The Symposium was themed “Property Law, Climate Change and Technological Disruption”, which were addressed from three perspectives: (i) Real Property, Climate Change and Sustainability, (ii) Personal Property and Digital Assets, and (iii) Property Law and the Rights of Nature. The event featured prominent guest speakers, including Dr Egils Levits, former President of the Republic of Latvia and former Judge of the European Court of Justice and of the European Court of Human Rights, who spoke to the development of climate change litigation. Other speakers included Prof Rebecca Monson from the Australian National University, who presented her research on “Land, Law and Politics in the Solomon Islands” and Cynthia Houniuhi, the President of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) who spoke to Vanuatu’s successful bid for a UN General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on State obligations and legal consequences related to climate change. There was also a Roundtable on “Strengthening Regional Interdisciplinary and Transnational Research: A Possible Agenda for the IALS and the ILS Focal Points. Participants welcomed the recent establishment of a Pacific Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and discussed the challenges faced by the University of the South Pacific (USP) in general and the USP’s School of Law in particular, as well as possible ways to increase interdisciplinary and transnational cooperation.
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