Javier Junceda, the Dean of the UIC Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences, gave a talk at the International Congress on Approximation and Integration of Latin American and European Law, which took place in Cáceres from Tuesday to Thursday, 7-9 May 2013. Junceda discussed the challenges facing Latin American environmental law.
More than 300 people from all over Spain and Latin America attended the congress, whose aim was to create a scientific and academic context in which to discuss issues relevant to law and legal systems in Latin American and European countries. The objective was to propose situations and issues that need to be addressed from different legal perspectives in the current complicated and conflictive legal context.
In the talk "Challenges in Latin American Environmental Law", professor Junceda focused on four key issues facing environmental law. First, there is the need to simplify regulations in order to avoid the proliferation of often contradictory legislation. Second, environmental laws should not be used as obstacles to economic activity. "Environmental law exists to harmonize human activity with protection of the environment, but not to impede economic growth", said Junceda. Third, environmental law should encourage environmental arbitration to allow problems to be resolved satisfactorily. Finally, laws should be passed that encourage the participation of the business community in environmental protection by making the defence of the environment by these companies tangibly and even economically beneficial.
The congress was organized by the Faculty of Law at the Universidad de Extremadura, the Committee for the Study and Dissemination of Law in Latin America (CEDDAL) and the Universidad de Extremadura's Research Group on Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Law Studies (GIDEPA).
