Jaye Ellis

Jaye Ellis McGill University

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McGill Reporter
January 25, 2001 - Volume 33 Number 09
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Jaye Ellis

Lately, environmental disasters have been making headlines on a daily basis. From the ongoing E-coli infected water scandal in Walkerton, Ontario to studies offering dire warnings about global warming to the recent oil spill in the Galapagos Islands, citizens can't help but be aware of ravages to the environment.

Photo PHOTO: Owen Egan

For Professor Jaye Ellis, it's a sign that people are forced to acknowledge their intimate connection with the nature that surrounds them.

"It might be the case that Walkerton will serve as a wake-up call. The problem is not so much convincing Canadians that environmental issues are important, but rather that they are important enough to do something about -- particularly when the something that must be done costs money."

Professor Ellis is living proof of the McGill School of Environment's expansionist aims. Originally a collaboration among the Faculties of Arts, Science and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the MSE wants to involve other faculties as well. Ellis is cross-appointed in the MSE and the Faculty of Law.

She specializes in international environmental law. She is especially interested in environmental protection and sustainable development between regional, inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations. Issues such as biodiversity, climate change, marine environmental protection, air pollution -- to name but a few -- all fall under the rubric of International Environmental Law.

"My particular interest is in how environmental laws are made," says Ellis. "In my current research I am focusing on four regimes: the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species; environmental protection in Antarctica; stratospheric ozone layer protection; and conservation and management of straddling fish stocks."

Ellis earned her law degree at McGill and credits a course in environmental law with sparking an interest in the subject she first acquired as an undergraduate at the University of Calgary.

One of the things that Ellis is examining is the influence of non-binding norms, or "soft laws," in environmental protection.

The precautionary principle, for example, holds that states are not to postpone action on environmental protection before scientific evidence proves unequivocally that action must be taken.

"This is important because it replaces the approach that environmental laws will not be enacted unless their necessity is proven," Ellis emphasizes. "It allows for built-in margins of error to compensate for the inability to predict exactly what will happen. The result is that it's no longer possible to say 'we don't need to take action because we have no conclusive evidence that x will occur.'"

International environmental law is as complex as it is ambitious. According to Ellis, the effort required to achieve international accords on environmental issues is Herculean.

"The single biggest challenge is creating the necessary political will to pursue global environmental protection objectives.

"Another major challenge is ensuring that international environmental law is equitable, particularly with respect to developing countries, which experience environmental degradation in very different ways than highly industrialized countries. Furthermore, the implementation of environmental protection measures requires massive resources -- financial, technical, human -- and it is therefore a task that developing countries cannot undertake without assistance."

Certainly, enforcement of international conventions is problematic. "There is no pressure to follow the rules if nobody knows who's breaking them and who's following them," Ellis states.

Ellis maintains that Canada cannot rest on its environmental laurels. "Canadians are used to thinking of themselves as 'green.' We were very proud when we adopted the convention on banning land mines in 1997. But we don't do very well."

She cites the recent example of Canada's participation in talks to reduce greenhouse gases. Canada did not want to accept controls that would limit greenhouse gases, instead arguing that it should be able to earn credits for things like reforestation.

"We blame other countries for a poor record on the environment, but we are to blame as well."

For now, Ellis is teaching a course on environment and the law as well as a research course on international environmental law for upper-year law students. "This is exactly where I want to be. One of the strengths of McGill's law faculty is its strong showing in various dimensions of international law, particularly international human rights law. Between the law faculty and students, there is a good deal of interest in issues that are unconventional."

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