Oct 24, 2019

University of Michigan Sustainability & Development Conference

Jacob highlighted the WILDS Project in his talk, "Sustainability through environmental liability" at the 2nd Sustainabilty & Development Conference at the Univeristy of Michigan--an event that seeks to catalyze work and partnerships around sustainable development, such that it is not about a single discipline or theoretical orientation but is instead a platform which enables conversation across the ways in which that sustainability and development are imagined and realized.

In his talk that highlighted that responding to the Sustainable Development Goals also involves measures that respond to environmental harm. This includes not only adaptive measures, but also actions that further environmental justice aims. Liability for environmental harm involves a set of legal approaches that require responsible parties to remedy the environmental harm they cause. Based on the "polluter pays" principle, these suits can order perpetrators to take actions such as restoration, issue apologies, compensate victims, and invest into education. Although not a new concept, liability for environmental harm remains under-explored globally--including in the context of harm from commercial illegal wildlife trade. Inspired by the WILDS Project, his talk suggested ways in which social and natural scientists might inform environmental litigation, as an increasingly important part of daily life and environmental management in the Anthropocene.

While at University of Michigan, Jacob also contributed the University of Michigan’s new Online MOOC Masters Course, “Beyond the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Addressing Sustainability and Development” with a lecture on “Strategies for protecting Life on Land (SDG 15)”. In this he highlighted environmental litigation, as exemplified by the WILDS Project, as a strategy for future sustainability.