Recently, Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), published his Green Consumption Rights Should Be Incorporated Into International Law on the Pathway To The 2022 Declaration Blog.
The Pathway to the 2022 Declaration Blog is written by jurists for diplomats to feed the ongoing discussions with legal proposals. It is our hope that this Blog will bring inspiration to the work of diplomats and facilitate the negotiations on the Declaration.
In order to promote China's deep participation in global environmental governance, as a partner of the "Pathway To The 2022 Declaration " blog, CBCGDF International Department is now sharing the blog's excellent articles.
What if the global pact for the environment took the form of a simple declaration: A Trojan horse for better implementation of environmental standards?
The adoption of the treaty has desirable effects, but not all cases, it depends on the compliance of countries. Normative frameworks exist in the field of environmental protection, but they are fragmented, inaccurate and lack international consensus. Adoption of a divided international treaty could be undermined by America's selfish interests, or its nature could be deliberately bad and ambiguous. So, negotiations of the declaration are very important, defining the true dialogue of the member states, the general core of principles.
The ILO Declaration established fundamental rights and principles as tools for implementing basic labor, standards for human beings across borders and multilateral systems. Currently, the declaration on environmental issues is different from the ILO declaration, but the multilateral negotiation process leading to the adoption has similar effect to produce results before the adoption. Beyond the results, negotiations allowed development, and basic principles were determined by conventional norms, ergonomic obligations, and collective legal consciousness.
We need to remind that justice does not necessarily mean obligation and legal relevance or effectiveness is not limited to mandatory effectiveness. Therefore, declarations have more effect than treaties because of flexible characteristics, answers to the fragmentation of the international environment, and principles that is widely accepted. This is commonly applied to environmental law, so texts with common understanding can be a turning point in the history of global environmental governance.
The integrity and unity of the earth system: a principle for a new pact for the earth
Humans have amazing scientific knowledge and data about the Earth and warn us of what action we should take. Now Earth's system is an increasingly unstable single integrated system. To keep this stable, we have identified and established nine key processes that jointly describe global system functions.
Despite many of the environmental commitments adopted over the past, the stable state of the planet is at risk. The 2019 United Nations Global Convention for the Environment report attributed the current unstable global conditions to fundamental causes. Fragmentary and reactive international environmental law has made us more aware of the function of the global system, but this is not reflected in our legal system, so we should aim to keep. Also, the legal response should be taken to consider ES as the object of the law and planetary boundaries and interactions.
While protecting the global system may be considered a challenge because it is intangible, UNFCCC establishes international legal frameworks for protection of intangible goods and CBD protects biodiversity. Therefore, efforts must be made to protect intangible goods under international environmental law. One sure treaty is needed for the planet and the 50th anniversary of UNEP and Stockholm conference is the chance to overcome. We must recognize this reality and introduce principles concerning the integration and integrity of the global system. This is just the first step. It is necessary to overcome the division of governance structure that lacks systematic access to global law development as well as integration and integrity of the global system.
Towards a global pact
A concise and authoritative statement about the conclusion of a global agreement is important for judicial decision making. The first aspect is that a concise and authoritative statement of environmental legislation is much easier and faster, so concise explanations of environmental principles is necessary. For example, the application of water polluter charges or the principle of water polluter charges can be a useful start to interpret certain provisions designed to give effect to domestic laws.
Second, on the Global Environmental Common Law, Johannesburg's 2002 Global Judges Symposium recognized the importance of the judiciary's interpretation and enforcement of environmental law. He continued his work with the United Nations Environment Department, starting in 2004 with the creation of the Judgment Handbook on the UNEP Environment Act. Recently, as a founding member of the World Environmental Justice Institute of the Brazilian High Court, he will help environmental judges exchange information on on/offline cooperation and cases of environmental issues.
Since the early 1990s, courts around the world have tried to give legal form to the concept of environmental trust governance that can be enforced through courts. The ambitious goal of Macron's inauguration in 2017 became the cornerstone of international environmental law. The new convention will follow the pledge of civil, political, economic and socio-cultural rights and establish third-generation fundamental rights related to environmental protection. To conclude, he hopes to see a positive aspect of the current well-established principles of environmental law, a concise and authoritative statement about world environmental law.
More info: https://www.pathway2022declaration.org/article/towards-a-global-pact/
Written by Bella
Modified by Syying
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