Seeking ‘Systems’ in Earth System Law: Boundaries, identity, and purpose in an emergent field

Leach, Michael C.

doi:10.1016/j.esg.2022.100162

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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Section: E Arth System L Aw: a Brief Conce P Tu Ali Sat Ionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While earth system law remains a work in progress that endeavours to articulate its identity, boundaries and role as a scholarly movement and roadmap for decision makers (Leach, 2023), the concept is gaining traction. A survey of key publications focusing on this concept suggests that earth system law: Discards a reductionist focus on the ‘environment’ as its primary concern in favour of holistically focusing on a planet‐wide earth system as a governable domain. Acknowledges the expansion of the human enterprise from very localised areas (e.g.…”

Section: Earth System Law: a Brief Conceptualisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law

Kotzé,

Mayer,

van Asselt

et al. 2023

Global Policy

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Numerous scientific reports have evidenced the transformation of the earth system due to human activities. These changes – captured under the term ‘Anthropocene’ – require a new perspective on global law and policy. The concept of ‘earth system law’ situates law in an earth system context and offers a new perspective to interrogate the role of law in governing planetary challenges such as climate change. The discourse on earth system law has not yet fully recognised courts as actors that could shape climate governance, while climate litigation discourse has insufficiently considered aspects of earth system law. We posit that courts play an increasingly influential climate governance role and that they need to be recognised as Anthropocene institutions within the earth system law paradigm. Drawing on a set of prominent climate cases, we discuss five inter‐related domains that are relevant for earth system law and where the potential influence of courts can be discerned: establishing accountability, redefining power relations, remedying vulnerabilities and injustices, increasing the reach and impact of international climate law and applying climate science to adjudicate legal disputes. We suggest that their innovative work in these domains could provide a basis for positioning courts as planetary climate governance actors.

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Section: E Arth System L Aw: a Brief Conce P Tu Ali Sat Ionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Earth System Law: a Brief Conceptualisationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law

Kotzé,

Mayer,

van Asselt

et al. 2023

Global Policy

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Environmental law and systems theory

Buitendag

2024

Syst Res Behav Sci

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In 1985, German sociologist Niklas Luhmann published a monograph on ecology, which appeared in English translation in 1989 as Ecological Communication. It contained many original insights for ecological thinking and, despite being well‐reviewed upon publication, has had a relatively minor impact on Anglophone environmental discourse. This inattention is also present in environmental law, which has recently seen an increase in legal theories that challenge its mainstream. This contribution first investigates why Ecological Communication has received scant attention, pointing to changes in the climatic context in which it first appeared and the reactionary nature of its arguments. Recognising that the work nevertheless contains critical theoretical insights for environmental law scholarship, the second aim of the article is to spotlight what from Ecological Communication remains relevant at the hand of three common claims progressive researchers level against mainstream environmental law: The critique of law's marriage to Cartesian dualism, that law should be better informed by climate science,of and law's anthropocentrism. Finally, environmental lawyers are called upon not to ignore Ecological Communication but to engage with it fruitfully.

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Earth System Law

Kotzé,

Kim

2023

Handbook of the Anthropocene

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Seeking ‘Systems’ in Earth System Law: Boundaries, identity, and purpose in an emergent field

Cited by 3 publications

References 39 publications

Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law

Courts, climate litigation and the evolution of earth system law

Environmental law and systems theory

Earth System Law

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