International Environmental Law

Author(s):  
Ben Boer

This chapter addresses the development and implementation of international and regional instruments and policies concerning the environment and natural resources across the sub-regions of the Asia-Pacific, in the context of the continuing debate on the need to promote ecological sustainability globally. Many of these instruments and policies began to shape national environmental law responses in the region from the 1970s. Two recent and highly significant instruments are the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals, both agreed in 2015. The chapter then examines the functions of the more important regional environmentally oriented institutions, together with their associated legal frameworks and soft law instruments, for each of the Asia-Pacific’s sub-regions. It also focuses on the increasing international, regional, and national trend of recognizing the links between environmental law and human rights, and specifically the promotion of the right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment.

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis J. Kotzé ◽  
Duncan French

In this article we argue that the Anthropocene’s deepening socio-ecological crisis amplifies demands on, and exposes the deficiencies of, our ailing regulatory institutions, including that of international environmental law (iel). Many of the perceived failures of iel have been attributed to the anthropocentric, as opposed to the ecocentric, ontology of this body of law. As a result of its anthropocentric orientation and the resultant deficiencies, iel is unable to halt the type of human behaviour that is causing the Anthropocene, while it exacerbates environmental destruction, gender and class inequalities, growing inter- and intra-species hierarchies, human rights abuses, and socio-economic and ecological injustices. These are the same types of concerns that the recently proclaimed Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs) set out to address. The sdgs are, however, themselves anthropocentric; an unfortunate situation which reinforces the anthropocentrism of iel and vice versa. Considering the anthropocentric genesis of iel and the broader sdgs framework, this article sets out to argue that the anthropocentrism inherent in the ontological orientation of iel and the sdgs risks exacerbating Anthropocene-like events, and a more ecocentric orientation for both is urgently required to enable a more ecocentric rule of law to better mediate the human-environment interface in the Anthropocene. Our point of departure is that respect for ecological limits is the only way in which humankind, acting as principal global agents of care, will be able to ensure a sustainable future for human and non-human constituents of the Earth community. Correspondingly, the rule of law must also come to reflect such imperatives.


Author(s):  
Riccardo Pavoni ◽  
Dario Piselli

This article explores the implications for international environmental law of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which occurred at the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Summit. Following a summary of the main outcomes of the Summit, the paper evaluates the process and vision of the SDGs against both the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the past efforts of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in the field of sustainable development. The paper then examines how the environmental dimension of the SDGs is integrated into the general framework of the post-2015 development agenda and addresses two important questions which will most likely prove instrumental in the achievement of the Goals themselves. First, it the light of UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1, it discusses the normative value of the environmental obligations of States enshrined in the SDGs. Secondly, it deals with problems of implementation of the outcomes of the Summit, and accordingly attempts to identify the main legal challenges for the operationalization of the environmental component of the SDGs, in the wider context of the Agenda and taking the recent developments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) into account.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remco Van de Pas ◽  
Peter S. Hill ◽  
Rachel Hammonds ◽  
Gorik Ooms ◽  
Lisa Forman ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Maria Montefusco ◽  
Kai Koivumäki

No person with a disability shall be left behind. This report presents suggested indicators for monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability and Agenda 2030 in the Nordic region. The vision of the Nordic cooperation is to become the most integrated and sustainable in the world by 2030. The vision mirrors the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030, according to which no-one shall be left behind. Persons with disabilities have the right to inclusion, and the Nordic countries monitor the developments of living conditions for persons with disabilities. All countries have also ratified the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and have high ambitions with regard to Agenda 2030. Throughout the region we face similar challenges concerning inclusion. Participation is not equal, not in employment, nor in education, economy, or health. But to improve this we need to see it. Even if a set of indicators is not the only way forward, they can help us measure if we are on the right track. In this report, we suggest a set of indicators that could be developed further and used to follow the developments towards inclusion and measure living conditions. By developing such a set of comparable indicators in the Nordic countries, we can see whether the countries separately and collectively follow the intentions of the UNCRPD to improve the living conditions of people with disabilities. The indicators are also an aid in the work to identify whether we are working correctly to achieve the Agenda 2030 targets.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Karina Gunzenova

The current legal frameworks of the Russian Federation, which intermediate socio-natural relations, may contradict the course set towards sustainable development due to their dependence on the formerly dominant technocratic view of the world leading to various systemic destructions. Not always do the quantitative indicators contribute to finding the best way of environmental-economic development. In this connection, the issue of a high-quality assessment of the effectiveness of strategies, plans, and other regulatory and legal documents in achieving sustainable development goals is analyzed. This paper considers the “ecological efficiency” assessment of the legislation as a value criterion measuring the relevance of the planning and strategic documents to the essence of sustainable development. The paper aims to expose the essence of the “ecological efficiency” concept and its role in the harmonization mechanism for socio-natural relationships. The dialectical method, which determines interconnections between the values existing earlier and the character of socio-natural development on the one hand, and the emerging environmental ethics-based comprehensive worldview and sustainable development on the other, was used as the primary research instrument. Research results showed the existing potential for the use of “ecological efficiency” as a value criterion to assess the relevance of state plans and strategies to the declared sustainable development goals. “Ecological efficiency” helps to resolve the current contradictions in social development management thus contributing to the formation of the sustainable development legislation relevant to the level of public consciousness and behavior. Keywords: ecological efficiency, strategic development, sustainable development legislation, sociocultural development factor.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-27
Author(s):  
Ipshita CHATURVEDI

Abstract The role of sustainable development has been increasingly recognized in international environmental law as a way to reconcile poverty eradication and resource exploitation with environmental protection. By contrast, little attention has been given to the concept of sustainable consumption. When international law mentions sustainable consumption, consumption and production are generally considered together, for instance in Goal 12 of the Sustainable Development Goals, addressing responsible consumption and production, and in UNEP’s 10-year sustainable ‘consumption and production programme.’ While some research on sustainable consumption has been conducted in sociology and anthropology, the focus in international environmental law has remained on production rather than consumption. This article seeks to open up a discussion on how consumption should be viewed and defined legally, and the role that law could play in promoting sustainable consumption.


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