International Environmental Laws And The Concept Of Soft Law

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Law - Miscellaneous, grade: A, University of Cambridge, language: English, abstract: Soft law regards to international norms that are deliberately non-binding in character, but are of great legal relevance. This has unique policies that lie between law and politics. Noticeable examples include resolutions by international organizations and global plans of actions of conduct. Soft laws operates under a different model from “hard law” that is associated with legally binding obligations. Furthermore, soft laws are characterized with less degrees of precision when compared with hard laws. Some scholars argue that soft law is ambiguous because its legal effects and its implication is often difficult to identify. Soft law mainly constitutes various part of the modern law-making process. International environmental regulations indicate a successful application of the soft law. Scholars believe that soft law outweighs the classical and familiar legal categories of law that form a platform of international regulations. Soft law is associated with various concerns; however, it has strategic mechanisms for imposing its proposals. The law is primarily structural in nature because it includes the existence and development of an organized network of permanent institutions at international and regional levels. Rio+20 conference provides a practical example of emphasize of soft law in the international environmental regulations. Studies indicate that the Rio+20 seminar on environmental sustainability did not create any successful agreements or commitments; however, it provided a global platform for discussing demanding issues in the effort to secure international sustainable development.

In international negotiations, the question of the design and the legal form of the negotiated instrument is as complex as it is often controversial. Intended as a read for both practitioners and academics, this book provides a comprehensive treatise of the characteristics, the potential and the limits of nonbinding instruments in international environmental law and governance. An extensive overview and typology of nonbinding instruments as well as several case studies from the areas of fisheries (FAO), hazardous substances (UNEP/FAO) and corporate social responsibility (OECD) provide the material for an in-depth analysis of the role of nonbinding instruments on all levels of governance. The book demonstrates the potential but also highlights the limits of nonbinding instruments in the interplay with customary and treaty law (e.g. UNCLOS, WTO) as bases for interinstitutional linkages and as tools to shape the behaviour of states and private actors. Legitimacy challenges arising from this form of exercise of authority are then discussed in the final chapter, alongside with remedies to address possible concerns.

Bringing together contributions from diplomats, UN agency officials, lawyers and academics, this book provides insight into the evolution of international environmental law, diplomacy and negotiating techniques. Based on first-hand experiences and extensive research, the chapters offer a blend of practice and theory, history and analysis, presenting a range of historical episodes and nuances and drawing lessons for future improvements to the processes of law-making and diplomacy. The book represents a synthesis of the most important messages to emerge from the annual course on Multilateral Environmental Agreements, delivered to diplomats and negotiators from around the world for the last decade by the University of Eastern Finland and the United Nations Environment Programme. The book will be of interest as a guide for negotiators and as a supplementary textbook and a reference volume for a wide range of students of law and environmental issues.

The second edition of this leading reference work provides a comprehensive discussion of the dynamic and important field of international law concerned with environmental protection. It is edited by globally-recognised international environmental law scholars, Professor Lavanya Rajamani and Professor Jacqueline Peel, and features 67 chapters authored by 76 renowned experts in their fields. The Handbook discusses the key principles underpinning international environmental law, its relevant actors and tools, and rules applying in its substantive sub-fields such as climate law, oceans law, wildlife and biodiversity law, and hazardous substances regulation. It also explores the intersection of international environmental law with other areas of international law, such as those concerned with trade, investment, disaster, migration, armed conflict, intellectual property, energy, and human rights. The Handbook sets its discussion of international environmental law in the broader interdisciplinary context of developments in science, ethics, politics and economics, which inform the way in which environmental rules are made, implemented, and enforced. It provides an introduction to the foundations of international environmental law while also engaging with questions at the frontiers of research, teaching, and practice in the field, including the role of Global South perspectives, the contribution made by Earth jurisprudence, and the growing role of a diverse range of actors from indigenous peoples to business and industry. Like the first edition, this second edition of the Handbook is an essential reference text for all engaged with environmental issues at the international level and the applicable governance and regulatory structures.

This title was first published in 2003. Viewed as a prelude to a broader spectrum of perspectives and approaches captured within international protection of the environment, these volumes offer an invitation to further exploration. Covering a broad array of topics, the essays chosen convey pivotal breakthroughs in international environmental law.

Environmental Laws and Their Enforcement is a component of Encyclopedia of Social Sciences and Humanities in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The volume on Environmental Laws and Their Enforcement deals, in two volumes , with a myriad of issues of great relevance to our world such as: Sustainable Development and National Governance; History of Environmental Law; International Environmental Law; Constitutional Law; International Binding Mechanisms; Laws Governing Freshwater and Ground Water Pollution; Forestry; Biodiversity Conservation and Endangered Species Protection; International Guidelines and Principles; Compliance Models for Enforcement of Environmental Laws And Regulations; International Environmental Law; Life Support Systems: Law and Policy; The Principle of Sustainable Development in International Development Law; Environmental Pollution Regulations; Social Concerns for Environmental Exposures to Toxic Substances; Regulation of Air and Pollutants. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students, Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers and NGOs.

"This dissertation addresses the impact of principles of soft law on the development of international regimes for environmental protection. It focuses on three such principles that have attracted a certain degree of consensus in international environmental law and are therefore influential in international environmental regimes: namely, the principle of common but differentiated obligations; the principle of common heritage of mankind and its corollary, the principle of common concern of humankind; and the precautionary principle. The regimes analysed are the Antarctic regime, the regime for control of trade in endangered species, the regime for protection of the stratospheric ozone layer, and the emerging regime governing conservation and management of straddling fish stocks. It is argued that these principles influence normative development in international environmental regimes through processes of discourse in which participants, both state and non-state actors, seek to determine the rules by which their mutual relations will be governed and their common interests protected. Such discourse also connects the evolution of legal rules with a broader set of concerns relating to the interest of human communities in achieving a certain level of environmental protection. In this respect, the legal rules may be contemplated within a moral framework in which members of international society seek to determine what they ought to do with respect to global environmental protection." --