Revisiting the Tragedy of the Commons: Ecological Dilemmas of Whale Watching in the Azores

This paper explores a possible theoretical framework for studying issues in common-pool resource that emerge from tensions between place-specific notions of common rights and state regulation of access to commons. While the former is historically informed by “traditional ecological knowledge,” the latter is based on abstract international environmental law and on capitalist-oriented development goals. This paper analyzes the regulation of whale watching in the archipelago of the Azores, Portugal, to show how variously situated social actors conceptualized the rights of access to marine commons. It also reveals how these distinct views came into conflict, not only in the context of finding ways to regulate whale watching but also through actual practices of this commercial activity. The Azorean example suggests that a successful process of communication among these different views can lead to ecological learning and improved ecological wisdom of those involved, and, thus, a more sustainable use of marine commons.

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Sustainable Consumption: Scope and Applicability of Principles of International Law

Chinese Journal of Environmental Law ◽

10.1163/24686042-12340020 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 5-27

Author(s):

Ipshita CHATURVEDI

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

International Law ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Sustainable Consumption ◽

Resource Exploitation ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Responsible Consumption ◽

Sustainable Consumption And Production ◽

Development Goals

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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The Global Environment Outlook and Its Implications for International Law

The Global Community Yearbook of International Law and Jurisprudence 2019 ◽

10.1093/oso/9780197513552.003.0004 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 49-82

Author(s):

Joyeeta Gupta ◽

Üsame Ceylan

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Global Environment ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Quantum Jump ◽

The Poor ◽

Growing Body ◽

Development Goals ◽

The Rich

The growing body of international environmental law has not been successful in addressing the ecological challenges affecting our planet according to the Global Environment Outlook-6. We are not making enough progress to address environmental problems in such a manner that we can achieve the sustainable development goals by 2030 or achieve some degree of sustainable development by 2050. This chapter reviews the latest science on environmental issues and draws five lessons: First, incremental hard law is unable to pre-empt tomorrow’s problems, let alone address yesterday’s challenges. Second, international environmental law needs to make a quantum jump in terms of understanding of the issues and identification of appropriate tools—and this requires the legal community to engage more proactively with scholars from other disciplines. Third, international environmental law must address the drivers of environmental destruction. Fourth, it needs to engage more proactively with the growing pollution caused by the rich and the growing vulnerability of the poor to the impacts. Finally, principles of environmental justice may need to be incorporated in a possible Global Constitution if we are to live peacefully within a world of resource limits.

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Sustainable Development, Ocean Governance and Marine Protected Areas

Asia-Pacific Journal of Ocean Law and Policy ◽

10.1163/24519391-00402002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 127-141

Author(s):

David Freestone

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Biological Diversity ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Ocean Governance ◽

National Jurisdiction ◽

Development Goals ◽

Aichi Biodiversity Targets

By 2020, at least ten percent of the global oceans should be subject to area-based protection according to the target agreed by the parties to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010 (Aichi Biodiversity Targets) and reiterated in 2015 Sustainable Development Goal 14.5. This paper looks at the Sustainable Development Goals and the evolution of the concept of Sustainable Development, distinguishing it from international environmental law. Then it looks at the way in which the goals relate to ocean governance and the current lacunae in the system established by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention and the negotiations within the UN to address the issue of the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in area beyond national jurisdiction. In particular, it looks at the sectoral approaches to area-based protection in areas beyond national jurisdiction, where currently iucn reports that only 1.18% is protected.

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The Anthropocentric Ontology of International Environmental Law and the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards an Ecocentric Rule of Law in the Anthropocene

Global Journal of Comparative Law ◽

10.1163/2211906x-00701002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 5-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Louis J. Kotzé ◽

Duncan French

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Rule Of Law ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Ecological Crisis ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

Human Environment ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Human Rights Abuses ◽

Development Goals

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.

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THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: NORMATIVE VALUE AND CHALLENGES FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Veredas do Direito Direito Ambiental e Desenvolvimento Sustentável ◽

10.18623/rvd.v13i26.865 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 13 (26) ◽

pp. 13-60 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Riccardo Pavoni ◽

Dario Piselli

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Environmental Law ◽

General Assembly ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Development Agenda ◽

Development Goals ◽

Un General Assembly ◽

Normative Value

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.

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International Environmental Law

The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific ◽

10.1093/law/9780198793854.003.0008 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 169-204

Author(s):

Ben Boer

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

International Environmental Law ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Environment ◽

Development Goals ◽

Legal Frameworks ◽

The Right ◽

National Environmental

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.

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