Friend or foe?
International environmental law and its structural complicity in the Anthropocene’s climate injustices
##plugins.pubIds.doi.readerDisplayName##:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1140Gako-hitzak:
International environmental law, Anthropocene, climate change, climate injusticeLaburpena
In this paper, we focus on the structural complicity of international environmental law (IEL) in causing and exacerbating climate injustices. We aim to show that although the intentions behind IEL may be well-meaning, it often inadvertently, but also deliberately at times, plays a role in creating, sustaining and exacerbating the many paradigms that drive climate injustice in the Anthropocene. We focus on three aspects: IEL’s neoliberal anthropocentrism; its entanglement with (neo)colonialism; and its entrenchment of the sovereign right to exploit energy resources. We conclude with a call for thoroughgoing, and urgent, reform of IEL.
##plugins.generic.usageStats.downloads##
Metrics
Downloads:
PDF (English) 1006
Erreferentziak
Adelman, S., 2018. The Sustainable Development Goals, anthropocentrism and neoliberalism. In: D. French and L. Kotzé, eds., Sustainable Development Goals: Law, Theory and Implementation. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 15–40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786438768.00008
Agius, J., 1998. International environmental law and state sovereignty. Asia Pacific journal of environmental law, 3, 269–283.
Alam, S., et al., eds., 2015. International Environmental Law and the Global South. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Alvaredo, F., et al., 2018. World Inequality Report [online]. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674984769 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674984769
Angus, I., 2016. Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System. New York: Monthly Review Press.
Atapattu, S., 2015. The significance of international environmental law principles in reinforcing or dismantling the North–South divide. In: S. Alam, et al., eds. International Environmental Law and the Global South. New York: Cambridge University Press, 74-108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295414.005
Austin, G., and Bochkarev, D., 2007. Energy sovereignty and security: Restoring confidence in a cooperative international system. In: G. Austin and M. Schellekens-Gaiffe, eds., Energy and Conflict Prevention. Brussels: Madariaga European Foundation, 35–65.
Barnosky, A., 2015. Transforming the global energy system is required to avoid the sixth mass extinction. MRS Energy and Sustainability [online], 2(E10), 1–13. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2015.11 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mre.2015.11
Baxi, U., 2016. Towards a climate change justice theory? Journal of human rights and the environment [online], 7(1), 7–31. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2016.01.01 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2016.01.01
Beyerlin, U., and Marauhn, T., 2011. International Environmental Law. Oxford: Hart. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845265582
Bodansky, D., 2010. The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bonneuil, C., and Fressoz, J., 2016. The Shock of the Anthropocene. Trans.: D. Fernbach. London/New York: Verso.
Brand, U., and Wissen, M., 2018. What kind of great transformation? The imperial mode of living as a major obstacle to sustainability politics. GAIA [online], 27(3), 287–292. Available from: https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.27.3.8 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14512/gaia.27.3.8
Brown, B., and Spiegel, S.J., 2019. Coal, climate justice, and the cultural politics of the energy transition. Global environmental politics [online], 19(2), 149–168. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00501 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/glep_a_00501
Ceballos, G., et al., 2015. Accelerated modern human–induced species losses: Entering the sixth mass extinction. Science advances [online], 1(5), 1–5. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400253 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1400253
Clark, N., and Yusoff, K., 2014. Combustion and society: A fire-centred history of energy use. Theory, culture and society [online], 31(5) 203–226. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414536929 [Accessed 6 July 2020].
De Vos, J., et al., 2014. Estimating the normal background rate of species extinction. Conservation biology [online], 29(2), 452–462. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12380 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.12380
Dehm, J., 2016. Carbon colonialism or climate justice? Interrogating the international climate regime from a TWAIL perspective. Windsor yearbook of access to justice [online], 33(3), 129–161. Available from: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v33i3.4893 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22329/wyaj.v33i3.4893
Devall, B., 2001. The deep, long-range ecology movement: 1960-2000 – A review. Ethics & the environment [online], 6(1), 18–41. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1353/een.2001.0004 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2979/ETE.2001.6.1.18
Dupoy, P., and Viñuales, J., 2018. International Environmental Law. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.
French, D., and Rajamani, L., 2013. Climate change and international environmental law: musings on a journey to somewhere. Journal of Environmental Law [online], 25(3), 437-461. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqt022 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/jel/eqt022
Gillespie, A., 2014. International environmental law, policy, and ethics. 2nd ed. Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198713456.001.0001
Glikson, A., 2013. Fire and human evolution: The deep-time blueprints of the Anthropocene. Anthropocene [online], 3, 89–92. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2014.02.002 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2014.02.002
Gonzalez, C., 2015. Bridging the North-South divide: International environmental law in the Anthropocene. Pace environmental law review, 32(2), 407–434. Available from: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol32/iss2/3/ [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.58948/0738-6206.1765
Grear, A., 2014. Towards “climate justice”? A critical reflection on legal subjectivity and climate injustice: Warning signals, patterned hierarchies, directions for future law and policy. Journal of human rights and the environment [online], 5, 103–133. Available from: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2429289 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2014.02.08
Grear, A., 2015. Deconstructing Anthropos: A critical legal reflection on “anthropocentric” law and Anthropocene “humanity”. Law and critique [online], 26(3), 225–249. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-015-9161-0 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10978-015-9161-0
Grear, A., 2017a. “Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Chthulucene”: Re-encountering environmental law and its “subject” with Haraway and new materialism. In: L. Kotzé, ed., Environmental Law and Governance for the Anthropocene. Oxford: Hart, 77–96.
Grear, A., 2017b. Foregrounding vulnerability: Materiality’s porous affectability as a methodological platform. In: A. Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos and V. Brooks, eds., Research Methods in Environmental Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784712570.00007
Grear, A., 2018. Human rights and new horizons? Thoughts toward a new juridical ontology. Science, technology, and human values [online], 43(1), 129–145. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917736140 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243917736140
Harari, Y., 2014. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Toronto: McClelland and Stuart.
Harris, A., 2014. Vulnerability and power in the age of the Anthropocene. Washington and Lee journal of energy, climate, and the environment [online], 6(1), 98–161. Available from: https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/jece/vol6/iss1/5 [Accessed 6 July 2020].
Healy, N., and Barry, J., 2017. Politicizing energy justice and energy system transitions: Fossil fuel divestment and a “just transition”. Energy policy [online], 108, 451–459. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.014 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2017.06.014
Hoffman, A., and Jennings, P.D., 2018. Re-engaging with Sustainability in the Anthropocene Era. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108628068
Hornborg, A., 2019. Colonialism in the Anthropocene: The political ecology of the money-energy-technology complex. Journal of human rights and the environment [online], 10(1), 7–21. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2019.01.01 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2019.01.01
Houston, D., 2013. Crisis is where we live: Environmental justice for the Anthropocene. Globalizations [online], 10(3), 439–450. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2013.787771 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2013.787771
Islam, M.R., 2015. History of the North-South divide in international law: Colonial discourses, sovereignty, and self-determination. In: S. Alam, et al., eds., International Environmental Law and the Global South. New York: Cambridge University Press, 23–49. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295414.003
Jafry, T., ed., 2019. Routledge Handbook of Climate Justice. Oxford /New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315537689
Jonsson, F., 2012. The Industrial Revolution in the Anthropocene. Journal of modern history [online], 84(3), 679–696. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1086/666049 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/666049
Jonsson, F., 2015. Anthropocene blues: Abundance, energy, limits. RCC Perspectives [online], nº 2, 55–64. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/7147 [Accessed 6 July 2020].
Kim, R., and Bosselmann, B., 2013. International environmental law in the Anthropocene: Towards a purposive system of multilateral environmental agreements. Transnational environmental law [online], 2(2), 285–309. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102513000149 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102513000149
Kolbert, E., 2014. The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Kotzé, L.J., 2012. Global Environmental Governance: Law and Regulation for the 21st Century. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781002537.00014
Kotzé, L.J., 2014. Rethinking global environmental law and governance in the Anthropocene. Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law [online], 32(2), 121-156. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2014.11435355 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02646811.2014.11435355
Kotzé, L.J., 2019a. A global environmental constitution for the Anthropocene? Transnational Environmental Law [online], 8(1), 11-33. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102518000274 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102518000274
Kotzé, L.J., 2019b. International environmental law and the Anthropocene’s energy dilemma. Environmental and Planning Law Journal 36, 437-458.
Kotzé, L.J., 2019c. The Anthropocene, earth system vulnerability and socio-ecological injustice in an age of human rights, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment [online], 10(1), 62-85. Available from: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2019.01.04 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2019.01.04
Kotzé, L.J., and French, D., 2018. The anthropocentric ontology of international environmental law and the Sustainable Development Goals: Towards an ecocentric rule of law in the Anthropocene. Global Journal of Comparative Law [online], 7(1), 5-36. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1163/2211906X-00701002 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/2211906X-00701002
Kotzé, L.J., and Villavicencio Calzadilla, P., 2017. Somewhere between rhetoric and reality: environmental constitutionalism and the rights of nature in Ecuador. Transnational Environmental Law [online], 6(3), 401–433. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102517000061 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102517000061
Leal-Areas, R., and Wouters, J., eds., 2017. Research Handbook on EU Energy Law and Policy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786431059
Lewis, S., and Maslin, M., 2015. Defining the Anthropocene. Nature [online], 519(12 March), 171–180. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14258 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14258
Louka, E., 2006. International Environmental Law: Fairness, Effectiveness, and World Order. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618109
Malm, A., and Hornborg, A., 2014. The geology of mankind? A critique of the Anthropocene narrative. The Anthropocene review [online], 1(1), 62–69. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291
Mavhunga, C.C., 2014. Introduction. In: C.C. Mavhunga and H. Trischler, eds., Energy (and) Colonialism, Energy (In)Dependence: Africa, Europe, Greenland, North America. RCC Perspectives [online], nº 5. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5282/rcc/6554 [Accessed 6 July 2020].
May, J.R., and Daly, E., 2014. Global Environmental Constitutionalism. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139135559
McGregor, J., 1999. Property rights and environmental protection: Is this land made for you and me? Arizona State law journal, 31(2), 391–437.
Mickelson, K., 2000. South, North, international environmental law, and international environmental lawyers. Yearbook of international environmental law [online], 11(1), 52–81. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/11.1.52 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/yiel/11.1.52
Moore, J.W., ed., 2016a. Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. Oakland: PM Press.
Moore, J.W., 2016b. The rise of cheap nature. In: J.W. Moore, ed., Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. Oakland: PM Press, 78–115.
Oguamanam, C., 2015. Sustainable development in the era of bioenergy and agricultural land grab. In: S. Alam, et al., eds., International Environmental Law and the Global South. New York: Cambridge University Press, 237–255. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107295414.012
Ostrom, E., 2000. Collective action and the evolution of social norms. Journal of economic perspectives [online], 14(3), 137–158. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.14.3.137 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.14.3.137
Philpott, D., 1995. Sovereignty: An introduction and brief history. Journal of international affairs [online], 48(2), 353–368. Available from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/i24356845 [Accessed 6 July 2020].
Rajagopal, B., 2003. International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third World Resistance. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511494079
Raworth, K., 2014. Must the Anthropocene be a Manthropocene? The Guardian [online], 20 October. Available from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/20/anthropocene-working-group-science-gender-bias [Accessed 6 July 2020].
Richardson, B., 2011. A damp squib: Environmental law from a human evolutionary perspective. Osgoode Hall Law School comparative research in law and political economy paper series [online], 7(3), 1–42. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1760043 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1760043
Rickards, L., 2015. Metaphor and the Anthropocene: Presenting humans as a geological force. Geographical research [online], 53(3), 280–287. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12128 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-5871.12128
Roberts, J.T., and Parks, B.C., 2007. A Climate of Injustice: Global Inequality, North-South Politics, and Climate Policy. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Robinson, M., 2014. Social and legal aspects of climate change. Journal of human rights and the environment, 5, 15–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/jhre.2014.02.02
Sands, P., and Peel, J., 2012. Principles of International Environmental Law. 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139019842
Scheidel, A., and Sorman, A., 2012. Energy transitions and the global land rush: Ultimate drivers and persistent consequences. Global environmental change [online], 22(3), 588–595. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.12.005 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2011.12.005
Shue, H., 2014. Climate Justice: Vulnerability and Protection. Oxford University Press.
Simons, P., 2015. Selectivity in law-making: Regulating extraterritorial environmental harm and human rights violations by transnational extractive corporations. In: A. Grear and L.J. Kotzé, eds., Research Handbook on Human Rights and the Environment. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 473–507. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781782544432.00034
Smil, V., 2017. Energy and Civilization: A History. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262035774.001.0001
Steffen, W., et al., 2011. The Anthropocene: Conceptual and historical perspectives. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society [online], 369, 842–867. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0327
Steffen, W., et al., 2015. The trajectory of the Anthropocene: The great acceleration. The Anthropocene review [online], 2(1), 81–98. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2053019614564785 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785
Stephens, L., et al., 2019. Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use. Science [online], 365(6456), 897–902. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1192 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax1192
Stivers, C., 2007. “So poor and so black”: Hurricane Katrina, public administration, and the issue of race. Public administration review [online], 67, 48–56. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00812.x [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00812.x
Sutter, J., and Davidson, L., 2018. Teen tells climate negotiators they aren’t mature enough. CNN [online], 17 December. Available from: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/16/world/greta-thunberg-cop24/index.html. [Accessed 6 July 2020].
Talus, K., 2014. Internationalization of energy law. In: K. Talus, ed., Research Handbook on International Energy Law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 3–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781002209.00009
Taylor, P., 1998. An Ecological Approach to International Law: Responding to Challenges of Climate Change. Oxford: Routledge.
Taylor, P., and Grinlinton, D., 2011. Property rights and sustainability: Toward a new vision of property. In: D. Grinlinton and P. Taylor, eds., Property Rights and Sustainability: The Evolution of Property Rights to Meet Ecological Challenges. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 1–20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004182646.i-415.10
Tuck, E., and McKenzie, M., 2015. Place in Research: Theory, Methodology, and Methods. New York/Oxford: Routledge.
Villavicencio Calzadilla, P., and Kotzé, L.J., 2018. Living in harmony with nature? A critical appraisal of the rights of mother Earth in Bolivia. Transnational Environmental Law [online], 7(3), 397-424. Available from: http://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102518000201 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102518000201
Waters, C.N., et al., 2016. The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene. Science [online], 351(6269), aad2622-1–aad2622-10. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2622 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aad2622
Youatt, R., 2014. Interspecies relations, international relations: Rethinking anthropocentric politics. Millennium: Journal of international studies [online], 43(1), 207–223. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829814536946 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0305829814536946
Yusuf, H., 2008. Oil on troubled waters: Multinational corporations and realising human rights in the developing world, with specific reference to Nigeria. African human rights law journal, 8(1), 79–107.
Zalasiewicz, J., et al., 2017. The Working Group on the Anthropocene: Summary of evidence and interim recommendations. Anthropocene [online], 19, 55–60. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001 [Accessed 6 July 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001
##submission.downloads##
Argitaratuta
##submission.howToCite##
Zenbakia
Atala
##submission.license##
##submission.copyrightStatement##
##submission.license.cc.by-nc-nd4.footer##OSLS strictly respects intellectual property rights and it is our policy that the author retains copyright, and articles are made available under a Creative Commons licence. The Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution No-Derivatives licence is our default licence, further details available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 If this is not acceptable to you, please contact us.
The non-exclusive permission you grant to us includes the rights to disseminate the bibliographic details of the article, including the abstract supplied by you, and to authorise others, including bibliographic databases, indexing and contents alerting services, to copy and communicate these details.
For information on how to share and store your own article at each stage of production from submission to final publication, please read our Self-Archiving and Sharing policy.
The Copyright Notice showing the author and co-authors, and the Creative Commons license will be displayed on the article, and you must agree to this as part of the submission process. Please ensure that all co-authors are properly attributed and that they understand and accept these terms.
