Alpine Glacier Protection and Restoration: Legal Regimes and Innovations
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: France’s Mer de Glace has retreated nearly two kilometers since 1850 and continues to thin by about 30 to 40 meters every year. France’s 2018 decree protecting glaciers under the EU Habitats Directive, and Italy’s 2022 constitutional amendment protects the environment assets. The EU Nature Restoration Regulation 2023 (20% land restoration by 2030) could enable alpine restoration. Emerging jurisprudence – e.g. a tribunal granting the Mer de Glace a legal “right to exist” and EU climate cases (Urgenda, Shell) – underscores state obligations to curb glacier loss. This paper focuses on an integrated legal strategy combining precaution, polluter-pays, glacier “personhood” and public-trust doctrines to reconceive glaciers as protected public assets, strengthening their protection amid the climate crisis.
Authors: Prema, E., Ragul, O.V.
Language: English
Topic: Environmental law and policy
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7214697277