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Erin Okuno, You Say “Potato,” and I Say “Burger”: Labeling Laws for Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, Lewis & Clark L. Rev. (2027)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Yolanda Eisenstein and Erin Okuno, Conclusion, in Wildlife Law in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective (Yolanda Eisenstein and Erin Okuno eds., LexisNexis, 2026)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Yolanda Eisenstein and Erin Okuno, Introduction, in Wildlife Law in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective (Yolanda Eisenstein ed., LexisNexis, 2026)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Yolanda Eisenstein and Erin Okuno, United States Wildlife Law, in Wildlife Law in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective (Yolanda Eisenstein and Erin Okuno eds., LexisNexis, 2026)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Gillian Davies et al., How Implementing the Rights of Wetlands Provides Benefits to People and Wetlands: Relationships, Rights, Responsibilities, Experiences, and Actions, 46 Wetlands 54 (2026)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Rights of wetlands shifts the people-wetlands relationship towards one recognizing the intrinsic rights and living beingness of wetlands, embodying reciprocity, kinship, and gratitude. Recognition of wetland rights occurs within the broader Rights of Nature movement, which has often been led by Indigenous Peoples and local communities from many cultural traditions. Intrinsic wetland rights centre on the right to exist and incorporate seven other rights, forming a holistic framework that enables preservation of wetland ecosystem integrity. These rights provide the basis for a wetland’s thriving existence. The eight rights are: the right to exist; their natural place in the landscape; natural and connected hydrologic regimes; natural climatic conditions; naturally occurring biodiversity; natural ecosystem processes; natural water, soil, and air quality (i.e., structural integrity and form); and regeneration and a naturally determined future. Moral and ethical responsibilities towards these rights include fostering harmonious relationships in and with wetlands, respecting interdependence of all wetland components, safeguarding and fostering conditions enabling rights of wetlands, and acting in a precautionary manner when faced with risks of harm to wetlands. Legal and policy responsibilities include acknowledging plural worldviews, recognising legal standing and political orientations to represent and defend wetland rights, providing adequate means for wetland representation and defending and advocating for wetlands, and using best available science to restore degraded wetlands and support regeneration, thereby supporting harmonious societal relationships with wetlands. Opportunities for implementation of rights of wetlands at a variety of scales (individual, community, national, and global) are explored, and training/guidance resources are referenced.
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Erin Okuno, “The Silence of the Farms”: Suppressing Speech and Trampling Transparency to Shield Big Ag, 13 Tex. A&M L. Rev. 951 (2026)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Do you really know where your last meal came from and whether it was safe to eat? Most people are not aware of the often appalling conditions at agricultural production facilities (aptly known as "factory farms"), including worker injuries and abuse, contaminated food, and environmental pollution, as well as the horrific ways in which the animals are kept, raised, and slaughtered. In the face of these concerning conditions and alarmingly frequent food recalls-including millions of pounds of contaminated meat-it would seem prudent to increase transparency at factory farms, but historically, they have operated behind a shield of secrecy due to legal exemptions and insufficient legal regulation. For years, activists, journalists, and others accessed factory farms and shared what they found with the public, so some states passed "ag-gag" statutes to silence people by preventing them from entering and exposing the conditions at the facilities. Courts have been split on whether these ag-gag statutes violate the First Amendment right to free speech. This Article discusses and analyzes the ag-gag statutes and lawsuits challenging them, including the recent-and concerning-decisions from 2024 and 2025. The Article argues that some courts have incorrectly upheld ag-gag statutes and that this is due, in part, to misapplication of judicial scrutiny under the First Amendment and, in the context of false speech, due to questionable interpretation and application of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. As states and courts continue to erode the right to free speech, the Article offers recommendations about how to protect free
speech, improve transparency in industrial animal agriculture, and ultimately break "the silence of the farms."
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Erin Okuno, Rights of Wetlands and the Ramsar Convention, in Wetlands and International Environmental Law: The Evolution and Impact of the Ramsar Convention (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Royal C. Gardner et al., Introduction: Wetlands and International Law, in Wetlands and International Environmental Law: The Evolution and Impact of the Ramsar Convention (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Royal C. Gardner et al., Ramsar Convention Governance and Processes at the International Level, in Ramsar Wetlands: Values, Assessment, and Management (Peter A. Gell et al. eds., Elsevier, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Various players participate in the governance of the Ramsar Convention. The Conference of the Parties (COP), which typically meets every 3 years, consists of the Convention’s Contracting Parties and holds ultimate decision-making authority. At each COP, Resolutions are adopted, providing instruction and guidance regarding the Convention’s implementation. Between COPs, the Standing Committee, consisting of Contracting Parties based on regional representation, exercises decision-making authority. The Convention’s Secretariat, which is located in Switzerland, provides administrative support, while the Scientific and Technical Review Panel is the Convention’s scientific advisory body. The Convention is further supported by International Organisation Partners, which are intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. Ramsar operates largely through consensus and collaboration. Much of the Convention’s first 50 years focused on building institutional structures and developing technical guidance. Yet, as the Global Wetland Outlook indicates, the Contracting Parties have thus far failed to halt wetland loss and degradation.
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Royal C. Gardner et al., Ramsar at the National Level: Application and Incorporation into Domestic Law, in (Peter A. Gell et al. eds., Elsevier, 2023)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
A Contracting Party to the Ramsar Convention assumes certain obligations under international law: designation and conservation of wetlands of international importance (Ramsar Sites), wise use of all wetlands within its territory, and international cooperation regarding shared wetland resources, including species. Although it is a framework convention that lacks a formal enforcement mechanism, the Ramsar Convention influences domestic legal regimes in a number of ways. Its impact on domestic laws, policies, and practices for wetlands depends in part on whether a particular Party subscribes to a monist, dualist, or mixed approach to international law. In a monist system, Ramsar obligations, including those flowing from Resolutions agreed upon at the regular Conference of Parties, may apply directly within a domestic legal regime. Under a dualist approach, Ramsar obligations may require specific implementing legislation before they are effective within the domestic sphere.