In a relatively short time the concept of “sustainable development” has become firmly established in the field of international law. The World Commission on Environment and Development concisely defined sustainable development as follows: “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This definition takes into account the needs of both the present and future generations as well as the capacity of the earth and its natural resources which by clear implication should not be depleted by a small group of people (in industrialized countries). The aim of this book is threefold : to review the genesis and to clarify the meaning of the concept of sustainable development, as well as to assess its status within public international law. Furthermore, it examines the legal principles that have emerged in the pursuit of sustainable development. Lastly, it assesses to what extent the actual evolution of law demonstrates the balance and integration with all pertinent fields of international law as urged by the Rio, Johannesburg, and World Summit documents. This is the second volume in the Hague Academy of International Law Pocket Book series; it contains the text of the course given at the Hague Academy by Professor Schrijver. Cet ouvrage répond à trois objectifs : examiner la naissance du concept de développement durable, clarifier sa signification et évaluer son statut dans le droit international public. Il examine également les principes juridiques nés de la poursuite du développement durable. Enfin, il examine l’évolution actuelle du droit par rapport aux exigences énoncées à Rio, à Johannesburg et au cours du dernier sommet mondial en ce qui concerne l’intégration du concept de développement durable dans tous les domaines pertinents du droit international.

. . . this book gives a good overview of major challenges facing policy makers, researchers and ultimately humankind in dealing with climate change. . . The reader also gets a good understanding of how fragmented and transversal the issues of climate change and sustainable development are. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture . . . a unified, useful and stimulating book which should act as a springboard for further work into what is a very topical and extremely important issue for everyone in the world, not just academics and policymakers. This book serves its intended audience but also deserves to be more widely read. World Entrepreneurship Society Too often, writings on climate change are placed into two categories: climate-change deniers, and climate-change supporters. What this timely and insightful collection of Mohamed Salih s does, is to problematise the issue; taking the debate to a level where it desperately needs to be; asking the thorny questions of how do the politics and international relations of climate impact upon the most vulnerable; the least-affluent; the dwellers of the majority world. In short, Salih challenges us: How did the climate change about climate-change . The responses of his contributors are salient, to-the-point sometimes disturbing but always thought-provoking. Timothy Doyle, Keele University, UK Editing the proceedings of a symposium into a cogent and coherent book is no easy task. This book, a tribute to Professor Opschoor is no exception; with disperse contributions of some highly acclaimed authors covering a wide spectrum of themes. It is a credit to Professor Salih s insight to string them together in the introductory chapter and entice the reader to read on. This book has food for thought on many fronts, reaching far beyond climate change, as did the oeuvre of Hans Opschoor. . . an instructive read. Paul Vlek, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn, Germany It is difficult, if not impossible, to formulate and implement sustainable policy without first understanding the dynamic relationships between nature, society, economics and technology, and research plays a pivotal role in this regard. Climate Change and Sustainable Development is an important book which deals with these issues in the context of climate change and the changing global context of development. It alerts us to the relationship climate change has with two urgent tasks: poverty reduction and sustainable development, which require efforts that span countries, regions and communities. In this interdependent world, argue the authors, a shared vision and common effort are vital to sustaining our life support system. It is a must read. Jacqueline Cramer, The Netherlands Minister for Spatial Planning and the Environment This unique book provides cutting-edge knowledge and analyses of the consequences that climate change will have for sustainable development and poverty reduction within the context of global development. Exploring alternative resource management approaches including federal resource management governance, ecosystem services, digital dematerialization, ecological cities, biofuels versus food, and children and climate change, this innovative volume provides fresh insights on the human condition with regards to the current debates on climate change. The distinguished contributors examine climate change induced processes that present profound challenges to sustainable development and poverty reduction at the local, national and global levels. This groundbreaking study will be a welcome addition for graduate and post-graduate students in development and environmental studies. It will also have great appeal to scientists, policy-makers and researchers in these fields.

A pioneering study that challenges the legal orthodoxy of sustainable development in international law from a non-Western perspective.

In 2015, the United Nations established seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that aimed 'to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' by 2030. The chapters within this collection address each of these SDGs, considering how they relate to one another and international law, and what institutions could aid their implementation. Development has been a contentious topic since the decolonization period after World War II, and issues surrounding sustainable development are necessarily impacted by the multifaceted relationship between the Global South and Global North. Confronting the context and challenge of sustainable development, this collection outlines how the international economic system problematizes the attainment of the SDGs. Introducing a novel, cosmopolitan approach, this book offers new ways of understanding sustainable development and suggests potential solutions so that we might finally achieve it.

The current international investment law system is insufficiently compatible with sustainable development. To better address sustainable development concerns associated with transnational investment activities, international investment agreements should be made more compatible with sustainable development. Integrating Sustainable Development in International Investment Law presents an important systematic study of the issue of sustainable development in the international investment law system, using conceptual, normative and governance perspectives to explore the challenges and possible solutions for making international investment law more compatible with sustainable development. Chi suggests that to effectively address the sustainable development concerns associated with transnational investment activities, the international investment agreements system should be reformed. Such reform should feature redesigning the provisions of the agreements, improving the structure of international investment agreements, strengthening the function of soft law, engaging non-state actors and enhancing the dispute settlement mechanism. The book is primarily aimed at national and international treaty and policy-makers, lawyers and scholars. It is also suitable for graduate students studying international law and policy-making.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This incisive Research Handbook addresses the growing recognition within the international law community that natural resource governance and environmental protection are crucial aspects of peace processes, both as a security imperative and as an opportunity for peacebuilding. Examining the impact of international normative and institutional frameworks on environmental peacebuilding, this Research Handbook features contributions from distinguished experts and global case studies on integrated legal approaches to the governance of natural resources.

This Volume of the Netherlands Yearbook of International Law explores emerging trends and key developments in international economic law. It examines shifts in the levels of cooperation (from multilateral to plurilateral, regional or bilateral—or vice versa), and shifts in the forms of cooperation (new types of actors and instruments). These trends are analysed both from a conceptual and a practical perspective, with contributions addressing drivers for change, historical perspectives, future developments, and evolutions in specific policy fields. While a focus on international economic law may certainly not tell the whole story in relation to shifts in levels and forms of international cooperation, it does allow for a more detailed analysis of some of the important trends we currently witness. The Netherlands Yearbook of International Law was first published in 1970. It offers a forum for the publication of scholarly articles in a varying thematic area of public international law.

The 2002 New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law relating to Sustainable Development set out seven principles on sustainable development, as agreed in treaties and soft-law instruments from before the 1992 Rio ‘Earth Summit’ UNCED, to the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, to the 2012 Rio UNCSD. Recognition of the New Delhi principles is shaping the decisions of dispute settlement bodies with jurisdiction over many subjects: the environment, human rights, trade, investment, and crime, among others. This book explores the expanding international jurisprudence incorporating principles of international law on sustainable development. Through chapters by respected experts, the volume documents the application and interpretation of these principles, demonstrating how courts and tribunals are contributing to the world’s Sustainable Development Goals, by peacefully resolving disputes. It charts the evolution of these principles in international law from soft law standards towards recognition as customary law in certain instances, assessing key challenges to further judicial consideration of the principles, and discussing, for instance, how their relevance for compliance and disputes related to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The volume provides a unique contribution of great interest to law and policy-makers, judges, academics, students, civil society and practitioners concerned with sustainable development and the law, globally.

Transition to Journals From Volume 19, the Yearbook of International Environmental Law will be available as online only, print only, or combined print and online subscriptions from Oxford Journals. The Yearbook of International Environmental Law archive is available immediately from January 2011. Customers wishing to take out a subscription can do so by clicking through to the yearbook's journal page: http://yielaw.oxfordjournals.org/ The Yearbook of International Environmental Law will benefit from a number of additional features made possible by online publication: Publish ahead of print - Articles will appear online throughout the year, granting subscribers immediate access to the latest developments in both HTML and PDF formats, without needing to wait for the print volume Email alerts - Anyone can sign up to receive Yearbook of International Environmental Law content alerts - both of the annual volume and of content published throughout the year Searchable archive - The entire archive back to 1996 will be made available to Yearbook of International Environmental Law subscribers The Yearbook of International Environmental Law has established itself as a vital source of information and analysis in an increasingly important legal field. The contributors for this volume are drawn from leading figures around the world who, together with the expert team of editors, have created the best source of information on world-wide events in this field. The article section contains high quality essays on topical subjects and the year-in-review section offers a round-up of legal developments in every part of the world. The third section of the Yearbook contains extenstive reviews of recently published books in the area.

Natural resource wealth is conducive to a country's development. Nevertheless, the last few decades have shown a harsher reality, where natural resources have also triggered, financed or fuelled a number of internal armed conflicts. Examples include the armed conflicts in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which have been financed with the exploitation of a variety of valuable natural resources, including diamonds, gold, timber, oil and cocoa. The aim of this book is to assess the contribution of international law in ensuring that natural resources are used to promote development and to achieve sustainable peace instead of financing armed conflict. For this purpose, the author discusses the international legal framework for the governance of natural resources in States in general, in situations of armed conflict and as part of conflict resolution and post-conflict peacebuilding efforts.