Development, where she currently chairs the product policies group. She is keen to develop research on an interdisciplinary basis. She is co-author of the 2021 UNEP Report on global air pollution legislation (Regulating Air Quality: The First Global Assessment of Air Pollution Legislation). Delphine Misonne is also a King’s College London alumna.

Prof Ally Lewis, University of York
Alastair Lewis is professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York and a Science Director at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. He is currently Chair of the Defra Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG).  Prof Lewis is an experimental scientist who has studied the composition of the atmosphere and the impacts of pollution from polar regions to megacities, open oceans to tropical forests. He recently led a major bilateral UK-China research and policy collaboration on improving air quality in Beijing. Prof Lewis has been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry John Jeyes Prize for Environment, Energy and Sustainability and its Silver Medal for Analytical Science. He has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles on air pollution and related science and has been a member of science advisory boards for the World Meteorological Organisation and UN-Environment.

Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote
Patricia Kameri-Mbote is the Director of the Law Division, of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Previously, Patricia was Founding Research Director of the International Environmental Law Research Centre (IELRC) and was the Programme Director for Africa for over 20 years. Patricia has in-depth knowledge and experience in environmental law acquired at local, national, regional, and international levels. She has consulted for UNEP in the review of programmes, legal instruments, and the rules of engagement of major groups. She has been engaged in the Montevideo Environmental Law Programme since 2007 and is a member of the Governing Board of the International Council on Environmental Law (ICEL). Patricia is a member of the Senior Counsel Bar in Kenya and has been a Professor of Law at the School of Law, University of Nairobi, where she has taught for over 30 years and served as Dean. She has also taught environmental law at Kansas University, University of Zimbabwe, and Stellenbosch University.  She served as chair of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers in African Universities and has contributed to the development of similar initiatives for North Africa and Middle East and for judges. Patricia holds doctorate (1999) and Masters’ (1996) degrees in law from Stanford University and a higher doctorate from the University of Nairobi (2019). She also holds a Masters’ degree from Warwick University (1989) and was awarded an honorary degree in law by the University of Oslo (UiO) in 2017.

Watch the recording