A Global Environmental Constitution for the Anthropocene?

Kotzé, Louis J.

doi:10.1017/s2047102518000274

Cited by 26 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Because of its widespread currency, the Anthropocene has also given rise to a variety of responses. Focusing just on law, there are proposals related to the rights of nature (Robinson 2014 ), new approaches to environmental stewardship (Knauß 2018 ) and a renewed focus on eco-constitutionalism (Kotzé 2019 ). 1 This essay does not expand on these ideas.…”

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confidence: 99%

Obligations in the Anthropocene

Burdon

2020

Law Critique

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The Anthropocene is a term described by Earth Systems Science to capture the recent rupture in the history of the Earth where human action has acquired the power to alter the Earth System as a whole. While normative conclusions cannot be logically derived from this descriptive fact, this paper argues that law and philosophy ought to develop responses that are ordered around human beings. Rather than arguing for legal rights or extending rights to nature, this paper focuses on obligations. Drawing on Hans Jonas, it argues that obligations are a more appropriate tool for cultivating human plurality, restraining human action and protecting future generations.

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confidence: 99%

Obligations in the Anthropocene

Burdon

2020

Law Critique

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“…Recognition justice includes the excluded and marginalized -women, Environmental justice scholarship has many different ontological, epistemological, disciplinary and normative starting points 7 . While social scientists may focus on distributional issues and power, including equity and fairness in emission reductions, climate vulnerability, adaptation, conservation and pollution responses 8,9 , economists tend to examine the distribution of income, costs and benefits, while legal scholars focus on just principles and processes, and reimagining legal paradigms in the context of the Anthropocene 10 . Some scholars argue that in the Global North, the view tends to be 'no humanity without nature', while in the Global South, the focus is on 'no nature without social justice' 11 .…”

Section: Conceptions Of Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Earth system justice needed to identify and live within Earth system boundaries

et al. 2023

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Living within planetary limits requires attention to justice as biophysical boundaries are not inherently just. Through collaboration between natural and social scientists, the Earth Commission defines and operationalizes Earth system justice to ensure that boundaries reduce harm, increase well-being, and reflect substantive and procedural justice. Such stringent boundaries may also affect 'just access' to food, water, energy and infrastructure. We show how boundaries may need to be adjusted to reduce harm and increase access, and challenge inequality to ensure a safe and just future for people, other species and the planet. Earth system justice may enable living justly within boundaries.Rapid Earth system changes in the Anthropocene are harming nature and humans. The Anthropocene is also marked by increasing inequalities 1 and vulnerabilities 2 . Scientists have proposed planetary boundaries, such as climate targets, to reduce global environmental risks. Within the Earth Commission, we aim to propose 'safe and just Earth system boundaries' (ESBs) that go beyond planetary boundaries as they also include a justice perspective and suggest transformations to achieve them 3 . Safe and just ESBs aim to stabilize the Earth system, protect species and ecosystems and avoid tipping points, as well as minimize 'significant harm' to people while ensuring access to resources for a dignified life and escape from poverty. If justice is not considered, the biophysical limits may not be adequate to protect current generations from significant harm. However, strict biophysical limits, such as reducing emissions or setting aside land for nature, can, for example, reduce access to food and land for vulnerable people, and should be complemented by fair sharing and management of the remaining ecological space on Earth 4 . Behavioural experiments show that people contribute to common pool resource stewardship if they see the process and outcomes as just 5 . This perspective offers an approach to Earth system justice (ESJ) that can guide and operationalize the identification of 'just ends' in terms of Earth system boundaries (ESBs) and access indicators, and 'just means' in terms of sustainability transformations. It provides a discursive shift to reframe environmental science and policy to pay attention to distributive justice 6 .

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“…The closest the world came to laying the foundations to drive the type of transformations required by such proposals, was with the endorsement of the World Charter for Nature by the United Nations General Assembly in 1982. 58 The ambitious ecologically-inclined Charter certainly was a step in the right direction, but while it could have marked a turning point in the evolution of international environmental law, or even a "global environmental constitutional moment", 59 the Charter has all but disappeared from the scene.…”

Section: Transformative Context: Too Little Too Late?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Analytical, Normative and Transformative Dimensions of Earth System Law

Kotzé

2021

EPL

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It seems international environmental law cannot continue to exist in its present form for the purpose of the Anthropocene. Analytically, international environmental law and its lawyers appear not to fully understand and respond to the complex governance challenges arising from a complex Earth system. Thus, normatively, international environmental law seems to have failed to provide appropriate norms to prevent humans from encroaching on Earth system limits. In a transformative sense, international environmental law has not been sufficiently ambitious to achieve the type of radical transformations that may be necessary to ensure planetary integrity and socio-ecological justice. It calls for a new legal paradigm suitable for the purpose of the Anthropocene and could address international environmental law’s analytical, normative and transformative concerns. This new paradigm may be called the ‘Earth system law’. This chapter seeks to provide some preliminary thoughts about the analytical, normative, and transformative dimensions of earth system law could entail. Why they would be more appropriate for the purpose of governing a complex Earth system in the Anthropocene?

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A Global Environmental Constitution for the Anthropocene?

Cited by 26 publications

References 40 publications

Obligations in the Anthropocene

Obligations in the Anthropocene

Earth system justice needed to identify and live within Earth system boundaries

Exploring the Analytical, Normative and Transformative Dimensions of Earth System Law

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