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From Stockholm to Paris: Four Decades of Sustainability in International Law

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Sustainable Global Value Chains

Part of the book series: Natural Resource Management in Transition ((NRMT,volume 2))

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Abstract

This chapter aims to provide an overview of the evolution and incorporation of sustainability in international law from the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, considering the role this field of law plays regarding the delicate balance between environmental protection and socio-economic development. The World Commission on Environment and Development published “Our Common Future” also known as the “Brundtland Report” in 1987, in which it defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987, p. 41). When we examine the evolution of sustainable development from 1972 to 2002 when the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development took place, it can be described as a developmental process by which resources are deployed to meet the needs of people while ensuring preservation of the environmental quality and socio-economic growth, with an ultimate objective of meeting the needs of the present and future generations. With emphasis on intra and inter-generational equity, sustainable development is advanced as a response to the achievement of a more equitable balance between social, environmental and economic development (Cordonier Segger and Khalfan 2004; Zengerling 2013).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    U.N. Doc. A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. I); reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 874 (1992).

  2. 2.

    U.N. Doc. A/Conf.48/14/Rev. 1; reprinted in 11 I.L.M. 1416 (1972).

  3. 3.

    Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August–4 September 2002, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.199/20.

  4. 4.

    U.N. Doc. A/RES/66/288.

  5. 5.

    39 AJIL Supp. 215 (1945).

  6. 6.

    U.N. Doc. A/AC.237/18 (Part II)/Add.1; 1771 UNTS 107; reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 849 (1992).

  7. 7.

    U.N. Doc. FCCC/CP/1997/7/Add.1, Dec. 10, 1997; reprinted in 37 I.L.M. 22 (1998).

  8. 8.

    C.N.92.2016.TREATIES-XXVII.7.d.

  9. 9.

    1760 UNTS 79; reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 818 (1992).

  10. 10.

    1954 UNTS 3; reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1328 (1994).

  11. 11.

    1867 UNTS 154; reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1144 (1994).

  12. 12.

    U.N. Doc. A/Conf.39/27; 1155 UNTS 331; reprinted in 8 I.L.M. 679 (1969).

  13. 13.

    WTO Doc. WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1; reprinted in 41 I.L.M. 746 (2002).

  14. 14.

    1867 UNTS 187; reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1153 (1994).

  15. 15.

    WTO Doc. WT/MIN(96)/DEC; reprinted in 36 I.L.M. 218 (1997).

  16. 16.

    33 I.L.M. 839 (1994); Report of the Panel, United States – Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, DS29/R (16 June 1994).

  17. 17.

    Report of the Panel, United States – Restrictions on Imports of Tuna, DS29/R (16 June 1994), 5.3–5.42.

  18. 18.

    United States – Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, WT/DS58/R (15 May 1998).

  19. 19.

    Appellate Body Report, United States – Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, WT/DS58/AB/R, adopted 6 November 1998, 114–185.

  20. 20.

    Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1997, p. 7 (25 September 1997).

  21. 21.

    Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 226 (8 July 1996).

  22. 22.

    Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1997 p. 7 (25 September 1997); see pp. 77–78.

  23. 23.

    Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1997 p. 7 (25 September 1997); see pp. 88–95.

  24. 24.

    Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases; ICGJ 337 (ITLOS 1999); reprinted in 38 I.L.M. 1624 (1999).

  25. 25.

    1833 UNTS 3; reprinted in 21 I.L.M. 1261 (1982).

  26. 26.

    Australia and New Zealand v Japan, Provisional Measures, Order of 27 August 1999, ITLOS Reports 1999, paras. 77–80, 280–296.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Law, with Focus on Environmental and Planning Law, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), Cottbus, Germany

    Terence Onang Egute & Eike Albrecht

  2. Abie, Egute & Associates Law Firm, Bamenda, Cameroon

    Kelvin Awanaya Egute

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  1. Terence Onang Egute
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  2. Eike Albrecht
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Correspondence to Terence Onang Egute .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Planning, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU), Cottbus, Germany

    Michael Schmidt  & Dmitry Palekhov  & 

  2. The Committee on Sustainability Assessment (COSA), Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Daniele Giovannucci

  3. Division Climate Change, Rural Development, Infrastructure, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Eschborn, Germany

    Berthold Hansmann

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Egute, T.O., Albrecht, E., Egute, K.A. (2019). From Stockholm to Paris: Four Decades of Sustainability in International Law. In: Schmidt, M., Giovannucci, D., Palekhov, D., Hansmann, B. (eds) Sustainable Global Value Chains. Natural Resource Management in Transition, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14877-9_4

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