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Environmental Law

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Abstract

Sustainable development is a key concept in the field of environmental law. It is referred to in many international agreements and legal systems although it is not easily defined. It is used in the context of economic and social issues and environmental issues. This chapter describes the concept of sustainable development and shows how the concept of sustainable development has developed. Sustainable development is discussed in the context of environmental law particularly from the perspective of international law and European Union law. Finally, new trends relating to sustainable development in international agreements, particularly free-trade agreements, are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common.

  2. 2.

    Fisher, Lange and Scotford, Environmental, 406.

  3. 3.

    Bell, McGillivray and Pedersen, Environmental, 60.

  4. 4.

    Koch, Umweltrecht, §1, para. 33.

  5. 5.

    Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, International, 125.

  6. 6.

    Kloefer, Umweltrecht, §4, para. 31.

  7. 7.

    The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common.

  8. 8.

    The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common, 43.

  9. 9.

    Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, International, 119.

  10. 10.

    Mekonin, Sustainable, 4–5.

  11. 11.

    Gupta, Sustainable, 15.

  12. 12.

    Fisher, Lange and Scotford, Environmental, 402.

  13. 13.

    Bell, McGillivray and Pedersen, Environmental, 57.

  14. 14.

    Gupta, Sustainable, 52.

  15. 15.

    Gupta, Sustainable, 56.

  16. 16.

    The World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common, 43.

    Birnie, Boyle and Redgwell, International, 119.

  17. 17.

    United Nations Environment, 1992. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. [Online] Available at: http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=78&articleid=1163. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  18. 18.

    Ibid.

  19. 19.

    United Nations Environment, 1992. Agenda 21. [Online] Available at: http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=52. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  20. 20.

    Gupta, Sustainable, 65.

  21. 21.

    Bell, McGillivray and Pedersen, Environmental, 60–61.

  22. 22.

    UN document, 4 September 2002, Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development. A/conf.199/20. [Online] Available at: http://www.un-documents.net/jburgdec.htm. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  23. 23.

    Gupta, Sustainable, 72–73.

  24. 24.

    See, also, Segger, The Role, 10.

  25. 25.

    ILA New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development, 2 April 2002. [pdf] Available at: http://cisdl.org/tribunals/pdf/NewDelhiDeclaration.pdf. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  26. 26.

    UN Document, 2012. Future We Want. [PDF] Available at: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/733FutureWeWant.pdf. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  27. 27.

    UN Sustainable Development Goals. [Online] Available at: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  28. 28.

    Bell, McGillivray and Pedersen, Environmental, 61; Segger, The Role, 14–15.

  29. 29.

    ICJ Reports, 1997, Judgment of 25 September 1997. Case concerning the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), para. 140. [pdf] Available at: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/92/7375.pdf. [Accessed 17 February 2017].

  30. 30.

    ICJ Reports, 1997, Case concerning the Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project, Separate Opinion. Separate Opinion of Vice-President Weeramantry. [pdf] Available at: http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/92/7383.pdf. [Accessed 17 February 2017].

  31. 31.

    Deutsher Bundestag, Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. [PDF] Available at : https://www.bundestag.de/blob/284870/ce0d03414872b427e57fccb703634dcd/basic_law-data.pdf. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

  32. 32.

    Peter, Hesselbarth and Peters, Umweltrecht, para. 78.

  33. 33.

    Nakanishi, Introduction, 6.

  34. 34.

    Official Journal of the European Communities, 1993 C 138/5, 15 May 1993, A European Community program of policy and action in relation to the environment and sustainable development, [pdf] Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/action-programme/env-act5/pdf/5eap.pdf. [Accessed 19 February].

  35. 35.

    Ibid., C 138/11.

  36. 36.

    Communication from the Commission, A Sustainable Europe for a Better World: A European Union Strategy for Sustainable Development, COM(2001)264, [Online] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=URISERV:l28027&from=EN. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  37. 37.

    Communication from the Commission, COM(2009)400, [PDF] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52009DC0400&qid=1487734795601&from=EN. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  38. 38.

    Official Journal of the European Union, 2013, L354/171, Decision No 1386/2013/EU. [PDF] Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013D1386&from=EN. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  39. 39.

    Epiney, Umweltrecht, 5 Kapitel, para. 55.

  40. 40.

    As a critical reflection, Wagner, 191–200.

  41. 41.

    Fisher, Lange and Scotford, Environmental, 428.

  42. 42.

    Regulation 1907/2006 on the concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals, establishing a European Chemicals Agency, OJ 2006 L396/1.

  43. 43.

    The USA withdrew from the TPP on January 23, 2017.

  44. 44.

    TPP cannot enter into force because of the withdrawal of the USA.

  45. 45.

    Preamble of the Text of the TPP, [PDF] Available at: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/trans-pacific-partnership/text/0.-preamble.pdf. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  46. 46.

    Emphasis by the author. Chapter 20 of the text of the TPP, [PDF] Available at: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/trans-pacific-partnership/text/20.-environment-chapter.pdf. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  47. 47.

    Chapter 23 of the Text of the TPP, [PDF] Available at: https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/_securedfiles/trans-pacific-partnership/text/23.-development-chapter.pdf. [Accessed on 22 February 2017].

  48. 48.

    Text of the CETA, [PDF] Available at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-10973-2016-INIT/en/pdf. [Accessed on 23 February].

  49. 49.

    Berger-Walliser and Shrivastava, Beyond, 422.

Further Reading

  • Boyle, A., and D. Freestone, eds. 1999. International Law and Sustainable Development: Past Achievements and Future Challenges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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  • Gupta, K.H. 2016. Sustainable Development Law. India: Patridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schrijver, N. 2008. The Evolution of Sustainable Development in International Law: Inception, Meaning and Status. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Schrijver, N., and Friedl Weiss, eds. 2004. International Law and Sustainable Development: Principles and Practice. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University, Kunitachi-shi, Tokyo, Japan

    Yumiko Nakanishi

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  1. Yumiko Nakanishi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Robert Brinkmann

  2. Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, USA

    Sandra J. Garren

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Nakanishi, Y. (2018). Environmental Law. In: Brinkmann, R., Garren, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71389-2_19

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