Legal status of sustainable development principles and climate change responsibilities under the Paris Agreement

Lupwana Jean Jacques Kandala

Abstract


The paper analyses how and to what extent, climate change mitigation and responsibility mean, and should be, influenced by principles of sustainable development law. In trying to understand the issue of climate responsibilities under the Paris Agreement, a doctrinal research methodology, also known as the desktop or no -empirical research method is used. The method relies more on the analysis of ordering and arranging legal instruments, and case laws through rational deduction or legal perception. Accordingly, the paper argues that the normative character of the principles of sustainable development and their recognition as principles and use in binding international treaties form part of international law and policy in the field of sustainable development and these principles have generated obligations and rights for state parties and are able to make state parties liable of internationally wrongful acts. Unlike previous studies that rely on analysing the nationally determined contributions as the basis on which state international climate responsibilities may be asserted, this paper provides a different focus by analysing climate responsibilities through the principle of sustainable development. Particularly, because the Agreement gives promises to hold increases in global temperatures and increase adaptation to climate impacts but did not set binding commitment for state parties. Instead, it welcomes the UNGA Resolution A/RES/70/1 on the global Sustainable Development Goals and acknowledges that when taking action on climate change, states must respect, promote and consider their human rights obligations and recognize the importance of taking national sustainable development priorities into account.

Keywords


Keywords: Sustainable development, climate responsibilities, and Paris Agreement

Full Text:

PDF

References


Kyoto Protocol to the Convention on Climate Change, Climate Change Secretariat and the United Nations Environmental Programme Information Unit. UNEP/IUC/99/10. Art.3.

United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change Preamble and Article 3(4) of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) (1992) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Available at http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/enviro.html. (Accessed 18-09-2014).

United Nations Paris Agreement FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1 (12 December 2015). Article 2 (1).

UNGA Resolution A/RES/70/1 on the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly Goal 7 and 13.

Yaoundé Declaration on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Forests, 38 ILM 783 (1999); Agreement on Co-operation for the Sustainable Development of Mekong River Basin, 34 ILM 864 (1995);

World Commission on Environmental and Development Report “Our Common Future” (Brundtland Report) (1987) Oxford University Press

Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development is available at http://www.un-documents.net/wced-ocf.htm (accessed 18-09-201).

Report of World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa 2 to 4 September 2002 (Johannesburg Plan of Implementation) is available at http://www.joburg.org.za/pdfs/johannesburgdeclaration.pdf.

Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses in the Southern African Development Community, 40 ILM (2001).

Resolution 2/2014 Declaration of Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change Committee On Legal Principles Relating To Climate Change, International Law Association 76th Conference, Washington D.C., USA 7-11 April 2014. See http://Www.Ila-Hq.Org/En/Committees/Index.Cfm/Cid/1029. (accessed on 22-06-2017).

Books

A D’amato The concept of custom in international law 1971, p. 132.

B Ian Principles of public international law 3rd edn, 1979 p. 15.

Blackburn WR. The Sustainability Handbook: The Complete Management Guide to Achieving Social, Economic and Environmental Responsibility 2007, p. 48.

Cordonier Segger MC & Weeramantry CG (eds.) Sustainable Development in International Courts and Tribunals Routledge 2016, p.45.

Cordonier Segger MC & Khalfan A Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practices & Prospects Routledge 2004, p 368.

Golusin M, Dodic S & Popov S. Sustainable Energy Management Elsevier 2013, p.25.

Heal GM Valuing the Future: Economic Theory and Sustainability 2000, p. 216.

Philippe Sands & Peel J with Fabra A &Mackenzie R. Principles of International Environmental Law, 3rd edn, Cambridge University Press 2012, p 25.

Schrijver N The Evolution of Sustainable Development in International Law: Inception, Meaning and Status, Hague Academy of International Law 2008, p. 329.

Scholtz W Legal Protection of the Environment, in Strydom HA (ed.) International Law 2016, p. 513.

Simma B, Mosler H & Paulus A.L (eds.) The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary 2002, p. 551.

Strydom Hennie & King ND (eds.) Environmental Management in South Africa ,2nd edn, Juta Law 2009, p.17.

Articles in books

Cordonier Segger MC International Law on Sustainable Development, in Amstrong D Handbook on International Law Routledge, 2008, p.78.

De Salles Cavedon F & Stavenziola Vieira R Brazilian ‘Socioambientalismo’ and Environmental Justice, in Benidickson J, Boer B, Herman Benjamin A & Morrow K (eds), Environmental Law and Sustainability after Rio 2011, p. 66.

Gasparatos A & Stromberg P Biofuels in Developing Countries: A Synthesis, in Gasparatos A& Stromberg P (eds), Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts of Biofuels: Evidence from Developing Nations, 2012, p. 316.

Heal G Markets and Sustainability, in Revesz L.R, Sands P & Steward B.R (eds), Environmental Law, the Economy, and Sustainable Development, 2000, p. 410.

Holdren JP, Daily GC & Ehrlich PR The Meaning of Sustainability: Biogeophysical Aspects, in Munasinghe M & Shearer W (eds), Defining and Measuring Sustainability: Biogeophysical Aspects, 1995, p. 11.

Philippe Sands International Law and Sustainable Development, in Revez R, Sands P & Stewart R The Economy and Sustainable Development Environmental Law 2000, p.101.

Ruppel C O International Trade and Sustainable Development, in Strydom H (ed), International Law ,2016, p. 439.

Schrijver NJ After Us, The deluge? The Position of Future Generations of Humankind in International Environmental Law, in Mohamed Salish M.A (ed), Climate Change and Sustainable Development: New Challenges for Poverty Reduction, 2009, p.71.

William M Lafferty & Meadowcroft J Introduction, in William M Lafferty & Meadowcroft J (eds.) Implementing Sustainable Development: Strategies and Initiatives in High Consumption Societies town & publisher 2000, p. 58.

Journals

Bassiouni M C ‘Universal jurisdiction for international crimes: Historical perspectives and contemporary practice’ 42 Va. J. Int’l L (2001) pp. 81-83

Brown Weiss E “Our Rights and Obligations to Future Generations for Environment”, Vol. 84 (1) American Journal of International Law/AJIL (1990) at 198-207.

Dietz S& Neumayer E, ‘Weak and Strong Sustainability in the SEEA: Concepts and Measurement’, 61(4) Ecological Economics 4 (2007) pp.617‐626.

Handl G ‘The Principle of Equitable Use as Applied to Internationally Shared Natural Resources: Its Role in Resolving Potential International Disputes Over Transfrontier Pollution’, 14(40) Belgium Review of International Law 40 (1978) pp 40-64.

Hill J, Nelson E, Tilman D, Polasky S & Tiffany D, ‘Environmental, Economic, and Energetic Cost and Benefits of Biodiesel and Ethanol Biofuels’103(30) National Academy of Science of the United Nations of America 30 (2006) pp. 11206- 11210.

Ackehurst M ‘Custom as a source of international law’, 1 Brit. Y.B. Int’l. L. (1974) p.58.

Morrissey J, Iyer‐Raniga U, McLaughlin P & Mills A, ‘A Strategic Project Appraisal Framework for Ecologically Sustainable Urban Infrastructure’ 33 (1) Environmental Impact Assessment Review 1 (2012) pp. 55‐65.

Wirth DA ‘European Communities Restrictions on Imports of Beef Treated with Hormones’, 92 American Journal of international Law (1998) pp. 755-759.

Tladi D, ‘Strong Sustainability Weak Sustainability, Intergenerational Equity and International Law: Using the Earth Charter to Redirect the Environmental Ethics Debate’ 28 South African Yearbook of International Law (2003) pp. 200.

Websites

International Law Association “Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Development” (2016) Final Draft First Report of the Committee on the Role of International Law in Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Development. Available at http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1044 (accessed 08-08-2016).

International Law Association “2002 New Delhi Declaration on Principles of International Law Related to Sustainable Development” (2002) International Law Association London.available at http://www.ila-hq.org/en/committees/index.cfm/cid/1044 (accessed 08-08-2016).

Legal Experts Group of World Commission on Environmental and Development (1986) WCED Legal Principles, para. (i).

Case law

Case concerning the administrative review of the decision to extend the operation of nuclear facility (Balmer – Schafroth v. Switzerland) 1987 ECHR Reports IV Paragraph 40.

Case concerning the status of the precautionary principle (Beanal v. Freeport- McMoran) 1977 US District Court for Eastern District of Louisiana at 362 -969.

Case concerning the arbitration on the Iron Rhine railway (the Kingdom of the Netherlands v the Kingdom of Belgium) 2005 Arbitration Court Hague at Par 59-84 and 222.

Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities (Nicaragua v. United Nation) 1986 ICJ Rep14 par 99-101.

Case concerning Gabcikovo –Nagymaros Project (Hungary v. Slovakia) 1997 ICJ Reports 78 at par 140; See also Sands P “International Courts and the Application of the Concept of ‘Sustainable Development’” Vol. 3 Yearbook of UN Law (1999) at 389.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5102/rbpp.v13i2.8882

ISSN 2179-8338 (impresso) - ISSN 2236-1677 (on-line)

Desenvolvido por:

Logomarca da Lepidus Tecnologia