Table Of Content‘The unprecedented challenges we are facing in the Anthropocene require
radically new governance approaches that recognize the entanglement
betweenhuman activities and Earth system processes.This volume provides a
cutting-edge contribution to the emerging field of Earth system law by
exploring and proposing novel legal developments for governing planetary
transformations created by humans.’
Agni Kalfagianni, Co-chair of the Earth System Governance Project
‘Earth System Law: Standing on the Precipice of the Anthropocene is a
ground-breaking work in the climate governance literature. The book reas-
sesses the status quo for legal process. To do so, it uses years of expert insight
into howtomeet thechallenges environmentalchangepresentstogovernance
as its measure of assessment. Its conclusion is that the status quo for legal
process has become dangerously antiquated at this critical moment in Earth’s
history. Much of the book explores what types of legal reform are needed
fromvariousdisciplinarypositions.Theresultisanoutlineofanewtheoryof
law, which draws its direction from pragmatic solutions to the governance
problems created by climate change.
Undoubtably, this theory will appear strange and unfamiliar to many,
straining their legal imagination. But this strain is a testament to the book’s
importance. Many of us cling — with good reason — to our confidence in
how society ought to be ordered. Our legal status quo, which supports the
modern order, was hard-won in the trenches of Verdun and on the beaches of
Normandy. Since then, it has served as the midwife for the birth of the
modern nation-state, establishing a common ground for the negotiation of
conflict in multiple contexts. Undermining this status quo may invite many
risks to social stability. On the other hand, law inevitably must adapt to
change and, as this book suggests, pragmatism must trump convention at this
time when we stand on the precipice of environmental catastrophe.
For these reasons, Earth System Law: Standing on the Precipice of the
Anthropocene is a provocative book, which ought to be readwidely.’
Fenner Stewart, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Calgary,
Canada; Dentons Canada LLP Research Fellow in Energy Law &
Policy; Research Fellow in Energy and Environment at The School
of Public Policy; Climate Governance Expert at the Canada
Climate Law Initiative
Earth System Law: Standing on the
Precipice of the Anthropocene
This book systematically explores the emerging legal discipline of Earth system
law(ESL),challengingtheclosedsystemoflawandmarkinganewerainlawand
societyscholarship.Lawhashistoricallyprovidedstability,certainty,andpredict-
abilityintheorderingofsocialrelations(predominantlybetweenhumans).How-
ever,inrecentdecades,theEarth’srelationshipinlawhaschangedwithincreasing
recognition of the standing of Mother Earth, inherent rights of the environment
(suchasfloraandfauna,rivers),andnowrecognitionofthemultiplerelationsof
theAnthropocene.Thebookquestionsthefundamentalassumptionthat‘thelaw’
only applies to humans, and proposes that the Earth, as a system, has intrinsic
rightsandresponsibilities.Inthelasttenyearstheplanethasexperienceditshot-
testperiodsincehumanevolution,andbytheyear2100,unlesssubstantiveaction
istaken,manyspecieswillbelost,andplanetaryconditionswillbeintolerablefor
human civilisation as it currently exists. Relationships between humans, the bio-
sphere, and all planetary systems must change. The contributors address these
challengingtopics,settingthegroundworkofESLtoensuresustainabledevelop-
ment of the coupled socio-ecological system that the Earth has become. Earth
system law is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research project, and, as
such, this book will be of great interest to researchers and stakeholders from a
wide range of disciplines, including political science, anthropology, economics,
law,ethics,sociology,andpsychology.
Timothy Cadman is a Senior Research Fellow with the Earth System Gov-
ernance Project and an Associate ofits Task Force on Earth System Law. He
is a Research Fellow in the Law Futures Centre and the Institute for Ethics,
Governance and Law at Griffith University, Australia.
MargotHurlbertisaSeniorResearchFellowwiththeEarthSystemGovernance
ProjectandanAssociateofitsTaskForceonEarthSystemLaw.SheisCanada
ResearchChair,Tier1ProfessorinClimateChange,Energy,andSustainability
PolicyattheJohnson-ShoyamaGraduateSchoolofPublicPolicy,Canada.
Andrea C. Simonelli is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Virginia
Commonwealth University, USA, and founder of Adaptation Strategies
International (ASI).
Challenges of Globalisation
Series Editors: Charles Sampford and Melea Lewis, Griffith University,
Australia
This series seeks to make systematic contributions to international debates
over two intimately related issues:
(cid:1) The values that should inform the governance of modern states and the
globalizingworldinwhichtheyareincreasinglyenmeshed,inparticular
whether the liberal democratic values that sought to civilize the sover-
eign state need to be reconceived as global values.
(cid:1) The institutions that are needed to realize those values, be they local,
national, regional, international, transnational or global.
Strengthening the Rule of Law through the UN Security Council
Edited by Jeremy Farrall and Hilary Charlesworth
Law, Lawyering and Legal Education
Building an Ethical Profession in a Globalizing World
Charles Sampford and Hugh Breakey
Norm Antipreneursandthe Politics ofResistance toGlobal NormativeChange
Edited by Alan Bloomfield and Shirley V. Scott
Judges and Democratization
Judicial Independence in New Democracies
B. C. Smith
Regulating the Use of Force by United Nations Peace Support Operations
Balancing Promises and Outcomes
Charuka Ekanayake
Earth System Law
Standing on the Precipice of the Anthropocene
Edited by Timothy Cadman, Margot Hurlbert and Andrea C. Simonelli
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Challenges-of-Globalisation/book-series/CG
Earth System Law
Standing on the precipice of the
Anthropocene
Edited by
Timothy Cadman, Margot Hurlbert and
Andrea C. Simonelli
Firstpublished2022
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2022selectionandeditorialmatter,TimothyCadman,MargotHurlbert
andAndreaC.Simonelli;individualchapters,thecontributors
TherightofTimothyCadman,MargotHurlbertandAndreaC.Simonelli
tobeidentifiedastheauthorsoftheeditorialmaterial,andoftheauthors
fortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections
77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksor
registeredtrademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanation
withoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook
ISBN:978-1-032-05624-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-032-05629-6(pbk)
ISBN:978-1-003-19843-7(ebk)
DOI:10.4324/9781003198437
TypesetinTimesNewRoman
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
To those who have died, and their loved ones.
Contents
List of illustrations xii
List of contributors xiii
Foreword xvi
Preface xix
Acknowledgements xx
Acronyms xxi
1 Introduction: Origins and evolution of Earth system law 1
TIMOTHYCADMAN
PARTI
Mapping the contours of Earth system law 13
2 Dimensions and definitions, signposts and silos in Earth system
law 15
TIMOTHYCADMAN,MARGOTHURLBERTANDANDREAC.SIMONELLI
PARTII
The analytical dimensions of Earth system law 31
3 Earth system law in the age of humanity 33
WALTERF.BABER
4 International Relations and the analytical foundations of Earth
system law 55
MIKEANGSTADT
5 An Earth system science-based perspective: A foundational
feature of Earth system law 72
EDGARFERNÁNDEZFERNÁNDEZ
