V.B.12 Experts Group on Environmental Law of the World Commission on Environment and Development, Legal Principles for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development (4 Aug 87)

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The World ◽  
Environment And Development

scholarly journals Indicators for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Criteria for a Successful Sustainability Relevant to Environmental Law in Malaysia

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.30) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Maizatun Maizatun Mustafa ◽  
. .
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Pollution Control ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
International Level ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
The World ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Legal Mechanism

The concept of `sustainable development’ emerges in almost every discussion of environmental issues, be it at national or international levels. Over the years, especially after the famous 1987 Brundtland Commission’s Report, this concept has become more widely accepted by the policy-makers all over the world, including Malaysia. However, despite having received much international recognition and acceptance, the concept is still enigmatic and elusive, and there appears to be significant vagueness about exactly what meaning its exact denotation supposed to convey. This article seeks to examine the emergence and development of the concept of sustainable development at the international level, and to peruse its possible or suitable definitions. The objectives of such examination are to identify indicators that have greatly influenced the major discourse in the legal theories derived from this concept. For Malaysia and elsewhere, these sustainability indicators can be applied to appraise the effectiveness of legal mechanism in environmental protection and pollution control. The article concludes that understanding the criteria of successful sustainability allows a nation to meet the ongoing challenge of balancing present needs against those of the future. It is through this understanding that challenges and opportunities for sustainable development become clear. 

13. International Trade and Environmental Protection

2021 ◽  
pp. 775-812
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle ◽  
Catherine Redgwell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Trade Law ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter looks at the relationship between the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international trade in terms of international environmental law. Twenty-five years after the WTO system came into operation it appears that neither trade law nor environmental law have trumped each other. Rather, there has been a process of accommodation which is still ongoing. The chapter ends by making some conclusions on the arguments presented in this book and the issues currently being faced. The current policy of encouraging free trade cannot always be made environmentally friendly and this will always be the case. The problem becomes clear if we consider climate change. Free trade and globalisation by nature exacerbates the difficulties of regulating environmental issues. In addition, one of the key problems with sustainable development as a concept is that there has been too much emphasis on development, and not nearly enough on sustainability, then a policy of promoting free trade is part of that problem.

Sustainable Development

Ecology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Fearnside
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Clean Development Mechanism ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Marshall Islands ◽  
Toxic Waste ◽  
The World ◽  
Environment And Development ◽  
Brundtland Report ◽  
Development Mechanism

Sustainable development is a concept that has quickly risen to prominence both in academic work and in policymaking at all levels, particularly since 1987 when the World Commission on Environment and Development, better known as the Brundtland Commission, released its report promoting this approach. The report defines sustainable development as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” and states that “the concept of sustainable development does imply limits—not absolute limits but limitations imposed by the present state of technology and social organization on environmental resources and by the ability of the biosphere to absorb the effects of human activities. But technology and social organization can be both managed and improved to make way for a new era of economic growth.” The thinking behind the concept extends back for decades before the Brundtland Report, particularly since the early 1970s with rapid rise of what is known as “sustainability science,” although the term “sustainable development” was not coined until 1980. Sustainable development owes much of its political attractiveness to its vagueness, allowing hundreds of countries to sign onto international agreements that endorse the concept without fear that their development plans will be constrained. This advantage, of course, is linked to the disadvantage of allowing a “green” discourse to be used to promote just about any imaginable activity, no matter how damaging. Even countries importing toxic waste from the rest of the world claimed that they were practicing “sustainable development,” the Marshall Islands being the best known. The bibliography that follows presents some of the evolution of the concept of sustainable development and its scientific underpinnings. Two processes have proceeded in parallel: the political process of sustainable development that began with the Brundtland Report in 1987 and was extended by the United Nations (UN) Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 and the scientific process that evolved autonomously in response to the vagueness of the Brundtland definition. The sequence of international agreements associated with sustainable development has led this concept to permeate the planning of actions by governments and other entities throughout the world. Current application focuses on the seventeen sustainable development goals, or SDGs, which were agreed at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, together with their 230 individual indicators and 169 targets. A clear example of the challenge of moving sustainable development beyond a role as a greenwashing discourse is offered by the Climate Convention. The Kyoto Protocol requires that all projects in the Clean Development Mechanism contribute to sustainable development, and in 1997 when the Protocol was signed this was seen as a way to prevent climate-mitigation projects from causing untoward social and environmental impacts. However, it was later decided that there would be no international standards defining what constitutes sustainable development, and it would be left up to each country to decide for itself whether proposed projects in the country met that country’s own criteria. A Designated National Authority (DNA) in each country would certify that each project represents sustainable development, with the result that projects are virtually never blocked on this basis. In Brazil, a dramatic example is the Teles Pires Dam, which was certified as “sustainable development” and now receives clean development mechanism carbon credit. The Munduruku indigenous people near the dam were never consulted, as required by International Labor Organization Convention 169 and by Brazilian Law. In 2013 the tribe’s most sacred site was fist dynamited and then flooded. This was the Sete Quedas rapids, which is where the spirits of respected tribal elders go after death—equivalent to heaven for Christians.

New Ways to Make International Environmental Law

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

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

Establishment of Fiscal and Taxation Policies for Environmental Protection System

2013 ◽  
Vol 295-298 ◽  
pp. 2211-2214
Author(s):  
Jin An
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Improve Quality ◽  
Taxation Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Great Damage

Environmental pollution and ecological degradation in China have continued to be serious problems and have inflicted great damage on the economy and quality of life. As the largest developing country, China’s fiscal and taxation policies on environmental protection and sustainable development will be of primary importance not only for China, but also the world. By taking a critical look at the development of Chinese environmental fiscal and taxation policy, we try to determine how best to coordinate the relationship between the environment and the economy in order to improve quality of life and the sustainability of China’s resources and environment.

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