Transforming the Global Plastics Economy: The Role of Economic Policies in the Global Governance of Plastic Pollution

International policy discussions on plastic pollution are entering a new phase, with more than 100 governments calling for the launch of negotiations for a new global plastics agreement in 2022. This article aims to contribute to efforts to identify effective international policy levers to address plastic pollution. It takes stock of the evolution of views and perceptions on this complex and multi-faceted topic—from concerns about marine pollution and waste management towards new strategic directions that involve the entire plastics life-cycle and include climate and health impacts associated with the proliferation of plastics. It also traces the progressive development of responses—from voluntary approaches invovling multiple stakeholders to national and international approaches focused on regulation. The paper is informed by desk research, a literature review and participation by the authors in informal and formal global governance processes on plastic pollution, the environment and development in the United Nations and World Trade Organization between 2019 and 2021. It also draws on empirical findings from a novel and original database on the life-cycle of plastic trade created by the authors. The paper argues that the important focus on downstream dimensions of plastic pollution—and strategies to address them—needs to be complemented by a broad life-cycle and “upstream” perspective that addresses plastic pollution at its source. It highlights the political economy tensions and inconsistencies at hand, observing that while some countries are taking concerted efforts to reduce pollution (including through bans on certain kinds of plastic and plastic products); to promote more circular plastic economies; and to reduce the carbon footprint of plastics (as part of a wider effort to decarbonize their economies), trade and investment in the plastic industry continues to rise. The paper argues that to reduce plastic pollution, emerging global governance efforts must integrate international environmental law and cooperation with a complementary and enabling global framework that addresses the economic, financial, industrial and trade policies needed to drive the necessary transformation of the plastics sector.

International Law in Greek

There has been a continuous presence and contribution of Greek jurists in the discipline of international law ever since the interwar years. Undoubtedly, Nicholas Politis and Stylianos Seferiades were the most prominent Greek international lawyers of the interwar period; the former a government lawyer and diplomat with substantial contribution in almost every aspect of the development of international law both in and out of the institutional context of the League of Nations and the latter an academic who held the first Chair of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. They were followed in the 1950s to 1970s by Jean Spyropoulos, professor of international law (Thessaloniki and Athens, member of the International Law Commission, and International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge; Konstantin Eustathiades, professor of international law (Thessaloniki and Athens), member of the International Law Commission, and member of the European Commission of Human Rights; and George Tenekides, professor of international law at the Panteion School of Political Science, member of the European Commission of Human Rights, and member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Following the restoration of democracy in 1974 a new cohort of international lawyers has dominated the discipline of international law to the present day: Argyrios Fatouros, Christos Rozakis, Konstantin Economides, Emmanuel Roukounas, and Krateros Ioannou. They have each in their own capacity inspired a large number of their students to specialize in international law, a lot of which succeeded them as faculty teaching this subject, and have pursued and are still pursuing distinguished careers in international law both in Greece and abroad. Most of the Greek international lawyers are prolific authors of books and articles and even though the tendency among a growing number of them is to publish their research in English or French an equally large number publish in Greek. They tend to publish textbooks and monographs. As far as the latter are concerned, they cover areas of the law of particular interest for Greece, such as the law of the sea, international environmental law, and human rights law as well as classical subjects, such as the settlement of disputes, international institutions, and the law of armed conflict.

Can the Target Responsibility System of Air Pollution Control Achieve a Win-Win Situation of Pollution Reduction and Efficiency Enhancement?

Whether the environmental target responsibility system, a typical mandatory environmental regulation, can realize the coordinated development of environmental protection and economic growth has attracted widespread attention. With the difference-in-differences (DID) method, this paper utilizes a policy, “China’s Key Cities for Air Pollution Control to Meet the Standards within the Time Limit (APCMS),” as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically examine the target responsibility system of air pollution control’s effect on both firms’ pollutant emissions and their total factor productivity (TFP). The corresponding mechanisms are also investigated. The results show: 1) The policy not only significantly decreases firms’ pollutant emissions, but also improves their TFP. The results are robust to the exclusion of the impact of other policies in the same period, propensity score matching DID (PSM-DID) test, the adoption of alternative dependent variables, and altering sample interval; 2) The dynamic analysis shows that the policy effect on reducing pollutant emissions has increased over years after a lag of 2 years; 3) The policy reduces pollutant emissions mainly through stimulating the internal innovation rather than end-pipe treatment or production cuts. 4) Capital-intensive and private firms and firms in regions with a high degree of marketization or strong environmental law enforcement are found more responsive to the environmental target responsibility system.

Essence of International Environmental Law to Address the Effects of Climate Change

Environmental problems are enormous around the world and threaten the global environment. In most cases, these problems are caused by rapid growth of population and poverty. Climate change and sustainable development are inter-linked and are priority issues in the development continuum. Any adverse impact on the environment and biodiversity can cause the restriction of resources and limit available options. Concerted efforts of all the states can bring positive result to address the effects of climate change. Compliance with the treaty provision and sharing of resources and actions among the states can ensure proper utilization of resources and sustainable development.

Re-Thinking the Sustainable Development Goals From the Point of View of Social Ecology and Environmental Law

This research tries to understand the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) from the perspective of social ecology and environmental law, away from the Darwinian theory of man dominating nature and more focused on rethinking the SDGs from the nature-society co-evaluation in the adaptive sense of society to the new reality of its physical-natural support and to the new legal system of human rights. Development with victims from biologically rich countries like Peru with paradoxical poverty is analyzed, and likewise, the collapse of society in the face of imminent climate change due to human action is analyzed, which requires climate justice for environmentally displaced people in the face of the violation of their human rights, especially of children at risk. Finally, a Latin American academic contribution is presented to rethink the SDGs, generating contributions to the later times of the social confinement of COVID-19, in the so-called new normal.

The Shortfalls of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act 2010 in Achieving Sustainable Development

This chapter examines the impact that the concept of “sustainable development” in the Nigerian oil and gas industry has had and is likely to have upon the development of energy, resources, and economic growth in the future of Nigeria upon the focus and scope of energy, resource, and environmental law practice associated with that development. The chapter will adopt the definition of sustainable development as articulated in the Brundtland Report by the World Commission on Environment and Development. It will examine the legal status of Sections 10 and 12 of the Nigerian Oil Industry Content Development Act 2010 and its implication on international trade and sustainable development. The chapter argues that Sections 10 and 12 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Act 2010 do not reflect the meaning and intention of the Brundtland's definition of sustainable development, which evinces normative values, values of equity, and justice for all.

Boekbesprekings: Anél du Plessis (ed): Environmental Law and Local Government in South Africa

None

Management of Maritime Tourism of the Kei Indigenous Peoples of Southeast Maluku Regency as an Economic Driver Based on Environmental Sustainability

The development of marine tourism in the Kei community of Southeast Maluku Regency has a very important role both in terms of economic law and environmental law. In terms of economic law, the development of marine tourism plays a role in increasing the country's foreign exchange income and improving the economy of the Kei people of Southeast Maluku Regency. This research was conducted using an empirical juridical approach which is a descriptive qualitative analysis research. This study tries to describe what happens in the management of marine tourism in the Kei Indigenous community as an environmentally friendly economic driver based on environmental sustainability. The answers found from this research are: 1. Factors that affect environmental damage caused by: a. anthropogenic (human activities), b. non-anthropogenic (ecological changes, natural factors), c. Awareness of people living around marine tourism areas in Southeast Maluku Regency. 2. The factors that influence the level of community income in marine tourism locations are business capital variables that have a strong or significant effect on people's income in Kei Indigenous Maritime Tourism, Southeast Maluku Regency. In addition to the factors above, there are also several influencing factors, namely: 1) The Effect of Business Length on Community Income on Marine Tourism 2) The Effect of Education Level, 3 The Effect of the Number of Visitors.