scholarly journals The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services or the Framing of Scientific Knowledge within the Law of Sustainable Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 231-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Global Partnership ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
The Law

The article analyses the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (ipbes) through the spectrum of international environmental law. It unpacks the epistemic logics within which ipbes operates and emphasises the normative constructions underlying the mechanism, arguing that ipbes is best understood in light of the rationale and principles of the law of sustainable development. On that basis, the article provides an in-depth discussion of ipbes, and in particular of i) its mandate analysed in light of the principles of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, ii) its scope that combines a temporal and spatial perspective to scientific knowledge and iii) its outreach activities seeking to co-operate with a variety of partners, interpreted as an embodiment of the ‘global partnership’ that the Rio Declaration calls for.

scholarly journals An Eco-GAME Meta-Evaluation of Existing Methods for the Appreciation of Ecosystem Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7805
Author(s):  
Maurizio Sajeva ◽  
Marjo Maidell ◽  
Jonne Kotta ◽  
Anneliis Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Dimensional System ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Agenda 2030 ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The One

The isolation of science disciplines and the weak integration between science, policy and society represent main challenges for sustainable human development. If, on the one hand, the specialization of science has produced higher levels of knowledge, on the other hand, the whole picture of the complex interactions between systems has suffered. Economic and natural sciences are, on matters of sustainable development, strongly divergent, and the interface informing decision-making is weak. This downplays uncertainty and creates room for entrenched political positions, compromising evidence-based decision-making and putting the urgent need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 at risk. This article presents the heterodox Eco-GAME framework for interconnecting science through trans-disciplinary social-learning and meta-evaluation of scientific knowledge in pursuit of SDGs. The framework is tested and refined in the BONUS MARES project by systematic literature analysis, participatory workshops, and semi-structured interviews, in relation to the specific habitats of Baltic Sea mussel reefs, seagrass beds and macroalgae ecosystem services produced and methods applied. The results, acknowledging the urgency of interfacing science, policy and society, validate the Eco-GAME as a framework for this purpose and present a multi-dimensional system of indicators as a further development.

scholarly journals Treaty-Making and Treaty Evolution

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Gehring
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Governance ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Normative Development ◽  
Single Output ◽  
Environmental Treaty ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Law ◽  
Law Making ◽  
Institutional Fragmentation

This article examines how the establishment and operation of environmental treaty systems helps to create and develop international environmental law. It inquires into the emergence of environmental treaty systems and identifies two characteristics of the evolving law-making structure: first, the ‘constitutionalisation’ of treaty systems through the creation of new structures for the making of international environmental law, and, second, the institutional fragmentation of international environmental governance. The article then considers the policy-making dimension of environmental treaty systems and identifies three areas of intra-institutional activity relevant to the law-making process: broadening and tightening commitments over time; elaborating upon, and in some cases redefining, existing obligations through an administrative process; and undertaking scientific and technical assessments to reinforce and accelerate normative development. It also explores the output of the law-making process, arguing that different types of law emerge. Whereas regular treaty law is still the most important single output of environmental law-making, it is supplemented by law emerging from simplified amendment procedures and secondary decisions of competent treaty bodies.

New Ways to Make International Environmental Law

1992 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Palmer
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
The World ◽  
Environment And Development

The purpose of this article is to suggest new ways to make international law for the environment. The existing methods are slow, cumbersome, expensive, uncoordinated and uncertain. Something better must be found if the environmental challenges the world faces are to be dealt with successfully. Nearly twenty years after the Stockholm Declaration, we still lack the institutional and legal mechanisms to deal effectively with transboundary and biospheric environmental degradation. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development presents an opportunity to make progress. Unfortunately, my reading of the situation in late 1991 suggests that there is no political will to take decisions that will give us the tools to do the job.

scholarly journals Governmentality and Risk: Managing ‘Ocean Space’

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Robert Deuchars
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Law ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Fisheries Management ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
International Theory

<p>The term ‘fisheries management’ at first glance seems to be a reasonably unproblematic one. It implies that firstly, that there are resources called fish, and secondly, that these resources called fish can be harvested and managed. So far, so good. Next, there is the word ‘convention’. It is a commonly understood word in law in general and there are many conventions in International law and in International environmental law as well. Lastly there is the term ‘sustainable development’, a well-used term in International theory and practice, usually said to mean that although we understand the finite nature of the matter and energy that can be safely used by countries to develop, this can be tempered by putting in place measures and instruments to curb the excesses of human, and by that I mean industrialised, human activity on the environment.</p>

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