Sumudu Atapattu

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.

International Environmental Law and the Global South: The North–South Divide in International Environmental Law: Framing the Issues

The unprecedented degradation of the planet’s vital ecosystems is one of the most pressing issues confronting the international community today. From the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment through the 2012 Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the international community has responded to this crisis by adopting numerous treaties, declarations, UN General Assembly resolutions, customary rules, and judicial decisions that address specific environmental threats. Despite the proliferation of laws and legal instruments to combat environmental degradation, the global economy continues to exceed ecosystem limits, thereby jeopardizing the health and well-being of present and future generations and threatening the integrity of the planet’s biodiversity. States differ in their contribution to global ecological destruction, their vulnerability to environmental harm, their capacity to address environmental problems, and the economic and political power they wield in multilateral environmental negotiations. While international cooperation is necessary to address global environmental degradation, the global environmental agenda has often been dominated by the priorities and concerns of affluent countries (such as nature conservation). The concerns of poor countries (such as social and economic development and poverty alleviation) are frequently marginalized.