Table Of ContentRULE OF LAW FOR NATURE
“Human laws must be reformulated to keep human activities in harmony
with the unchanging and universal laws of nature.” h is 1987 statement
by the World Commission on Environment and Development has never
been more relevant and urgent than it is today. Despite the many legal
responses to various environmental problems, more greenhouse gases
than ever before are being released into the atmosphere, biological diver-
sity is rapidly declining and i sh stocks in the oceans are dwindling.
h is book challenges the doctrinal construction of environmental law
and presents an innovative legal approach to ecological sustainability: a
rule of law for nature that guides and transcends ordinary written laws
and extends fundamental principles of respect, integrity and legal secur-
ity to the non-human world.
CHRISTINA VOIGT is a Professor at the Department of Public and
International Law, University of Oslo, Norway, where she works in par-
ticular on legal issues of climate change, sustainability and the interface
between environmental and trade law.
RULE OF LAW FOR NATURE
New Dimensions and Ideas in
Environmental Law
Edited by
CHRISTINA VOIGT
U niversity Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of
education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: w ww.cambridge.org/9781107043268
© Cambridge University Press 2013
h is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2013
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by CPI Group Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Rule of law for nature : new dimensions and ideas in environmental law /
edited by Christina Voigt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-107-04326-8 (hardback)
1. Environmental law, International. 2. Environmental protection. 3. Rule of law.
I. Voigt, Christina, 1971– editor of compilation.
K3585.R85 2013
344.04′6–dc23
2013022963
ISBN 978-1-107-04326-8 Hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
To my sons Oscar and Victor and their generation
CONTENTS
List of contributors x
Preface xiii
Part I E nvironmental law at the crossroads:
achievements, shortcomings and challenges 1
1 Twelve fundamental challenges in environmental law:
an introduction to the concept of rule of law for nature 3
Hans Christian Bugge
2 Rule of law for nature in a kaleidoscopic world 27
Edith Brown Weiss
3 E volved norms: a canon for the Anthropocene 4 6
Nicholas A. Robinson
P art II A rule of law for nature: theories and
rel ections 73
4 G rounding the rule of law 7 5
Klaus Bosselmann
5 h e rule of Nature’s law 9 4
Cormac Cullinan
Part III D esigning a rule of law for nature: new
dimensions and ideas 109
6 E cological proportionality: an emerging principle of
law for nature? 111
Gerd Winter
7 S ustainable development and the rule of law for nature:
a constitutional reading 130
Louis J. Kotzé
vii
viii Contents
8 h e principle of sustainable development: integration
and ecological integrity 1 46
Christina Voigt
9 h e need to recognize a coherent legal system as an
important element of the ecosystem approach 1 58
Froukje Maria Platjouw
10 An emerging legal principle to restore
large-scale ecoscapes 1 75
Anastasia Telesetsky
1 1 T raditional norms and environmental law: the sub-
Saharan African case study 191
Chizoba Chinweze, Chukwuemeka Jideani
and Gwen Z. Abiola-Oloke
P art IV Nature’s rights 207
12 Rules of law for use and nonuse of nature 209
Jan Laitos
1 3 Realizing nature’s rule of law through rights of
waterways 222
Linda Sheehan
P art V P rocedural dimensions of a rule of law
for nature 241
1 4 T owards a new instrument for promoting sustainability
beyond the EIA and the SEA: the holistic impact
assessment 243
Massimiliano Montini
15 Enforcing environmental responsibilities: an
environmental perspective on the rule of law and
administrative enforcement 259
Annika K. Nilsson
16 Mechanisms for reviewing compliance with
international environmental law open to private parties 2 75
Cristina Verones
Contents ix
Part VI R ule of law for nature and the role of
companies and markets 2 93
17 h e green economy will not build the rule of
law for nature 295
Rebecca M. Bratspies
1 8 T aking nature seriously: can the UN Guiding Principles
tame corporate proi teering? 312
Surya Deva
Part VII A rule of law for the oceans 3 29
19 Conservation of marine biodiversity and the
International Maritime Organization 331
Tore Henriksen
2 0 Implementing the rule of law for nature in the
global marine commons: developing environmental
assessment frameworks 347
Robin Warner
2 1 U sing the public trust doctrine to achieve ocean
stewardship 365
Mary Turnipseed, Michael C. Blumm, Duncan E. J.
Currie, Kristina M. Gjerde, Peter H. Sand, Mary C.
Wood, Julie A. Hambrook Berkman, Ryke Longest,
Gail Osherenko, Stephen E. Roady, Raphael D.
Sagarin and Larry B. Crowder
Index 380
CONTRIBUTORS
Gwen Z. Abiola-Oloke , MD/CEO United Bank for Africa, Republic
of Benin
Julie A. Hambrook Berkman , Doctor, Managing Director,
Foundation for the Good Governance of International Spaces, UK
Michael C. Blumm , Jef rey Bain Faculty Scholar and Professor of
Law, Lewis and Clark Law School, USA
Klaus Bosselmann , Professor of Law, University of Auckland,
Faculty of Law; Founding Director of the New Zealand Centre for
Environmental Law at the University of Auckland, New Zealand
R ebecca M. B ratspies, P rofessor, CUNY School of Law; Director of
the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, USA
E dith B rown Weiss, F rancis Cabell Brown Professor of International
Law, Georgetown Law, Washington DC, USA
Hans Christian Bugge , Professor emeritus in Environmental Law,
University of Oslo, Department of Public and International Law, Norway
Chizoba Chinweze , Chemtek Associates, Nigeria
Larry B. Crowder , Science Director, Center for Ocean Solutions,
Stanford University, USA
C ormac C ullinan, e nvironmental lawyer, Cape Town, South Africa;
research associate, Department of Public Law, University of Cape Town;
Director of Cullinan & Associates Inc; Chief Executive Oi cer of EnAct
International
Duncan E. J. Currie , Director, Globelaw, New Zealand
Surya Deva , Associate Professor, School of Law, City University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
x
