Sustainability and Law

This chapter starts from the angle of the necessity of an absolute reduction of the Global North’s use of Earth’s sink and source capacities due to the unchangeable biophysical limitations and assesses the instruments therefore available to different types of stakeholders. In terms of methodology, this subchapter applies in a hermeneutic manner the decision support framework of 3-D Sustainability, the analytical differentiation among stakeholders as the “players of the game” and institutions as the “rules of the game” and adds to these rule-focused instruments two further types of instruments, namely economic-incentive focused and information focused ones. The findings start with a distinction between substantial inter-national and intra-national finetuning when it comes to the implementation of this absolute reduction goal in the Global North and provides justifications therefore. Then, in a rough overview, the general availability of the three instrument types to three overall types of stakeholders – namely (1) governmental ones, (2) for-profit ones and (3) not-for-profit ones is presented and discussed. For the further analysis, governmental stakeholders are picked out due to their unique availability of rule-focused instruments. Then, the different extent of availability of these instruments to governmental stakeholders on three levels (national, regional and international) of the geopolitical scale is shown and analyzed. Afterwards, national stakeholders are selected for the further analysis due to their unique availability of those rule-focused instruments that allow raising taxes as own income source. In relation to all three types of instruments discussed, concrete national actions are presented that implement absolute reductions based on four of the six 3-D Sustainability criteria, namely sufficiency, eco-effectiveness, ecological equity and socio-effectiveness. Conclusions further emphasize the global relevance of the findings and point out potential future research directions.

The present chapter addresses the issue of how to design law for sustainability. To this end, it firstly explores the historical and theoretical roots of sustainability, in order to show its original meaning. It highlights its ecological core and then looks at the evolution of the concept of sustainability to show how its ecological core has been gradually forgotten and almost lost over time. It observes how this may be related to the progressive conflation of sustainability with the concept of sustainable development and argues how to promote and reinstate a correct understanding of the two concepts.Then, the focus shifts on the role that sustainability might play in the realm of regulation. To this respect, it tries to determine whether and why a regulatory system for sustainability is needed and shows that only by embracing the preservation of the health and integrity of ecosystems as a priority objective it will be possible to put in place a regulatory regime truly inspired by sustainability.Finally, the question of how to design a regulatory system for sustainability is addressed. In this final part, some fundamental changes are proposed, grouped under the following five headings: beyond reductionism; beyond anthropocentrism; beyond positivism; beyond short-termism; beyond deregulation.

This chapter provides a summary overview of the international laws of sustainable development. It remedies other scholarly efforts which either zoom in on one specific legal principle, or cover all but in a very lengthy fashion. It reviews the principles in legally detailed yet understandable fashion. The paper aims to show how an international policy developed on the premise of individual principles, risks being tripped up on the implications of the set of principles as a whole. For a fruitful roll-out of sustainable development strategies, including those purporting to implement the UN’s SDGs, a coordinated approach is required. The contribution aims to introduce the reader to the overall international legal framework which accompanies policies on sustainable development. It takes the 1992 Rio Declaration and its 20+ 2012 follow-up as a starting point. It selects its most relevant principles and explains what they mean not just as such, but particularly in how these principles impact upon the development of policy. The main theoretical background of the paper is the 1992 Rio Declaration and the 20 years update in 2012. These two instruments also fed into the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs. The overall theoretical framework of the paper however are the principles of Public International Law, espoused by the Community of. Many of us will have experienced the law, and lawyers, to be both enablers and party spoilers. Enablers, since successful application of the law and the professions which administer it (private counsel, police officers, judges…) grant a citizen, a State, a company etc. a solid title with which to change or maintain one’s status in society. Party spoilers, since the same application by someone else, may jeopardise a lucrative, comfortable, safe etc. position. This contribution summarily reviews the law of sustainable development from an international law perspective. Its target audience is distinctly non-legal although those lawyers less involved in international environmental issues (which form a core part of sustainable development) may find it a useful quick guide to this more or less young body of international law. A serious policy cannot function if the legal context is not properly understood. A proper understanding of the principles discussed in the paper, assists governments with the roll-out of practical and legal solutions for sustainable development.

Recent advances in environmental accounting have allowed us to establish a better understanding of the environmental footprints of countries. There are different kinds of environmental footprints, including prominently a material footprint, carbon footprint, water footprint and land footprint. The EU’s environmental footprint is considerably larger than the global average and is unsustainable when compared with indicative targets that aim to ensure that planetary limits are respected. The EU is also more heavily dependent upon embodied imports of environmental resources than any other world region. Among other tools to tackle its environmental footprint, the EU has started to enact legislative measures in the environmental domain that give rise to ‘territorial extension’ in that they seek to regulate the way in which imported products have been harvested or produced in third countries. This includes measures relating to forests, fisheries, climate change and waste. Although one hears frequent claims to the contrary, an analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and of the Word Trade Organizations’s Appellate Body, shows that if carefully designed, measures of this kind may be lawful. This chapter argues that they may also be justified in order to prevent the EU from being complicit in environmental wrongdoing in third countries and that environmental footprint studies using multi-regional input-output analysis can contribute to this by ensuring that the knowledge conditions for complicity are met.

This chapter poses the question whether, in the New Zealand and transnational contexts, sustainability is dead? It will explore and interrogate what the guiding ethic for New Zealand environmental law should be, using critical law as “engineering” and law as “transformative technology” perspectives. The chapter concludes that resilience, adaptation, and risk assessment could (in limited circumstances) provide a more coherent framework to guide defensible and enduring environmental outcomes grounded on ecological integrity. The chapter will therefore, potentially, be transformative by shifting current reform debates from their process focus to an implementation focus, and in constitutional terms by driving integration across all environmental statutes.

The phenomenon of the rebound effect has been known for decades now, yet it is very much absent from resource efficiency policies. One of the reasons is that there is a plethora of different estimates for the rebound effect, depending not only on the country and the sector studied but also on the level and type of rebound effect addressed. This chapter aims, in a first step, at enhancing the theoretical foundations of the rebound effect. Based on previous work available in the literature, it develops a comprehensive classification that distinguishes the different levels of the rebound effect and the mechanisms at play. In a second step, this chapter discusses what can be learned from the mere concept of the rebound and its implications for the sustainability debate. Two statements are addressed: (1) the rebound effect challenges the feasibility of an absolute decoupling between economic growth and resource use, and (2) improved resource efficiency alone cannot counterbalance the high environmental impact of P (population) x A (affluence). Given that, it is argued that the existence of the rebound effect implies that resource efficiency policies are not enough to achieve sustainability and can even be detrimental in the case of backfire. It is thus time to shed light on the pathways “producing and consuming differently” and “producing and consuming less”.

Personal consumption levels in wealthy nations, particularly in North America, are unsustainable. The average American consumes so much that if all other nations had equivalent consumption levels, four earths would be needed to support the demand.There is clearly an urgent need for wealthy nations to take action to address personal consumption to prevent further ecological destruction, yet states have traditionally been reluctant to do so. In this chapter, I explore the role of states in addressing personal consumption using the law, using Canada as a case study.My analysis of the Canadian legal landscape demonstrates that the limited efforts that have been undertaken to address consumption using the law generally focus on increasing the efficiency of current production methods and changing patterns of consumption rather than ensuing actual reductions in the amount of consumption. I was only able to locate a few discrete examples of laws at the municipal level that are arguably aimed at reducing the amount of consumption. However, the effectiveness of those laws is questionable.The study leads me to conclude that there is a need to look beyond traditional state-based laws to address consumption. One interesting proposal that deserves further research is to expand the view of law to include non-state regulation (i.e. social and cultural norms and rules) and focus efforts on reforming those rules and norms from the bottom-up.

Forests are vital for the protection of biodiversity in Finland as well as playing an important role in climate change mitigation. This chapter analyses how current Finnish regulation takes these issues into account and whether there are regulatory instruments to make positive changes towards ecologically sustainable forest management. Existing legislation includes biodiversity protection means that date back to 1990’s, whereby soft law and voluntary protection measures are still highly emphasized in Finnish forest policy. This, however, has been insufficient to halt biodiversity decline over the last 20 years and the situation is becoming more critical due to the increasing amounts of logging in Finland. According to current legislation, restricting the amount of annual logging is not possible in Finland as existing statutes only place restrictions on logging in certain protected areas and habitats. Many of the forest governance instruments such as subsidies and forest planning encourage an increase in forest logging, while few measures enhance biodiversity or water protection. Even if the state of biodiversity is better in Finland than in most of the other EU countries, significant improvements should be enacted in forest governance to halt biodiversity decline and make forestry truly sustainable.

The use of hazardous chemicals is widely embedded throughout the life cycle of jeans. Recent literature on the use and discharge of hazardous chemicals in the denim and jeans industry reveals that in many of the production phases of a jeans, the use of such chemicals poses a health risk to cotton farmers, companies’ employees and neighboring communities, and that local eco-systems have or are becoming dysfunctional due to chemical pollution. This implies that those chemicals often negatively impact the planetary boundaries and the human right to a clean and healthy environment. This chapter first provides an analysis of the adverse impacts in each phase of the entire life-cycle of a pair of jeans (‘jeans’): (i) cotton farming and (ii) weaving & dyeing (Turkey); (iii) manufacturing (Vietnam); (iv) consumer use and (v) disposal (the Netherlands). Subsequently, the legal standards applicable to the use and discharge of (hazardous) chemicals in each of these five phases are discussed, covering international and EU law, soft law, domestic law and self-regulatory standards. In the final part, the legal standards are compared with industries’ best practices that emerged from the gathered information in a case study concerning a specific pair of jeans. This comparison provides an in-depth insight in the gap between legal theory and practice. Based on this understanding, further action can be initiated, and solutions can be developed by the denim and jeans industry and policymakers aimed at addressing the challenges revealed in this study.

According to theoretical studies and empirical approaches, there is a link between taxation, innovation, and sustainable development: the more a Government seeks to ensure the birth, growth, survival, and competitiveness of innovative and sustainable firms, the better it must diversify and reinforce the national entrepreneurship ecosystem. A suitable solution is to develop new tax rules that support them.This study seeks to fill the existing gap in literature on the synergy between specific fiscal policies introduced in favor of innovative entrepreneurship in line with EU State Aid rules, development, and sustainability by analyzing the Italian strategy. At least, the objective of the researcher is to provide some valuable suggestions to European policymakers developing new rules and measures with the same goal and also an inspiration for enlightened entrepreneurs. The method selected initially proposes an overview of Italian legislation to clarify why it is considered compatible with the European rules, followed by a proper analysis which clarifies its remarkable outcomes. Subsequently, the outcomes are highlighted through the development of the Italian strategy over the last 6 years, with the aim of reinforcing the initial assumption: the significance of an addressed fiscal policy for the sustainable development of an innovative business ecosystem. Indeed, innovative enterprises, achieving rapid growth, attracting international investments and representing a driving force for sustainable development – understood as the ability to cope with environmental, economic and social changes – have a broad impact on both overall productivity and new job opportunities.

“Planned Obsolescence” is the production of goods with uneconomically short useful lives so that consumers will have to make repeat purchases. This phenomenon causes damages for consumers, forced to bear the costs of repairs and the continued new purchase of these goods, but also for the environment, both from the point of view of the non-rational use of natural resources and from the point of view of an excessive production of waste. The way of criminalization was followed for the first time by the French legislature, which in 2016 introduced a new crime in the Consumer Code. The French experience is an interesting test to assess the legitimacy and effectiveness of the use of criminal law. The research aims to verify whether the use of “criminal law” can be considered such dissuasive measure against Planned Obsolescence, according to the provisions of Motion for a European Parliament resolution «on a longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies» (2016/2272). The use of criminal law undoubtedly has advantages in terms of general prevention. At the same time, this is a problematic option, if we take into account the general principles ruling criminal law (principle of strict legality and principle of offensiveness). The result of the research is that it is necessary to adopt a model of regulation that integrates soft law instruments, commercial law actions (class action) and administrative controls. Against Planned Obsolescence, the use of criminal law should be limited only to cases of failure of other measures, according to the “extrema ratio” principle.

In recent decades, corporate social responsibility (CSR) has received increasing attention by academics, civil society, media, and regulators. An emerging and less investigated version of CSR is Political CSR (PCSR). PCSR has been defined in a number of different ways and each definition has highlighted different aspects of this phenomenon. Several studies have highlighted that, under conditions of globalization, companies can assume a political role by influencing and cooperating with governments and institutions in changing the institutional environment in which they operate. This chapter specifically aims to analyze the political role taken on by corporations to fill regulatory gaps due to weak or insufficient social and environmental standards and norms, and thus to encourage socially and environmentally responsible conduct, by increasing governments’ and institutions’ interest in CSR and in its communication. The empirical approach used to explore PCSR is a case study. The focus of our research is on Novo Nordisk A/S, a multinational corporation recognized internationally for its early commitment to integrating sustainability into its culture and business practices. Using Scherer and Palazzo’s framework of five characteristics that define political CSR (i.e. governance model, self-regulation, responsibility beyond liability, moral legitimacy, and deliberative democracy), we demonstrate that Novo Nordisk exhibits those characteristics and well describes the changing role of corporations as political actors.Our study contributes to the literature on political CSR, supplementing previous studies and taking part in the understanding of how and why a company can change its role as a political actor. Since the political conception of CSR is still in an early stage of development, our study contributes to operationalizing this concept with reference to a well-known company.

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) is crucial in providing transparent and reliable information. Company characteristics play a key role in CSRD, but legislation is important and positive in increasing the number of companies, which make complete and transparent sustainability disclosure and stimulating CSR initiatives. In 2016, for the first time, Italian Legislative Decree 254/2016 requires ‘public interest entities’, to integrate statutory financial statements with disclosure of environmental, social and governance strategies from financial year 2017 onwards. This chapter investigates the role of company characteristics in influencing voluntary disclosure. The analysis focused on voluntary CSRD (2007–2016) implemented by Italian listed companies in the 10-year period, and shows that in a non-mandatory context the number of CSR reports published grew steadily. It reveals the voluntary behavior of Italian companies, compliance with the requirements of the Decree with reference to the different dimensions of sustainability, and to the use of international standards and guidelines. Findings show also a marked increase of the number of companies, which, in 2017, produced a non-financial report after the entry into force of the new law. The strength of this work is that it investigates what happened in the decade preceding the introduction of the new law tracing the relationship between historical situation, business characteristics and the requirements of the legislative decree. These results and the immediate impact of the new regulation are interestingly linked to the relationship between law and sustainable development and will be directly and indirectly useful for scholars, managers and national and international regulators.

The 254/2016 Legislative Decree, which is implementing in Italy the Directive 2014/95/EU on Non-Financial Information (NFI), has made it mandatory to convey NFI to improve economic, social and environmental corporate communication. An effective mean to operationalize the law is the use of Sustainability Performance Indicators (SPIs). These are powerful tools for communicating companies’ NFI in a synthetic, consistent and comparable way, as confirmed also by the widespread use of the Global Reporting Initiative standard and guidelines that have their strength in the presence of SPIs. With the aim to investigate the effects produced by the new regulation, our chapter analyzes the SPIs disclosed in non-financial reporting produced before and after the 254/2016 Legislative Decree by a sample of Italian companies belonging to the “sensitive sectors” (those with high social and environmental impacts). We use a content analysis and a disclosure index of non-financial reports referring to the 2015–2017 financial years. The longitudinal analysis highlights a decrease of the overall quantity of NFI disclosed via SPIs and a general reduction in their average value, which was more evident in the first year in which the Decree entered into force. The reduction of the disclosure index can be related to the assessment of information reliability, in response to the legal requirement of NFI disclosure. This study is the first attempt to investigate the role played by Italian law on NFI reporting practices, concerning sustainability performance indicators. The results reveal how EU Directive can impact on country-specific regulation, tracing a possible trend on NFI disclosure throughout Europe.

This chapter introduces the theory of collaborative regulation to prevent regulatory capture by actors in multi-stakeholder regulatory processes. Specifically, the chapter argues that proceduralization of the multi-stakeholder process can be deployed for this purpose, and that this holds potential to fill a theory gap in reflexive law theory in regard to balancing power disparities between participants in a multi-stakeholder regulatory process. The point of departure is taken in the complex interaction between public policy objectives on sustainability and the transnational character of many of the issues at stake. In response to such concerns and the limitations of international and national law-making to regulate transnational economic activities, a series of public, private and mixed multi-stakeholder initiatives have been launched to regulate business enterprises and prevent adverse societal impacts. While scholars and practitioners have documented risks of regulatory capture by powerful or otherwise privileged actors in such processes, little is known about the internal norms and organization of a multi-stakeholder process that can support turning a broadly representative input into a normative result (output) in such a manner that the output enjoys a high degree of legitimacy to support organizational uptake without strong enforcement institutions. Several past examples of such multi-stakeholder forums launched by international or regional organizations to regulate sustainability concerns exemplify reflexive law as a regulatory practice. Adopting a socio-legal approach and drawing deliberative theory, the chapter contributes to the legal sustainability literature through theory-building on a regulatory process that is inclusive while also balancing power disparities.

The limits to growth have been predominately conceptualized as a conflict between development and the environment. In the context of human rights, this conflict translates into conflict between the right to environment and the right to development. The right to environment and development are considered to be fundamental human rights. However, could there be a genuine conflict of these rights? The answer to this question has many practical implications, from the law and policy development to the implementation and protection of rights throughout the globe. The issue of conflict of rights is of particular relevance in the context of the implementation of SDGs, as human rights provide the conceptual and technical framework for the implementation of the SDGs, but also for the depoliticization of international development. The chapter provides a brief overview of the different types of environment-development conflicts, as well as an overview of the different types of human rights conflicts. The chapter concludes that there is no actual conflict of rights. However, it is highlighted that the implementation of the SDGs is faced with conceptual and practical challenges due to confusing the symptoms of the problems with the problem itself. The chapter also touches upon the coherence of the international law in the context of sustainable development, and suggest new areas for research in order to address global challenges and accelerate the achievement of SDGs.

The chapter offers a new concept of the right of humanity to peace presented through its co-dependence with human rights and sustainable development. Peace is an important factor for humanity’s survival, which explains the necessity of its discussion through the lens of human rights discourse. Following the traditional division of human rights into three generation, and its development into the rights of humanity, peace is argued to be one of three rights of humanity (others are: right to healthy environment and sustainable development). Humanity – unlike an individual or group – is an inclusive subject, meaning that it unites all human beings. The theoretical utility of introducing the rights of humanity is based on its global nature, making it relevant in the increasingly interdependent world. It also solves the ambiguity in understanding of the subjects of the human rights of third generation. The chapter provides broad analysis of the international documents, which had changed the legal definition of peace recognizing it as a human right. The chapter is designed to argue in favor for recognition of humanity as the subject of the right to peace, along with its connection with the sustainable development. The interdependence between the human rights, peace, and development helps better understanding of future implementation of the possible mechanisms of protection and promotion of these values.

There is a gap in the international law-making forums in how north and south collaborate and contribute to the development of international laws and policies. In the field of environmental law and sustainable development, this affects the potential obligations and the commitments that the states make under international agreements. Therefore, in addition to the states, the non-state actors are increasingly becoming an important voice in balancing the scales of international politics and international law-making. The objective of this research is to bring out the need to incorporate the southern concerns through equality: which encompasses representation of southern concerns at the international law-making forums by the use of NGOs. The research involves qualitative analysis of data and international legal instruments. Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) is used as a lens to analyze the north-south dimensions in international law. The research provides for justification and rationale for legitimizing the NGO participation in international environmental law and sustainable development in order to make it more participatory, equitable and just. The chapter argues that such an approach would reflect the move away from state-centric governance towards a more democratic and inclusive international governance and law-making regime. Therefore it would add to the existing legal literature on north and south dimensions in international environmental law and sustainable development law.

At the present construction of ecological civilization, in order to pursue sustainable development, Chinese courts play a more and more important role on environmental civil public interest litigation. Through case studies, the article reveals the status quo of environmental civil public interest litigation: the year of 2013 is a watershed for the plaintiff’s claims. Before 2013, more claims were to require the defendant to cease the infringement, eliminate the danger, compensate for loss, and other forms of traditional tort liabilities. After 2013 more claims focus on ecological restoration and, meanwhile, the compensation requirements become more and more concrete. The article assumes there exist some problems on claims of environmental civil public interest litigation, i.e. unclear limitation of disposition of claims; undivided judicial and administrative power; low consideration of fulfillment, and over-reliance on the inquisitorial system. As an impartial body, courts should play their moderate role and instruct plaintiffs in the course of proceedings, which in turn will lead to the progress of rule of environmental law. So, based on the principle of “reasonable separation of functions of courts, administrative organs, and social organizations”, the article proposes clarifying the limitation of disposition of claims, distinguishing judicial and administrative power in this regard and relaxing the court’s reliance on an inquisitorial system. It will make the authority to face the role dimension of courts, administrative branches and social organization in adjudication, environmental enforcement and public participation respectively. Only by coordinating all these subjects, China can protect the environment well and achieve sustainable development.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the principle of benefit-sharing in international law and thereby establish the important linkage between benefit sharing and sustainable development. It examines the principle in different areas of treaty law, and clarify how it may develop in future. These areas of law include biodiversity, climate change, desertification, oceans, indigenous peoples, and outer space. The main findings of the paper are that several aspects of the principle of benefit sharing can contribute to the elaboration of international law for sustainable development, including aspects that are not currently well developed. Yet, a number of obstacles exist to its implementation due to different understandings of the principle and a general lack of implementation thus far, even in domains where it is better defined. Future research is needed on the means of implementation of this principle, the development of the principle in ongoing international negotiations (which are many), and the potential future applications of the principle in international law. This would make a valuable contribution to ensuring that the use of natural resources truly leads to sustainable development based on a fair distribution of the costs and benefits of resource use between States, and within States.

Sustainable development focuses on social and human, natural and economic factors. By recognizing and protecting Indigenous ecological knowledge each of these factors is addressed. Many Australian government programs recognize that Indigenous communities hold knowledge critical to the conservation of biological diversity and natural resource management. In research commissioned for the New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage in 2013, the Indigenous Knowledge Forum proposed a legislative ‘Competent Authority’ framework for ‘Recognising and Protecting Aboriginal Knowledge Associated with Natural Resource Management’. The Authority would provide the governance framework for administering a legal regime covering the creation, maintenance and protection of community knowledge databases. The Garuwanga Project is about finding the best legal structure of governance for Indigenous Australians to manage their traditional knowledge and culture, including their ecological knowledge, and enable Australia to comply with the Nagoya Protocol. The aim is to provide the communities with a path to sustainable development and capacity building. This project addresses concerns over the form, independence and funding of such an Authority, as well as local Indigenous representation, by facilitating Aboriginal Community engagement in identifying, evaluating and recommending an appropriate Competent Authority legal structure. Most competent authorities around the world are government-based organizations or departments, however, Aboriginal communities have expressed great concern about such institutions having any form of control over their traditional knowledge. Accordingly, what is unique about the Garuwanga Project is the proposal for a competent authority that is independent of the government. This paper will report on the governance model proposed by the Garuwanga Project in its Discussion Paper together with the preliminary outcomes of the consultations with Aboriginal communities across Australia.

Jatropha cultivation was introduced in India with great expectations regarding India’s self-sufficiency in biofuel production, improving the marginal farmer’s livelihood in addition to the utilization of marginal land. But later it was found that the mission failed due to lack of proper implementation at different levels, the most important being gaps in the implementation of the scheme from the government level to the farmer level. The objective of this study is to examine the gaps of Jatropha programme in India which made it a failure and made it unsustainable to the marginal farmers. The study showed that Jatropha was not a viable biofuel crop in South India while taking the factors like yield and advantages to marginal farmers into consideration. Additionally, intensive biofuel cultivation can also affect biodiversity by promoting monoculture, reducing the native biodiversity of so-called ‘marginal lands’. The cultivation which was not successful in the utilization of marginal lands leads to wastage of large areas of marginal lands, energy, time and income of marginal farmers. But biofuel crops, in general, can have a good future if it can be properly implemented with a successful policy back up and scientific studies. Hence addressing these issues will aid in robust framing of policies which are beneficial to the socio-economic upliftment of the public in addition to strengthening the government’s economic returns.

The EU adopted a Regulation striving to tackle one of the primary threats to biodiversity, namely Invasive Alien Species (“IAS”). The article provides an overview of the IAS Regulation and discusses the Union list, the listing criteria as well as the restrictions set forth. The concept of ecosystem services is addressed as it is newly introduced in an EU legislative act. Furthermore, the obligations to detect and eradicate IAS are outlined and the four “ways” to derogate from the eradication-obligation are analyzed taking into account the European Commission’s (“EC”) opinion. Additionally, the management provision, particularly commercial use, is reviewed. To determine an understanding of commercial use, the specific exceptions – permits granted for research, ex-situ conservation and scientific production and subsequent medicinal use as well as authorizations in exceptional cases for reasons of compelling public interest – are scrutinized. Subsequently, concrete categories of “compelling public interest“ are developed, relying on provisions under the Habitats and Water Framework Directives and case law by the Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”).

The contribution of environmental law for the sustainable management of living and non-living marine resources in Brazil is still uncertain. The sectoral approach is dominant; therefore, norms and competences tend to follow this pattern. This paper demonstrates the difficulty to provide environmental protection within marine activities because of the lack of integration among different sectors. Brazilian environmental law was not specifically designed for the management of marine resources and so far does not contribute to the sustainable integration, throughout its principles, rules and instruments, of different sectors such as mining, oil exploitation, navigation and fishing. In addition to this, environmental law does not provide for an institutional framework where environmental agencies are at the center of the management of marine resources. However, there are some examples of norms and instruments that contribute to an integrated approach for the management of marine resources, but still in a limited way. This analysis is part of a research project entitled “The Brazilian strategies for the sustainable management of marine resources”. The results of the project are all innovative in the Brazilian legal and policy literature, because the focus of Brazilian environmental Law scholars is on the land and not on the marine environment.

The main challenge of ocean pollution continues to be a multiplicity and dispersed nature of the pollution sources. Polluting substances enter the sea from activities in the sea as well as from land-based activities. This problem is generating an intricate architecture of international legal regulation as pollution from different sources is governed by numerous jurisdictions and branches of law. The purpose of our paper is to find the legal base for interplay management in the sphere of land-based sea pollution between these conventions. We focus on analyzing the sources of sea pollution and on the global legal framework of setting restrictions upon these sources in order to find the justification for the necessity of cooperation between the relevant conventions. On the grounds of comparing provisions of three conventions – MARPOL Convention 73/78, Basel Convention, Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes – which were adopted in order to reduce and eliminate environmental pollution, we open the discussion about the necessity of cooperation between conventions in question. In order to define the forces and achievements of existing institutional interactions, a case study is carried out on how and with what effects the relevant international institutions cope with the gap in the regulation of land-based sea pollution. Based on the results of the legal analysis and case examination, we outline the perspectives for the global regime on land-based sea pollution.

Since the 1992 Rio Summit, various multilateral agreements have been made to tackle climate change including the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement. Despite the pledges to reduce emissions at the international level, the 2019 UN Emissions Gap Report reveals that the world’s emission gap has been increasing continuously. This study investigates how the international framework has been incorporated domestically in Japan in the context of historical environmental governance. The research objectives are twofold: first, it provides an overview of domestic legislations that incorporate multilateral climate agreements at the national and subnational levels. Second, the state of local implementation is assessed by reviewing government-disclosed data and policy documents. The concept of multilevel governance is used to guide the legislative review and the analysis of local implementation. Mitigation effort is analysed based on the establishment of action plans and emission reduction targets as per the Global Warming Law. For adaptation, the establishment of action plans and local climate change adaptation centers are examined in accordance to the Climate Change Adaptation Act. The study finds that Japan’s legislative framework and historical foundation are in favor of local implementation and prefectural leadership is observant. Area of potential improvements such as setting numerical total reduction target at the prefectural level and strengthening municipal implementations are discussed. Studies to understand cross-jurisdictional relationships, impacts of local climate actions, translation of NDCs into subnational goals and conceptualization of climate policy involving energy policy are suggested for future research in the closing chapters.

This paper evaluates the adequacy of Kenya’s subsidiary legislation to support a transition towards enforceable sustainable construction regulations. Informed by the Green Legal Theory and Legal Theory of Sustainable Development it provides an international comparison among Kenya and United Kingdom legislation in their implementation of legal principles of sustainability in the construction industry. It particularly examines in this way the level of fusion of sustainability in laws governing the construction sector in Kenya. The paper establishes a lack of a sustainable construction strategy and that the Kenya Government is yet to make sustainability a core subject in the construction industry operations. Sustainability is therefore not a living element in the legal framework governing the construction sector in Kenya. The fragmented nature of the Kenya industry has impacted leadership and governance consequently left sustainable construction for voluntary uptake. The paper outlines findings from the literature review related to Kenya’s rule of Law and makes policy recommendations as well as other tangible solutions for a holistic integration of sustainability in the construction industry in Kenya. As a proactive measure, embracing sustainable development now will keep emissions of emerging economies on the low in the face of future growth and development.The paper champions the use of regulations to enforce and promote provisions of sustainability in the construction industry in Kenya towards meeting the National Green Economy Strategy Implementation Plan.

The Paris Agreement came into force on 4 November 2016. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report on 8th Oct 2018 also announced that the agreed Paris targets on reducing emissions would not be enough without setting larger and more ambitious targets after 2030 and maximising the capacity of a best mix approach including renewable energy, nuclear power and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). There has been wide discussion about CCS considered as one of the significant approaches to mitigating a large amount of CO2 from the global atmosphere. Japan, as a developed country, is now facing a challenge for meeting its mid and long-term goals for reducing GHG emissions, due to the limited energy sources (e.g. nuclear and renewable energy) after the Great Tohoku Earthquake in 2011 and a trend of relying on fossil fuel energy sources (coal and gas). This study aims at identifying a number of key approaches to developing the existing CCS policy and legal framework in Japan to commercialise CCS deployment, based on ongoing research. This paper has addressed a number of key developments: maximising a best mix technological solution to mitigating the GHG emissions in Japan including the role of CCS (i.e. Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage – CCUS), setting specific targets for CCS and technological roadmap; considering two scenario options for a legal framework so called ‘regulatory-based model’ and ‘public-work model’; and utilizing the role of SEA and EIA which could be applied as the useful tools to conceptualize, review and improve the existing policy and legal framework. It further emphasises a need for a comprehensive framework at the regional level and attempts to address its key development areas to be considered, in order to realise a low/zero carbon society in the Asia-Pacific region.

Long after the concept of sustainable development, that of ecosystem service (ES) also gained political and legal recognition, especially after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) in 2005. These two concepts were revealed at different times but present a potential for complementarity since the MEA places the environmental pillar of sustainable development as the condition for achieving the Sustainable development Goals. The inclusion of the concept of ES in the legal framework could help to prioritize decisions for sustainable development. However, while the legal literature on ecosystem services is exploding, it does little to explore the legal consequences of their introduction into the law and also does little to analyze their relationship to sustainable development. Based on an analysis of existing texts and doctrine, this chapter provides a reflection on the usefulness and modalities of taking into account ES in order to guide decisions towards greater sustainability. Two various approaches will be explored. The first, which is classic in law, will focus on the legal qualification of ES and more specifically through the relevance of a dedicated legal category. The objective is to identify possible direct and specific legal effects arising from the introduction of ES into the legal corpus that could directly influence unsustainable behavior. The second, less traditional, will demonstrate that an approach based on the legal qualification of ES is not the only possible or most relevant legal approach. Even without direct legal effects, the concept is not without legal effectiveness.

Ecosystem Services (ES), a pro-conservation paradigm often linked to a Western planning and development approach, has been applied in Asia but has yet to be mainstreamed by policy-makers and practitioners for decision-making within the region. In this chapter, we explore notable achievements, as well as barriers, to mainstreaming ES within the environmental public policies of Southeast Asia. A detailed case study examination of four Southeast Asian nations (Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam) revealed that inclusion, or even consideration, of ES in public policy has been uneven throughout the region, ranging from essentially no consideration to quite sophisticated ES policy underpinnings; and even within a country there can be considerable difference in ES uptake. In general, we conclude the concern that ES concepts are too western-centric have been overcome in Southeast Asia, although some barriers to the mainstreaming of ES into public policy still faces barriers. The principal barriers common across Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam are related to mandate and policy fragmentation and insufficient human and finance capacity. On the other hand, Singapore has successfully included ES concepts within it planning structure due to a number of factors, including a less fragmented policy-making approach, public-private partnerships and buy-in, and visionary leadership. Singapore’s economic status also provides some flexibility to ES policy implementation. Interestingly, however, Singapore has not relied on monetization approaches to support implementation of ES concepts. Finally, we recommend potential ways forward for the three not-yet-so-successful nations by highlighting the roles of academies, government, and major international agencies, (e.g. World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) or Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)) in furthering efforts to mainstream ES in policy-making.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is involved in the implementation of an international Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) (UNEP: Developing international payments for environmental services: a technical discussion (Background Paper), 2006) mechanism, namely “Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in the developing countries and the conservation, sustainable forest management and the enhancement of forest carbon stocks in the developing countries” (REDD+). However, the laws of the DRC are insufficient to achieve a sustainable PES and REDD+ implementation. Based on indicators on land tenure security, classical conditions of contracts, 3E+ REDD+ criteria and measures on conservation and restoration, this chapter analyses the laws related to PES in force in the DRC in order to obtain a more sustainable preservation of ecosystem services. The chapter focuses on four ecosystem services: carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity protection, watershed protection and landscape beauty. Several criteria have been applied to assess the potential of the DRC PES laws to promote a sustainable preservation of ecosystems and ecosystem services. A first set of well-known criteria are the 3 E+ REDD+ criteria, which entails that to achieve a successful REDD+ implementation, the REDD+ project should be effective, costly efficient, equitable and bring co-benefits. Effectiveness refers to the achievement of environmental goals. Cost efficiency means that the project should attempt to reach the environmental goals through reasonable financial means. Equity fits with the inclusive capacity of the project. Four co-benefits are distinguished, namely biodiversity conservation, governance, adaptation of climate change and improvement of social conditions. Secondly, this chapter refers to classical contract conditions from French and Belgian Civil Law inherited by Congolese Civil Law. These conditions are the consent of the parties, the capacity of parties, the existence of an object and the legal purpose. Thirdly, the chapter refers to the indicators on conservation and restoration measures and on land tenure security (property right titles and clear borders). The chapter demonstrates that there is a need to update or enforce the existing laws related to PES applied in the DRC in order to increase the preservation of ecosystem services. The chapter argues that the transformation of the existing laws would positively influence the implementation of SDG 13 and 15.

This chapter takes stock of two contemporary trends in food systems’ work that have not received sufficient attention within the discussion on municipal policy-making for sustainable development: (1) recent developments within the human right to food at the international level, and (2) the exponential growth in comprehensive local food strategies. While SDG2 identified that ending hunger and malnutrition requires the progressive realization of the right to food, through participation and empowerment of local communities, recent literature has also criticized the overemphasis on State-led regulatory interventions for having led to a uniformity of solutions that the use of classical tools by the State presupposes. It is now increasingly recognized that there is a need to a shift away from State-led solutions for citizens, to a focus on the ability for citizen groups to collectively design and implement their own solutions at the local level. Based on examples from both the European Union and the United States, this chapter provides two main contributions. First, it provides a review of the latest legal developments in the human right to food at the international level and combines this with a description of the problematic of the definition and identification local rights-based food policies. Second, the chapter develops the concept of local rights-based food policy in the context of the E.U. and the U.S. through two case studies based on semi-directed interviews with citizen groups working in these regions, and presents the opportunities and challenges of the concept and its implications on both sides of the Atlantic. The chapter concludes by presenting ways forward for the inclusion of human rights within municipal food policy, a necessary feature of the holistic approach required for sustainable development.

In recent years, the international community has witnessed the rise of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus concept, which was introduced to ensure that the synergies between the three sectors were taken into account. This chapter addresses the question of whether this term can be legally implemented in the framework of international groundwater law and whether doing so would actually strengthen the global groundwater regulatory framework. In particular, would the incorporation of the Nexus concept into international and transboundary water conventions and instruments dealing with groundwater resources provide new means of preventing the depletion of transboundary aquifers? The chapter points out that there are many issues that must be taken into account before considering the establishment of a WEF Nexus legal framework. It notes that there is no proof that nations sharing water resources would include a WEF Nexus provision in their regional agreements or that they would comply with such provisions. These research findings are very important as it is still not clear how the WEF Nexus concept will be implemented in law or, indeed, whether such implementation is possible.

There is a gap in most countries’ legal frameworks regarding their ability to connect vacant land and urban gardens. Hence, research is needed to understand how regulation on vacant land might be designed to promote a more sustainable purpose to it. Urban gardens are a type of urban agriculture that could be potentiated by such regulation. The aim of this paper is to show how that can be done through the Municipal Master Plans (MMP) legal and regulatory framework for the Portuguese case, by reviewing worldwide good practices on vacant land restorations for urban sustainable development. The paper comprises a literature review on good practices adopted in different countries regarding vacant lot restoration. The evaluation of good practices is built on the achievement of the three pillars of sustainability. Five Portuguese MMP were used, as empirical data, to support the design of a new legal and regulatory framework. The goal is to enhance the sustainable destination of vacant land by converting it into urban gardens. The analysis of these MMPs demonstrated that they disregard urban gardens as a tool to promote urban sustainability in spite of global trends to make urban territorial planning and management instruments greener. An additional outcome of this paper is to categorise different types of vacant land in the five municipalities under analysis according to their suitability for urban garden conversion. The design of the legal framework enhancing the conversion of vacant land into urban garden will contribute to the 2030 international agenda goals’ achievement. The proposal would create an innovative legal framework in the case of Portugal that could be replicated by other countries.

This chapter provides an overview of the main findings and the related conclusions of the 34 chapters in total included into the five parts of general aspects and five parts of specific aspects.