The Earth Charter: A Framework for Global Governance

The Earth Charter is now widely understood as the leading ethical framework for global governance. What does this mean for the further development of international law?

This book examines some key features of international environmental law such as state sovereignty, global governance, sustainable development and the precautionary principle. With a focus on current failures and shortcomings, the text analyzes The Earth Charter’s potential to provide a legal framework for future global governance.

A theme throughout this text is the need to examine and understand existing global governance systems, of what passes for "justice" as trade continues to supersede the rights to life and health everywhere, and to re-examine the meaning of democracy. We note the interface between all these harms and their inter-relatedness. It is not sufficient to point to moral principles and past paradigms to help redirect the present global situation. The wide range of cases and issues included attests to the necessity to accept a novel approach that is both holistic and comprehensive.

The uniqueness of this text is that it analyzes The Earth Charter from a legal as well as ethical point of view. Bringing together the expertise of lawyers specializing in environmental law, the text can be used as an introduction to the challenges surrounding current international law and governance. It should be of interest to students and scholars of international law, environmental law and international relations and further to anyone interested in issues of sustainability.

The primary readers of this text are civil society (NGOs), policy makers, and academia, especially students taking university courses related to sustainability and/or international law and policy. The book will be a main text in courses specifically concerned with global environmental governance, and a supplemental reader in courses addressing sustainability more generally.