Literature Review

Many of the world's iconic, endangered and endemic species rely on large, contiguous landscapes for their survival. In the US West, working ranches are integral to large landscape conservation goals and there are numerous influences on ranchers' conservation actions, including their relational values, perceived self-efficacy and property rights concerns. Using survey data from 681 ranchers in eastern Idaho and western Montana, we sought to answer the question: How do relational values, property rights orientations, perceived efficacy and public lands dependence affect reported conservation actions on private ranch lands? Conservation adoption varied widely by action, with invasive plant removal having the highest (92%) and conifer removal the lowest (21%) rates of adoption. Conservation adoption was higher among ranchers who believe they are responsible for conserving nature, believe their land should be used to provide environmental benefits to the region, have higher perceived self-efficacy, lower property rights concerns and higher incomes. Programmes encouraging the adoption of conservation on private lands could benefit from message framing that resonates with the worldviews of landowners and land managers. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

This article situates the modern public trust doctrine (PTD) in contemporary trust law. Grounding the PTD in trust law leads to two important corollaries. First, the PTD planted in trust law imposes upon government actors and agencies trust law’s fiduciary duty of loyalty. In the context of the PTD, that duty of loyalty runs to the public as the beneficiary of the PTD. Second, faced with plausible claims that this fiduciary duty of loyalty to the public has been violated, courts should apply trust law’s de novo standard of review to those administrative and legislative decisions alleged to impair public trust resources. Such searching review stems from recognition that public trustees of the environment invariably confront conflict between their fiduciary obligation of loyalty to the public and the private interests which seek to capture such trustees and the natural resources they control.

Climate change can be litigated through tort, common law, statute/policy, public trust doctrine or human rights among others. While climate change litigation appears to have developed in states of the Global North, its use is still relatively recent in states of the Global South. Nor has it been seriously considered from the perspective of international tribunals from the Global South. Therefore, this study examines a human rights approach to climate change litigation in the Economic Community of West African States Court of Justice (ECOWAS Court). This study finds that there are some developments in certain jurisdictions which make a human rights approach promising in terms of locus standi, justiciability, causation and separation of powers and that they can be related to the jurisprudence of the ECOWAS Court. It also finds that the doctrine of exhaustion of local remedies does not apply to the ECOWAS Court. Based on these findings, it is argued that a human rights approach can be successfully deployed to litigate climate change before the ECOWAS Court and that it can wake up West African States from their lethargy in terms of policy on, and treatment of, climate issues. The study concludes that individuals and NGOs may adopt a human rights approach before the ECOWAS Court to influence policy change and/or state behaviour in West African States.

The proposed EU Nature Restoration Law is an ambitious attempt to resolve the gaps in the existing EU Biodiversity Law. It introduces targets to restore 20% of Member States´ land and sea territory, with upscaling deadlines, whilst prescribing a more holistic perspective on biodiversity recovery, as targets affect, e.g. agricultural and urban ecosystems. However, the broad scope of these targets has raised concerns among some Member States regarding potential conflicts with private property rights, including land ownership, established hunting rights, and fishing permits. Nevertheless, it is essential to ensure that the complexity of property rights does not hinder nature restoration efforts within the EU. Consequently, the debate surrounding property rights and environmental protection has gained increased relevance. This chapter examines the tensions and synergies between the proposed restoration targets outlined in the Commission Proposal and the protection of private property. In summary, it concludes that while tensions may exist, they are often overstated, while there is a significant (though less-discussed) potential for synergies.

Knowledge capital is an intangible asset, is saved and preserved under the Intellectual property rights acts. Intellectual properties include trademark, designs, copy rights, geographical indicators and patent. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the idea that businesses should take into account the interests of society by being accountable for how their operations affect customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the environment. The goal of every organization is to maximise shareholder dividends, for that the organisation can use the company's rights and power through intellectual property rights. The IPR acts helps the individual to file and register their assets legally. Through this study, it was found that during the years of 2015-20, the trend of increase in number applications filed and registered for the intellectual property. Also studied various companies CSR activities in connection with the Intellectual property rights.

Water scarcity is a perennial problem with dire consequences for the United States and governments around the world. A lack of adequate water resources is a systematic cause of environmental harm, economic damage, and societal division. Climate change has exacerbated these problems making water even more essential and more attractive for large investors.

Habitat is “[t]he physical location or type of environment in which an organism or biological population lives or occurs” (). There is no comprehensive list of habitat types. Habitat includes terrestrial, freshwater and marine geographical units or airways, but the focus here is on terrestrial habitat. Terrestrial habitat refers to land. The loss of habitat may well be the world’s greatest challenge. This chapter discusses habitat loss with a special focus on the underlying causes, consequences and solutions. While most agree on its causes and consequences, the intellectual and political discourse on how to deal with habitat loss is fervently debated. In particular, the consequences of habitat loss make it a citizenship issue. Talking about the causes of and policies for habitat loss through the lens of property rights shows that property rights are both part of the problem and part of the solution.

Green mergers and acquisitions are an important means for heavily polluting enterprises to achieve green transformation. Previous studies have yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding the relationship between green mergers and acquisitions and the level of corporate environmental management, possibly due to the omission of considering the quality of corporate environmental information disclosure. Therefore, based on a sample of 908 observations of heavily polluting listed companies on the A-share market of Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2010 to 2019, Utilizing a fixed-effects model, this study empirically examines the relationship between green mergers and acquisitions and the quality of environmental information disclosure and further explores the boundary effects of government environmental regulation and property rights on this relationship. The results show that green mergers and acquisitions of heavily polluting enterprises have a significantly positive impact on the environmental information disclosure quality of acquiring firms, and government environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between green mergers and acquisitions and environmental information disclosure quality. Through subgroup analysis based on different property rights, it is found that compared to non-state-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises exhibit a stronger positive relationship between green mergers and acquisitions and the quality of environmental information disclosure. This study has further enriched the relevant literature on green M&A and environmental information disclosure, provided new ideas for heavy polluting enterprises to achieve green transformation, and provided a reference for the government and enterprises to take countermeasures and suggestions.

There is demand to protect at-risk fish species and ecosystems. Property rights regimes can be superior to spatial controls via Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) for doing so. Empirical cases from Australia and the US indicate that MPAs are inequitable, too large and restrictive, and controversial. These conditions lead to resistance and political pushback, threatening long-term budgets and conservation goals. A critique of MPAs is presented along with a range of property rights arrangements–common, community, private—and Coasean bargaining as alternatives. Outlined benefits are a.) Rights holders have a stake in conservation and are central in its design. They are more than respondents. b). Costs/benefits can be more equally distributed, including direct payments that include both costs of transition and contribution to public goods provision. c.) Spatial set-asides confront tradeoffs and hence, are more apt to be economically sited and designed. d.) Modifications can occur more smoothly through market exchange than through the political process. Durable global conservation efforts can be enhanced.

The development of digital technology in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution has a substantial influence on the legal protection of intellectual property rights (IPR). Technologies such as the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence allow the use and utilization of intellectual work by other parties without permission or without paying royalties. In this context, the theoretical study of the legal protection of IPR during the Industrial Revolution 4.0 involves various disciplines, including law, information technology, business, and economics. This study discusses the importance of legal protection of IPR in the framework of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. Some of the relevant theories and concepts in this study are intellectual property rights (HKI), Industrial Revolution 4.0, blockchain technology, digital business models, knowledge-based economy, and commercial law. This study concludes that the legal protection of IPR during the Industrial Revolution 4.0 needs to be faced with innovative and integrated solutions. Governments, international institutions, industry players, and society as a whole must work together to develop rules and practices that are more effective in protecting intellectual property rights in the digital world. The study also discusses some of the challenges in the legal protection of IPR in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, such as the issue of unauthorized use of data, copyright abuse, and challenges in developing sustainable business models. Blockchain technology and the concept of a knowledge-based economy can be an effective solution in overcoming these challenges. In this research, a qualitative approach is used by analyzing theories and concepts related to legal protection of IPR during the Industrial Revolution 4.0. The data used in this study are literature from various sources such as scientific journals, books, and official documents from related institutions. This study is expected to contribute and provide input for policy makers, researchers, practitioners, and the general public address the issues of IPR kegal protection in the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Through integrated and collaborative efforts, it is hoped that a more conducive environment for innovation and sustainable technological development can be created.

In this paper, panel data from Chinese cities from 2000 to 2020 were used, and the intellectual property pilot was used as a quasi-natural experiment. The double difference model mainly tests the underlying mechanism of the impact of intellectual property rights pilots on urban carbon emissions. This study revealed that IPR pilots play an important role in reducing urban carbon emissions. Heterogeneity experiments reveal that IPR pilots are conducive to reducing carbon emissions in coastal as well as high greening cities and that the underlying mechanism through which IPR pilots affect urban carbon emissions mainly occurs at the level of innovation and the optimization of the industrial structure. In addition, this paper also validates the smoothness of the model by replacing the explanatory variables and performing a placebo test, which further strengthens the reliability of the paper’s conclusions.

The G20 comprises rich, industrialized, and powerful nations that advance the world economy through foreign direct investment (FDI). Nevertheless, these countries account for the largest share of global carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). Enforcing intellectual property rights (IPRs) has become a useful tool for stimulating clean technologies to mitigate climate change. This study examines how IPR enforcement moderated the inflow of FDI and carbon emissions in the G20 from 2001 to 2017. We applied the Driscoll-Kraay robust standard error technique, Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS), Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS), and Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality tests. The results show that FDI increases emissions, thus confirming the pollution haven effect. Long-term estimates suggest that the moderating role of IPRs in FDI significantly reduces environmental degradation. Causality analysis shows that FDI causes CO2emissions in the long run, and carbon emissions enforce IPR regulations. Furthermore, we observed bidirectional causality between IPRs, FDI relationships, and carbon emissions. Based on these results, policymakers should enhance IPR policies and encourage clean technology through FDI among G20 members. In addition, governments should promote the clean-up of industrial processes, green finance, and the consumption of eco-friendly technologies, such as renewable energy, to achieve carbon neutrality.