International Law and Sustainable Development

✍ Scribed by Alistair Rieu-Clarke

• Publisher: IWA Publishing
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 270
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Implementing the goal of sustainable development has long been heralded as the means by which the needs of both present and future generations can be met. However, finding a long-term balance between economic, social and environmental interests, the basic tenet of sustainable development, has proved largely illusive in practice. This book shows that while a number of legal frameworks to help promote the goal of sustainable development have been proposed at the international level they fail to fully capture the essence of sustainable development and international law's capacity to support its implementation. The book offers a critical analysis of past attempts to develop legal frameworks for promoting sustainable development at the international level, and advocates for a fresh approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses. The book is divided into four sections. The first section includes an overview of the topic area and an understanding of international law. In section two the book explores the meaning of sustainable development and considers the term's relationship with international law. A detailed analysis of how the law of international watercourses seeks to reconcile competing economic, social and environmental interests is carried out in section three. The book concludes with a section advocating the need for a fresh approach to international law and sustainable development and offering the foundations for this approach based on lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Table of International Treaties and other Instruments
Table of Cases and Arbitrations
Introduction
1. Meeting the Needs of Present and Future Generations
2. The Role of International Law in Implementing Sustainable Development
3. Why the Law of International Watercourses?
4. Purpose and Outline of the Study
1. Identifying International Law
1.1 The Normative Threshold
1.2 International Law and How it Works
1.3 Identifying Rules and Principles of International Law
1.4 Conclusion
2. What is Sustainable Development?
2.1 The Emergence of International Development
2.2 The Emergence of a “Third World” Voice
2.3 Development and Human Rights
2.4 Development and Environmental Protection
2.5 Rio to Johannesburg
2.6 Sustainable Development: A Multifaceted Concept
3. What is the Legal Relevance of Sustainable Development?
3.1 Treaties
3.2 Non-binding Instruments
3.3 Decisions of Courts and Tribunals
3.4 Writings of Publicists
3.5 Conclusion
4. “International Law” in the Field of Sustainable Development
4.1 Sovereignty over Natural Resources
4.2 Sustainable Use of Natural Resources
4.3 The Precautionary Approach
4.4 Common but Differentiated Responsibility
4.5 Right to Development
4.6 The Principle of Integration and Interrelationship
4.7 Public Participation
4.8 Conclusion
5. Reconciling Competing Interests over International Watercourse: Equitable and Reasonable Use
5.1 The Legal Basis of Equitable and Reasonable Use
5.2 What is Equitable and Reasonable Use?
5.3 Reconciling Fundamental Interests
5.4 Conclusion
6. Procedural Rules and Mechanisms for Dispute Avoidance and Resolution
6.1 Joint Institutions
6.2 Duty to Give Prior Notification and Consultation
6.3 Duty to Exchange Data and Information
6.4 Compliance Strategy
6.5 Dispute Resolution
6.6 Conclusion
7. A fresh approach: lessons learnt from the law of international watercourses
7.1 Past Approaches to “International Law” in the Field of Sustainable Development
7.2 Lessons Learnt from the Law of International Watercourses
7.3 A Fresh Approach
Conclusion
Appendix I: 1997 Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
Appendix II: 2002 ILA New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development
Bibliography
Index