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International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016 pp 49–72Cite as

International Soil Protection Law: History, Concepts and Latest Developments

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Part of the book series: International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy ((IYSLP,volume 2016))

Abstract

This chapter sets out a short history of the development of soil protection law, focusing on the international legal aspects. It introduces the notion that soil, as a non-renewable natural resource, performs a range of functions, in terms of biodiversity conservation, food security and health. It argues that soil degradation needs to be treated on the same level as the loss of biodiversity and the adverse effects of climate change. It also urges that soil should be regarded as a common concern of humankind, and that over-arching international, regional and national regulation is required. It explores recent developments relevant to soil, including those found in the Outcome Document of the Rio de Janeiro 2012 Conference on Environment and Development ‘The Future We Want’, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets that were approved by the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

The three authors are members of the Sustainable Use of Soil and Desertification Specialist Group of the ‘IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law’. Dr Heuser is Deputy Chair of the Group.

The authors are grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr Ian Hannam for providing detailed suggestions for this chapter. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the authors.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Land’ in this chapter is defined as in Article 1, ‘Use of Terms’, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (hereafter “UNCCD”): ‘…the terrestrial bio-productive system that comprises soil, vegetation, other biota, and the ecological and hydrological processes that operate within the system’.

  2. 2.

    Food and Agriculture Organization, ‘Soil is a finite resource, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan.’ http://www.fao.org/resources/infographics/infographics-details/en/c/278954/.

  3. 3.

    Boer and Hannam (2003), p. 149; Ginzky (2016), pp. 2–4.

  4. 4.

    Milman (2015), p. 1.

  5. 5.

    Barbier and Hochard (2016).

  6. 6.

    Boer and Hannam (2015), pp. 1–13; Boer and Hannam (2003), pp. 149–163.

  7. 7.

    UN General Assembly, December 2013: more information under: http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/GSP/docs/iys/World_Soil_Day_and_International_Year_of_Soils__UNGA_Resolution_Dec._2013.pdf.

  8. 8.

    See Boer (2014), p. 293.

  9. 9.

    United Nations (1972), Principles 2 and 5.

  10. 10.

    ‘Soft law’ is a recognition of the fact that international law has an evolutionary character, in that it may become ‘hard law’ as part of a binding legal instrument.

  11. 11.

    Council of Europe (1972), 1 passim.

  12. 12.

    Heuser (2005), p. 348.

  13. 13.

    FAO (1982), see http://www.fao.org/3/az897e.

  14. 14.

    United Nations Environment Programme, 8/10—World Soils Policy, 12th meeting 29 April 1980.

  15. 15.

    UNEP (1983), p. 1 ff.

  16. 16.

    United Nations, General Assembly, World Charter for Nature, A/RES/37/7, 48th plenary meeting, 28 October 1982; see especially Article I: ‘4. Ecosystems and organisms, as well as the land, marine and atmospheric resources that are utilized by man, shall be managed to achieve and maintain optimum sustainable productivity, but not in such a way as to endanger the integrity of those other ecosystems or species with which they co-exist.’

  17. 17.

    See http://environment.asean.org/agreement-on-the-conservation-of-nature-and-natural-resources/.

  18. 18.

    See Boer (2015), pp. 251–281.

  19. 19.

    See Article 7.

  20. 20.

    Especially Chapter 10: ‘Integrated Approach to the Planning and Management of Land Resources’, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf.

  21. 21.

    See http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=78&articleid=1163.

  22. 22.

    See below, Fn 37.

  23. 23.

    See http://www.alpconv.org/en/convention/framework/default.html.

  24. 24.

    Version of 2005: Official Journal of the European Union, L 337 of 22.12.2005, p. 29.

  25. 25.

    See the article of Markus (2016) in this volume.

  26. 26.

    United Nations (2002) Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development 1992, United Nations (2002) available at http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/WSSD_POI_PD/English/WSSD_PlanImpl.pdf.

  27. 27.

    Council of Europe (2003), p. 1 ff. Concerning further details see: Heuser (2005), p. 356 ff.

  28. 28.

    United Nations (2012), The Future We Want, http://www.uncsd2012.org/content/documents/727The%20Future%20We%20Want%2019%20June%201230pm.pdf

  29. 29.

    Dooley et al. (2015), pp. 209–210.

  30. 30.

    United Nations (2015), p. 1.

  31. 31.

    Millennium Development Goals, available at http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

  32. 32.

    Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations (2015), p. 1; this document includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

  33. 33.

    A thorough analysis of all SDG with regard to soil management is provided by Ehlers in this volume.

  34. 34.

    Target 15.3 was inspired in part by a policy document produced by the UNCCD Secretariat Zero Net Land Degradation: A Sustainable Development Goal for Rio+20; UNCCD (2012).

    The chapter of Minelli et al. in this volume provides further information how to operationalize the neutrality objective.

  35. 35.

    Homepage: http://www.fao.org/globalsoilpartnership/en.

  36. 36.

    FAO (2015), p. 1 ff.

  37. 37.

    See Global Soil Week, http://globalsoilweek.org.

  38. 38.

    Held et al. (1998).

  39. 39.

    Council of Europe (2003), p. 1 ff.

  40. 40.

    Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen, Welt im Wandel – Die Gefährdung der Böden, Bonn 1994.

  41. 41.

    Boer and Hannam (2015). See also Ginzky (2016), pp. 23–26. A legal expert group which was established during the first Global Soil Week in 2013 has considered these options. A discussion paper is available under: http://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/files/gsw_leg_discussion_paper_options_unccd_endg_0.pdf.

  42. 42.

    See the following section.

  43. 43.

    Text of UNFCCC available at www.unfccc.int.

  44. 44.

    Text of CBD available at www.cbd.int.

  45. 45.

    Text of UNCCD available at www.unccd.int.; the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitats also deals with soil related issues. However, as its scope of application is limited to wetlands, the chapter will not deal with it in detail. Text of the Ramsar Convention available at http://www.ramsar.org/.

  46. 46.

    More details, particularly with regard to the latest developments are provided in the chapters by Streck and Gay on the UNFCCC, of Wolff and Kaphengst on the CBD and of Sara Minelli et al. on the UNCCD in this volume.

  47. 47.

    ‘About UNFCCC’, available at http://newsroom.unfccc.int/about/.

  48. 48.

    According to Article 3.1 UNFCCC states have ‘common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities’.

  49. 49.

    Text is available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.pdf.

  50. 50.

    The first commitment period ended in 2011. New reduction obligations were agreed in 2012. See the text of the Doha amendments available at http://unfccc.int/files/kyoto_protocol/application/pdf/kp_doha_amendment_english.pdf.

  51. 51.

    2/CMP.7, Nr. 11 available at: http://unfccc.int/meetings/durban_nov_2011/meeting/6245/php/view/decisions.php.

  52. 52.

    Id. 5/CMP.1, confirmed by 2/CMP.7.

  53. 53.

    The text of the Paris Agreement is available at http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf.

  54. 54.

    See Paras. 31 and 93(f) of Draft Decision, Adoption of the Paris Agreement’, FCCC/CP/2015/L.9/Rev.1 available at https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf.

  55. 55.

    Id. Para. 140.

  56. 56.

    See: ‘Join the 4% Initiative Soils for food security and climate’, further information available at http://agriculture.gouv.fr/join-40-initiative-soils-food-security-and-climate-0.

  57. 57.

    For further details concerning UNFCCC and its related protocols see the chapter by Streck and Gay (2016) in this volume, see also Hannam and Boer (2002), p. 64.

  58. 58.

    Available at http://www.cbd.int/convention/parties/list/. The CBD has 196 Contracting Parties; see List of Parties, https://www.cbd.int/information/parties.shtml. The US is not yet Party to CBD.

  59. 59.

    Hannam and Boer (2002), p. 64.

  60. 60.

    Boer and Hannam (2003), p. 154.

  61. 61.

    Further information under: http://www.cbd.int/agro/ as well as http://www.cbd.int/drylands/ and http://www.cbd.int/forest/.

  62. 62.

    Decision 2/X, 19.-20. October 2010, available at http://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/.

  63. 63.

    More specific information is found in the chapter by Wolff and Kaphengst (2016) in this volume.

  64. 64.

    Boer and Hannam (2003), p. 153; Ginzky (2016), p. 17.

  65. 65.

    Boer and Hannam (2003), p. 154; Ginzky (2016), p. 18; also the ‘Ten year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention’ of 2007 (UNCCD, Decision 3/COP. 8, available at http://www.unccd.int/Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/10YearStrategy/Decision%203COP8%20adoption%20of%20The%20Strategy.pdf seems to be an attempt to expand the scope of the Convention’s application as it stipulates desertification, drought and land degradation as separate issues.

  66. 66.

    The text of the convention is found at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%201155/volume-1155-I-18232-English.pdf.

  67. 67.

    See the request of the Annex V-countries to clarify this issue, see ICCD/COP(12)/16; available at http://www.unccd.int/Lists/OfficialDocuments/cop12/16eng.pdf.

  68. 68.

    As an indication of this view, the Terms of Reference for the Intergovernmental Working Group on Land Degradation Neutrality expressly limited the scope to ‘arid, semi- arid and dry sub-humid areas’, see ICCD/COP(12)/4.

  69. 69.

    See Fn 31, above.

  70. 70.

    For further details of the recent developments under UNCCD see the chapter by Minelli et al. in this volume.

  71. 71.

    The 2030 Development Agenda and its consequences was also discussed at the latest Global Soil Week 2015, http://globalsoilweek.org/thematic-areas/sustainable-development-goals.

  72. 72.

    Other legal instruments on regional level, not canvassed here, with some relevance to soil are the Convention for the Protection of the Natural Resources and Environment of the South Pacific Region 1986, Benelux Convention 1983, Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Biological Diversity in the Mediterranean 1999.

  73. 73.

    See http://au.int/en/sites/default/files/treaties/7763-file-african_convention_conservation_nature_and_natural_resources.pdf.

  74. 74.

    ‘The Parties shall adopt and implement all measures necessary to achieve the objectives of this Convention, in particular through preventive measures and the application of the precautionary principle, and with due regard to ethical and traditional values as well as scientific knowledge in the interest of present and future generations.’

  75. 75.

    See http://environment.asean.org/agreement-on-the-conservation-of-nature-and-natural-resources/.

  76. 76.

    See Boer (2015), pp. 251–281.

  77. 77.

    See Article 7.

  78. 78.

    http://www.alpconv.org/en/convention/framework/default.html.

  79. 79.

    http://www.alpconv.org/en/convention/protocols/Documents/SoilProtocolEN.pdf.

  80. 80.

    For further details about the Soil Protocol see the chapter of Markus (2016).

  81. 81.

    See further, Hannam and Boer (2002).

  82. 82.

    Another example is the ASEAN Agreement on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources mentioned in Sect. 2.1 above. For an overview of the most relevant regional agreements see Hannam and Boer (2002), 66 passim.

  83. 83.

    International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling 1946.

  84. 84.

    Antarctic Treaty 1959.

  85. 85.

    1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; see further Boer (2014), pp. 295–296.

  86. 86.

    Birnie et al. (2009), p. 130.

  87. 87.

    See Boer (2014), p. 299.

  88. 88.

    See the arguments under Sect. 5.

  89. 89.

    See further, Boer (2014), p. 301.

  90. 90.

    The Future We Want (2012), Para 205.

  91. 91.

    Birnie et al. (2009), pp. 8–12.

  92. 92.

    Birnie et al. (2009), p. 43.

  93. 93.

    Birnie et al. (2009), p. 80, with regard to the general justification of international cooperation in case of potential conflicts.

  94. 94.

    Except when moved by human intervention causing the acceleration of natural processes, such as landslides (by removing vegetation or altering natural drainage) and wind erosion (caused by overgrazing), or erosion of loose soil and run-off into water courses after rain, whereby soil can be transported across borders by international rivers.

  95. 95.

    Fromherz (2012), p. 57; Boer (2014), 300 and passim; Wyatt (2008), p. 169.

  96. 96.

    See Fromherz (2012), p. 105.

  97. 97.

    The Future We Want (2012), Para 205.

  98. 98.

    Wyatt (2008), p. 192.

  99. 99.

    See Mastrojeni (2016), in this volume.

  100. 100.

    With regard to international forest regulation see Eikermann (2014), 4 seq.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Environmental Law, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Ben W. Boer

  2. University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Ben W. Boer

  3. German Environment Agency, Dessau, Germany

    Harald Ginzky

  4. IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, Deputy Chair of Specialist Group on Sustainable Soils and Desertification, Kleinmachnow, Germany

    Irene L. Heuser

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  1. Ben W. Boer
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Correspondence to Ben W. Boer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. German Environment Agency, Dessau, Germany

    Harald Ginzky

  2. IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, Deputy Chair of Specialist Group on Sustainable Soils and Desertification, Kleinmachnow, Germany

    Irene L. Heuser

  3. Research Institute of Environmental Law, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China

    Tianbao Qin

  4. Faculty of Law, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Oliver C. Ruppel

  5. DG Environment, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

    Patrick Wegerdt

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Boer, B.W., Ginzky, H., Heuser, I.L. (2017). International Soil Protection Law: History, Concepts and Latest Developments. In: Ginzky, H., Heuser, I., Qin, T., Ruppel, O., Wegerdt, P. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_7

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