This volume examines the impact of globalization on international environmental law and the implementation of sustainable development in the Global South.
Comprising contributions from lawyers from the Global South or who have experience in the Global South, this volume is organized into three parts, with a thematic inquiry woven through every chapter to ask how law can enable economies that can be sustained, given the limited carrying capacity of the earth. Part I describes and characterizes the status quo of environmental and economic problems in the Global South during the process of globalization. Some of those problems include redistribution of environmental burden on the public through over-reliance on the state in emerging economies and the transition to public-private partnerships, as well as extreme uncontrolled economic expansion. Building on Part I, Part II takes an international perspective by presenting some tools that are in place during the process of globalization that lead to friction and interfaces between developed and developing economies in environmental law. Recognizing the impossibility of a globalized Northern economy, the authors in Part III present some alternatives through framework ideas of human and civil rights, environmental rights, and indigenous persons’ rights, as well as concrete and specific legal tools to strengthen justice and rule of law institutions. The book gives new perspectives to familiar approaches through concrete examples by professional practitioners and theoretical discourse by academic researchers, and can thereby form the basis for changes in practices, as well as further discussions and comparisons.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of environmental law, sustainable development, and globalization and international relations, as well as legal professionals and practitioners.
Table of Contents:
Introduction; PART I The environment in the Global South during the globalization of "sustainable development" 1 Managing environmental risks in privately financed infrastructure projects in Nigeria; 2 The curse of best practices: impact assessment in the context of the governance of extractives in Mongolia; 3 Extra-territorial litigation remedies: a case study of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda; PART II Interfaces between developed and developing countries in environmental law 4 Sustainable development through environmental federalism in the case of Ethiopia; 5 Diversification of mono-economies: how legislation manages the environmental impact of foreign investments in Nigeria; 6 Transformation of sustainable development goals in regional international organizations: vertical effects, contested indicators, and interlinkages for the formation of environmental law; 7 The implementation of the Paris agreement through tax law: examples from South Africa, India, China, and Brazil; PART III Alternatives to globalization in environmental law 8 The contracting state’s role in the energy community to build the European Union’s envisioned sustainable future; 9 Global environmental governance: a necessary pathway for sustainable development of Caribbean Small Island Developing States; 10 Going beyond the law: the potential and limits of public participation in the context of sustainable development; 11 Environmental hazards and human rights violations: the case of Presídio Central Prison in Brazil; Conclusions: indicator species and the future of environmental law
About the Author :
Kirk W. Junker is a University Professor of Law, Director of the Environmental Law Center, Board Chair of the International Master of Environmental Science Program, and Principal Investigator at the Global South Studies Centre at the University of Cologne, Germany. He is the editor of Environmental Law Across Cultures: Comparisons for Legal Practice (Routledge, 2020).
Paolo Davide Farah is a tenured Associate Professor in the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences, John D. Rockefeller IV School of Policy and Politics at West Virginia University, U.S.A. He is Founder, President, and Director of gLAWcal—Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development, U.K. He is the editor of China’s Influence of Non-Trade Concerns in International Economic Law (Routledge, 2016).
Review :
"This book is a must-read for anyone working in international environmental law, sustainable development, or international economic law. It provides fresh perspectives on the interactions between international economic and environmental law, from a wide variety of countries in the Global South. The subject matter of the chapters is broad, spanning tax, trade and corporate law, as well as adverse impacts of oil pipelines and mitigating environmental risk in privately financed infrastructure projects. This book illustrates how critical it is for international law to serve the needs of those in the Global South. A fantastic read, highlighting authors from (or who work in) the Global South. This work fills a critical gap in the literature, illustrating the multifold implementation challenges facing the Global South. I have been waiting for a book like this to be written—and the authors and editors have done a great service to all of us who work on environmental and developmental issues involving the Global South."
Lisa Benjamin, Assistant Professor of Law, Lewis & Clark Law School, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.
"This book is very interesting because of the topics covered and their articulation by authors from various places. Navigating in and from environmental law (in the strict sense) is a matter of special importance in academia. Faced with the concept of development and the hegemony that certain disciplines such as economics impose, from the Global South we propose other diverse concepts, such as Summa Kaway, Summa Qamaña (Good Living and Living Well, respectively) in the Ecuadorian and Bolivian versions. The question of whether it is feasible to advance alternative constitutional approaches to the conceptualization and foundation of environmental law, environmental rights, environmental justice, the environmental state of law and rights, environmental citizenship, or environmental democracy is a great challenge that we must meet."
Gregorio Mesa Cuadros, Professor of Law and Director of the Research Group on Collective and Environmental Rights, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
"Globalization is core to environmental protection. Lately there have been developments at both international and regional levels that have great implications for the protection of the environment at the national level in the Global South. It is most gratifying to note that this book, Globalization, Environmental Law, and Sustainability in the Global South: Challenges for Implementation, presents an intellectual analysis on environmental issues of significance to the Global South. From built environment to the extractives, sustainability challenges to different legal solutions, this collection of painstakingly researched chapters offers an authoritative and indispensable knowledge on the delicate trinity of globalisation, environmental protection, and sustainability. It is a must-read for decision makers, academia and other stakeholders in the field of environmental governance in the Global South"
Ademola Oluborode Jegede, Professor of Law, University of Venda, Thohoyandou, South Africa
"Based in part on actual case studies and personal experiences in countries that some call ‘the Global South,’ the authors in this book present a wide array of useful and practical ideas beyond academic theory for the implementation of environmental law. The book further demonstrates that these countries need environmental protection to enable sustainability against colonial and post-colonial economic interests that otherwise would proliferate northern economic globalization to the benefit of the few and the detriment of the many. It is well worth the reader's while to see the issues of legal practice and implementation through the words of these authors."
M. C. Mehta, M.C. Mehta Environmental Foundation, Delhi, India
