Introduction: Setting the scene

Razzaque, Jona; Futhazar, Guillaume; Maljean-Dubois, Sandrine

Abstract

In 2020, the cognitive dissonance of environmental governance was made painfully clear. At the same time that the pandemic shed light on the disastrous and direct consequences of environmental degradation for the well-being of humans worldwide, environmental exploitation and mismanagement nevertheless continued, mostly, in a ruinous “business as usual” fashion.

The most recent edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook is clear: “none of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets3 will be fully met.” This assessment is unfortunately similar to the outcome of the 2002 strategic plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that ended in 2010 on the same observation. These failures are not uncommon in international environmental law, and the field inevitably carries a sense of pessimism. It is now a truism to point out that the exponential growth of this branch of international law stands in stark contrast with the factual situation. In many ways, international environmental law is fraught with unfulfilled promises.
But necessity is the mother of invention. And we have witnessed legal developments in the past years that have the potential to facilitate better implementation of international environmental law.

• Publication Date: Dec 8, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 13, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 9, 2024
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Pages: 1-32
• Edition: 1st
• Book Title: Biodiversity Litigation
• Chapter Number: 1
• ISBN: 9780192865465
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10038844
• Publisher URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/biodiversity-litigation-9780192865465?lang=es&cc=gb#
• Contract Date: Mar 31, 2022