Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa - Napoli

Research

         

EUGREENEXT
European Green Rights: reshaping fundamental rights for next generations

Proposal: Call for proposals ERASMUS-JMO-2021-HEI-TCH-RSCH

Application number of the project: 101047962

Chair Holder: Prof. Ilaria Amelia Caggiano

Academic Staff Members: Prof. Ilaria Amelia Caggiano, Prof. Lucilla Gatt, Dott. Luigi Montano, Prof. Maria Victoria Pereira Flores, Prof. Benedetta Faedy Duramy, Prof. Jean Francois Joye, Dott. Fabrizio Capoccioni, Prof. Claudia Benanti, Prof. Giovanni Martini, Avv. Ph.D. Paola Grimaldi, Avv. Ph.D. Maria Cristina Gaeta, Avv. Ph.D. Anna Anita Mollo, Dott. Emiliano Troisi, Dott. Mario Triggiani.

Starting date: January 24, 2022

Deadline: January 24, 2025

Website: https://www.eugreenext.eu

Introduction

The Jean Monnet Programme is dedicated to the strengthening of the founding basis of the European Union, through the stimulation of teaching, research and debating activities in the field of European integration studies at the level of higher education institutions within and outside the European Union. The creation of the Jean Monnet Chair at the Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa, named "European Green Rights: re-shaping fundamental rights for next generations" [EUGREENEXT] intends to introduce an innovative approach in the configuration of fundamental rights in European Law (EU Green Rights) with respect to health, natural environment, and welfare of living beings, to address present and next generations' needs (sustainability).

The proposed Jean Monnet Chair aims to:
1. develop innovative courses on current challenges concerning sustainable development (as more recently set up in the European Commission's Agenda for Europe -2019- 24, and in the NextGenerationEU Recovery Package) and effective protection of individual rights, in a law based perspective and through an approach based on rights and remedies;
2. equip students with the necessary skills to develop practical and specialized competences transferable to the future exercise of their professions, and through a methodology based on active learning with regard to case studies and use of technological tools;
3. enhance multidisciplinary research, offering a broad overview of the interaction between individual rights, collectivity and ecosystem, benefiting from different specialistic points of view (private and public law, life science, biology) functional to legal responses, in order to specify contents and protection of fundamental rights in a sustainability perspective.

Project specifications

- Objective: The creation of the Jean Monnet Chair at the Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa named "European Green Rights: re-shaping fundamental rights for next generations" [EUGREENEXT] with special reference to:
a. The Right to Health and Sustainability;
b. The Right to Environment and Sustainability;
c. The Rights for Nature and Animals, and Sustainability.

- Innovative character of the chair:
Multidisciplinary character, covering a wide range of subjects governed by European law - from private to public law, and rooted in life science, engineering, ethical choice (environmental bioethics). The multidisciplinary nature of the topics involved justifies the different academic backgrounds (not only Law or Economics) of the students who will attend the course. In the present project, multidisciplinarity is enriched by the participation, in the key staff, of academics, experts from the European Member States and beyond. Indeed, the Chair intends to develop a dialogue in critical reasoning, knowledge and different experiences on the subject matter.

- Innovative teaching methodology:
Teaching activities will pursue a strong involvement of students and scholars, in an innovative environment, thanks to the use of specific methods (flipped classroom, problem-solving, gamification), and digital tools (e-learning/online environment, digital devices, smartphones, tablets, LIM). This active learning methodology aims at integrating activities such as case studies and problem-based learning scenarios, to provide the opportunity for students to practice skills that are essential for their future workplace. The direct interaction of the Chair holder, with other academics, civil society, institutional actors (including State level and local policy-maker), as well as professionals and media representatives will be stimulated through lectures, seminars and workshops organised each year. In addition to that, a summer school will be organized during the second year of the project.

Needs analysis and specific objectives: Green Jobs

The rise and acceleration that EU Green policies and laws have taken in the last few years, concerning a high number of sectors of economy and law, have determined a series of needs, which can be listed below, namely:
1. Increasing high demand for Green jobs. For example, FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) estimates that ecological transition is projected to generate over 200 million full-time jobs by 2050, particularly more decent green jobs along the entire food production system. The 2020 LinkedIn report over Europe registered an increase of 13% in green Jobs in Europe with a 7,5% higher increase than the world's average. Finally, according to Italian CENSIS, in Italy by 2023, ecological transition will generate half a million of Green jobs, while among existing Green Jobs in 2019, 66,4% belongs to the area of project, consultancy, research and development in all sectors: such as healthcare systems, producers or distributors household appliances, smart mobility systems, environmental constructor, sustainability committee in companies and enterprises, public bodies and agencies with responsibilities relating to the protection and enhancement of the environment (such as State and local regulator in the promotion of smart mobility, access to resources, etc.
This demand in turn requires:
2. Education in Green law-related subject matter and knowledge of the EU legal framework, its scope and rationale;
3. Deep understanding of European law on the protection of Environment and Green Economy in terms of rights, remedies, procedures;
4. Capability to identify and assess Green rights issues and risks, in order to not provide policies and decisions which are against the effective functionalities;
5. Capability to understand and intervene in procedures within companies and/or public organisation related to Green rights issues;
6. On a more general level, in order to make effective Eu Green Policies and laws, it is needed to: 6. develop awareness and cultural sensibility, of those rights for the intergenerational relation and the survival of the planet, beyond the general information and imprecise news (ex. fake ones).
7. Advance in legal research, by understanding the effective needs to be regulated and the possible instruments;
8. stimulate cross-fertilization and cross-border dialogue on such a crucial matter, where tools and advancements are highly diversified (take the example of the EU, South Americas and the US).
The needs are the base from which the EUGREENEXT project objectives are designed.