Jona Razzaque

Public Participation in Water Governance

Public participation in water management remains an evolving issue. International and regional instruments provide mechanisms for local community participation in water related projects and policies. This chapter gives an overview of the growing participatory rights and how participatory processes have influenced the institutional, legal, and political development of water law. It assesses the efficiency of participatory mechanisms, the interplay between law and institutions, and the influence of people on policy - and decision-making. The chapter concludes that water governance is shaped primarily by domestic process with some influence from international processes, with interaction between formal and informal modes of participation.

International Environmental Law and the Global South

This book examines the ways in which the conflicting perspectives and priorities of the global North and the global South have compromised the effectiveness of international environmental law, including deadlocks in international negotiations and inadequate compliance with existing environmental agreements. Through contributions from eminent scholars in the North and the South, the book analyzes the historic origins and contemporary manifestations of the North-South divide across a wide range of environmental problems -- climate change being a classic example -- and emphasizes opportunities to overcome this divide through practices that address historic inequities and enhance the participation of the global South in the development and implementation of international environmental law. Drawing upon their knowledge of specific regulatory regimes, the contributors to this volume will discuss how the North-South divide operates in distinct areas of international environmental law, and explore legal strategies to bridge this divide.

Unacknowledged and unwanted? ‘Environmental refugees’ in search of legal status

Environmental displacement is a global phenomenon affecting millions of people. Due to climate change and the corresponding sea-level rise, it is estimated that about eight million of indigenous people of Pacific Islands will be forced to settle elsewhere by 2050. This is one of many examples confirming the need to ascertain the legal status of environmental refugee in international law. The term ‘environmental refugee’ is controversially discussed and internationally not recognised. First, this article discusses the reasons for reluctance of international organisations to accept this term. Second, noting the cold reception of this term at the regional and state levels, a discussion on whether fears associated with this term are based on solid arguments becomes pertinent. Third, this article outlines the possibility of granting refugee status under international law, especially under human rights and environmental law. Fourth, academic discourses will be examined as they play a crucial role in the conceptual development of ‘environmental refugee’ and, to some academics, the existing refugee definition already encompasses ‘environmental refugees’. Taking into account the developments of the environmental and human rights regime, this article concludes that time is ripe for international law to provide refugee status to environmentally displaced people.

Ecosystem Services and Human Well-Being in a Globalized World: Assessing the Role of Law

There is no denying the close linkage between ecosystem services and human well-being. Human well-being is dependent on the sustainable management of ecosystem services. With economic globalization and free trade, there is an increasing demand for these services. Yet, poverty, inefficient management of common resources, and inadequate legal and governance frameworks have a negative impact on human well-being. This article examines the impact of globalization as well as the legal mechanisms for the management of ecosystem services arguing that the need for a concerted and synergistic legal approach to manage ecosystem services in a sustainable manner that includes human rights principles alongside market-based instruments.

Integrated Water Resource Management, Public Participation and the ‘Rainbow Nation’

AbstractThis article provides varied examples of Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) and public participation interaction in South Africa. It critically examines the inadequate application of IWRM, and shows how the unbalanced interpretations of IWRM as well as a lack of good development practice and participatory rights manifest in negative outcomes for the poorest and most vulnerable. This paper, first, highlights that if decision-makers are primarily fixed on economic concerns, they induce inefficient IWRM framework that fails to balance water as a social, economic and ecological concern. Second: when the state fails to consult people and violate human and environmental rights, court battles ensue between the state and the people. These court cases are generally expensive for both sides and marred with delay. Third: positive outcomes can be attained through multi-stakeholder dialogue platforms which can operate as a sort of conflict resolution mechanism encompassing divergent views, but still offering beneficial outcomes. The frameworks and practical examples set by the Water Dialogues South Africa can facilitate public participation and capacity building if applied at local levels by decision-makers. IWRM with public participation at its heart engenders an ultimate objective for better water sustainability and water security in South Africa.

Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Human Rights Obligations: The Status of Discussion in International Organisations

Traditional knowledge and human rights are two fields that have largely developed separately despite being interrelated. A number of international institutions are pursuing different priorities related to the protection of traditional knowledge. The underlying theme of all these discussions could be linked to various human rights obligations. Despite this reality, in the discussions on the protection and the use of traditional knowledge within the World Trade Organisation, the Convention of Biological Diversity, and the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the human rights dimension is often sidelined. The main purpose of this article is to examine the status of the ongoing discussion on the protection of traditional knowledge including the level of coordination among these international processes. The article argues that it is crucial to integrate human rights dimensions in the discussion of traditional knowledge in other international fora.

Biodiversity and Nature Protection Law

The unprecedented degradation of the planet’s vital ecosystems and species, and the consequent damage to the variability of life on Earth, are one of the most pressing issues confronting the international community. The purpose of this volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law is to provide a critical assessment of international biodiversity law in the face of the failed attempts to reduce the global trend in irreversible biodiversity loss and the need to increase efforts, including through indirect drivers of change such as institutions, governance and legal frameworks.

International natural resources law, investment and sustainability

The question of appropriate use of natural resources inevitably raises competing interests between the resource rich and resource hungry nations. Such conflict of interests are not new. Historically, resource abundant nations have been plagued with issues concerning poor environmental, social and economic outcomes that are often dubbed as the ‘resource curse’. With the rise of developing countries as new sites for global investment, coupled with the many natural resources that provide developing countries with comparative advantages, there is renewed impetus to explore how natural resource investment and its supporting legislative and policy frameworks can contribute to more sustainable outcomes in developing countries. In addition, there is growing consensus that a traditional view of excluding natural resource use in favour of improving environmental objectives does not fully address the development concerns of the developing countries, such as the need to alleviate poverty. International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability provides a clear and concise insight into the relationship between the institutions that govern foreign investment, sustainable development and the rules and regulations that administer natural resources. In this book, several leading experts explore different perspectives in how investment and natural resources come together to achieve sustainable development in developing countries with examples from water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mineral, agriculture, and carbon trading. Despite varying perspectives, it is clear that several themes are central in considering the linkages between natural resources, investment and sustainability. Specifically, transparency, good governance and citizen empowerment are vital conditions which encourage positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for developing countries. In addition, this book provides new insights into key concepts which underpin international law, including sovereign rights and state responsibility principles. It is clear from this book that in the attempt to reconcile these concepts and principles from separate legal regimes, complex policy questions emerge whereby it is difficult to attain mutually beneficial or succinct outcomes. This book explores how countries prioritise their policy objectives to achieve their notion of sustainable natural resource use, which is strongly influenced by power imbalances that inform North-South cooperation, as well as South-South cooperation in the international investment regime.

Natural Resources and the Green Economy

Considering that natural resources or green capital are the drivers of globalisation, this book focuses on the link between investment, trade and natural resource management in the context of the growing economic inequalities between states.

Human rights to a clean environment: Procedural rights

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the development of procedural environmental rights, and review the current interpretation, approaches and techniques of procedural rights in international and national laws. In the absence of any global framework treaty regulating environmental rights, this chapter examines a number of human rights and environmental conventions in international and regional law to identify the nature and scope of procedural environmental rights. The discussion then concentrates on procedural techniques and mechanisms available at the national level and explores trends of procedural rights over the last decade.