Abstract
We recognize that poverty eradication, changing unsustainable patterns of consumption and production and protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development are the overarching objectives.
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Notes
- 1.
See General Assembly Resolution A/Res/66/288, 11 September 2012. The Rio+20 Conference was held in June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 2.
The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 3–14, June 1992.
- 3.
On Sustainable Development, see: Our Common Future (Oxford, 1987); Alan Boyle and David Freestone (eds.), International Law and Sustainable Development (Oxford, 1999); Patricia Birnie and A. Boyle, International Law and the Environment, (Oxford, 2001), pp. 86–95; P. Sands, ‘International Law in the Field of Sustainable Development’, 65 BYIL, 1994, at 338; Nico Schrijver and Friedl Weiss (eds.) International Law and Sustainable Development: Principles and Practice (Mortinus Nijhoft Publishers, Leiden/Boston 2004); International Law Association (ILA), Report of the Sixty-ninth Conference (London, 2000); ILA New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development 2002.
- 4.
For the view that sustainable development is not a norm of international law, see generally Vaughan Lowe, “Sustainable Development and Unsustainable Arguments”, in Alan Boyle and David Freestone (eds.), International Law and Sustainable Development, Id., pp. 19–37. See also Ulrich Beyerlin and Thilo Matauhn, International Environmental Law (Hart Publishing Ltd., 2011), pp. 80–81.
- 5.
Alan Boyle and David Freestone, “Introduction” in Alan Boyle and David Freestone (eds.)
Id., at 17.
- 6.
Our Common Future, supra note 3, at 43.
- 7.
UN Doc. A/CONF. 151/26/Rev 1.
- 8.
Agenda 21: Programme of Action for Sustainable Development, UNCED, A/CONF 151/4; 11.
- 9.
31 ILM (1992) 818, In force 29 December 1993.
- 10.
Id., 851, In force 21 March 1994.
- 11.
37 ILM (1998) 32, In force 16 February 2005.
- 12.
33 ILM (1994) 1016, In force 26 December 1996.
- 13.
The United Nations Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, A/CONF 199/20, available at: www.Johannesburgsummit.org. [accessed on February 12, 2013].
- 14.
UN Doc. A/CONF/48/14/Rev 1.
- 15.
On the right to development, see Philip Alston, “Making Space for New Human Rights: The Case of the Right to Development”, 1 Harv. Human Rights, 1988, pp. 3–40; and Rolend Rich, “The Right to Development as an Emerging Human Right”, 23 Vand. JTL, 1983, 287.
- 16.
UNGAOR, 41st Sess. Annex, Agenda Item 101, 97th plen. meeting, 1 UN Doc A/RES/41/ 128 (1987).
- 17.
Doc A/CONF/57/24 (Pt 1) (1993).
- 18.
The 1981 African Charter on Human and People’s Right, adopted on 27 June 181, 21 ILM 59 (1981) also explicitly recognizes right to development. Article 22 of the 1981 African Charter provides that “all peoples shall have the right to their economic, social and cultural development with due regard to their freedom and identity and in the equal enjoyment of the common heritage of mankind.
- 19.
On differential treatment in international law, see: Philippe Cullet, Differential Treatment in International Environmental Law, (Ashgate, 2003).
- 20.
On “common but differentiated responsibilities”, see Duncan French, Developing States and International Environmental Law: The Importance of Differentiated Responsibilities, 49 ICLQ 35 (2000); Christopher D Stone, Common but Differentiated Responsibilities in International Law 98 AJIL 276 (2004); Lavanya Rajamani, “The Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibility and the Balance of Commitments under the Climate Regime”, 9 RECIEL, 2000, at 120.
- 21.
Philippe Cullet, supra note 19, at 97.
- 22.
Principle 3: The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations; Principle 4: In order to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it; Principle 5: All states and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world; Principle 6: The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and the most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority. International actions in the field of environment and development should also address the interest and needs of all countries; Principle 7: States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command; Principle 8: To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, states should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies; Principle 12: States should cooperate to promote a supportive and open international economic system that would lead to economic growth and sustainable development in all countries, to better address the problems of environmental degradation; Principle 25: Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.
- 23.
Principle 2–6 of the 1972 Stockholm Declaration relate to conservation of natural resources and wildlife. And Principle 14 stresses the need to reconcile the needs of the environment and development.
- 24.
The Rio Declaration, Principle 15: “In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation”.
- 25.
Id., Principle 16: “National authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting International trade and investment”.
- 26.
Id., Principle 17: “Environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument, shall beundertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent national authority”.
- 27.
Id., Principles 6 and 7 (see infra).
- 28.
Id., Principle 3.
- 29.
Id., Principle 8 (see infra).
- 30.
Id., Principle 10: “Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens, at the relevant level. At the national level, each individual shall have appropriate access to information concerning the environment that is held by public authorities, including information on hazardous materials and activities in their communities, and the opportunity to participate in decision-making processes. States shall facilitate and encourage public awareness and participation by making information widely available. Effective access to judicial and administrative proceedings, including redress and remedy, shall be provided”.
- 31.
For the text see UN Doc. A/CONF.199/8,9 August 2002. The text is also available at: www.ila-hg.org.
- 32.
Adopted on 9 May 1992, For the text, see 31ILM 894 (1992) In force 21 March 1994.
- 33.
Adopted on June 5, 1992, For the text, see 31 ILM 818 (1992). In force 29 December 1993.
- 34.
Adopted on December 11, 1997, For the text see 31 ILM 32 (1998).
- 35.
Adopted on June 17, 1994, For the text, see 31 ILM 1016 (1994) In force since 26 December 1996.
- 36.
See UN Doc. A/51/869 (1997).
- 37.
17 ILM 1045 (1978), Preamble.
- 38.
17 ILM 511 (1978), Preamble.
- 39.
15 EPL 64, (Article 1, paragraphs 1 & 2)-Article 1(1) provides that: “The Contracting Parties, within the framework of their respective national laws, undertake to adopt singly, or where necessary and appropriate through concrete action, the measures necessary to maintain essential ecological processes and life-support systems, to preserve genetic diversity, and to ensure the sustainable utilization of harvested natural resources under their jurisdiction in accordance with scientific principles and with a view to attaining the goal of sustainable development”.
- 40.
Gabcikovo-Nagymaruos Project, Hungary v. Slovakia, Judgment, ICJ Reports, 1997, at 7.
- 41.
Id., at 78.
- 42.
Ibid.
- 43.
AIR 1996 SC 2715.
- 44.
Id., at 2724.
- 45.
See Ulrich Beyerlin and Thilo Matauhn, supra note 3.
- 46.
Vaughan Lowe, supra note 4, at 21.
- 47.
Id., at 24.
- 48.
See Anthea Elizabeth Roberts, “Traditional and Modern Approaches to Customary International Law: A Reconciliation”, 95 AJIL 757, 2001, at 758.
- 49.
Id., at 758.
- 50.
Gunther Handl, “Environmental Protection and Development in Third World Countries,” 20 New York University Journal of Int’l Law & Pol., 1988, at 610.
- 51.
Id., at 607.
- 52.
Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012–2017): Faster, More Inclusive and Sustainable Growth, Vol. I, Planning Commission, Government of India, 2013.
- 53.
Id., at 41.
- 54.
Id., Foreword, iv.
- 55.
Id., at 3.
- 56.
Id., at 112.
- 57.
Id., at 113.
- 58.
Id., at 114.
- 59.
Available at: http://envfor.nic.in/nep/nep2006.html. [accessed on February 18, 2013].
- 60.
See, Raj Chengappa, ‘Global Waming: What India should do’, India Today, July 14, 2008, pp. 40–44.
- 61.
Sustainable Development in India: Stocktaking in the run up to Rio+20, Ministry of Environment and Forests Government of India, 2011, at 18.
- 62.
“A bumpy road to green growth”, The Hindu, New Delhi edition, June 3, 2012, at 4.
- 63.
“End diesel subsidy for running mobile towers’, Id., 19 May 2012, at 16.
- 64.
Twelfth Five Year Plan, supra note 51.
- 65.
Id., 51 at 122.
- 66.
Ibid.
- 67.
AIR 1981 SC 711.
- 68.
See Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar AIR SC 420 (Right to live… includes the right to enjoyment of pollution free water and air…”) Id., at 424; Virendra Gaur v. State of Haryana, 1995 2 SCC 577 ( “Therefore, hygienic environment is an integral facet of life and it would be impossible to live with human dignity without a healthy environment.”) Id., at 580; and AP Pollution Control Board v. Professor M.V. Nayudu (II), (2001) 2 SCC 62.
- 69.
(1996) 3 SCC 212.
- 70.
In that case, the Court interpreted the polluter pays principle to mean that “the absolute liability for harm to the environment extends not only to compensate the victims of pollution but also the cost of restring the environmental degradation”.
- 71.
Supra note 43.
- 72.
(1999) 2 SCC 718.
- 73.
2004 (12) SCC 118.
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Srivastava, A. (2018). The Principle of Sustainable Development: International and National Perspectives. In: Nirmal, B., Singh, R. (eds) Contemporary Issues in International Law. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6277-3_13
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