Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Designing Law for Sustainability

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Sustainability and Law

Abstract

The present chapter addresses the issue of how to design law for sustainability. To this end, it firstly explores the historical and theoretical roots of sustainability, in order to show its original meaning. It highlights its ecological core and then looks at the evolution of the concept of sustainability to show how its ecological core has been gradually forgotten and almost lost over time. It observes how this may be related to the progressive conflation of sustainability with the concept of sustainable development and argues how to promote and reinstate a correct understanding of the two concepts.

Then, the focus shifts on the role that sustainability might play in the realm of regulation. To this respect, it tries to determine whether and why a regulatory system for sustainability is needed and shows that only by embracing the preservation of the health and integrity of ecosystems as a priority objective it will be possible to put in place a regulatory regime truly inspired by sustainability.

Finally, the question of how to design a regulatory system for sustainability is addressed. In this final part, some fundamental changes are proposed, grouped under the following five headings: beyond reductionism; beyond anthropocentrism; beyond positivism; beyond short-termism; beyond deregulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bodansky, D. (2010). The art and craft of international environmental law. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bosselmann, K. (2016). The principle of sustainability. Transforming law and governance (2nd ed.). Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bosselmann, K., & Richardson, B. J. (1999). Introduction: New challenges for environmental law and policy. In K. Bosselmann & B. J. Richardson (Eds.), Environmental justice and market mechanisms: Key challenges for environmental laws and policy (pp. 3–18). Alphen aan den Rijn: Kluwer Law International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bosselmann, K., & Taylor, P. (2017). Ecological approaches to environmental law. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Brown Weiss, E. (1990). Our rights and obligations to future generations for the environment. American Journal of International Law, 84, 198–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Callicott, B., & Mumford, K. (1997). Ecological sustainability as a conservation concept. Conservation Biology, 11, 32–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capra, F., & Luisi, P. L. (2014). The systems view of life. A unifying vision. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Capra, F., & Mattei, U. (2015). The ecology of law. Toward a legal system in tune with nature and community. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleveland, C. J., & Ruth, M. (1997). When, where, and by how much do biophysical limits constrain the economic process? A survey of Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen’s contribution to ecological economics. Ecological Economics, 22, 203–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly, H. E. (1977). Steady-state economics. The economics of biophysical equilibrium and moral growth. New York: W. H. Freeman and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daly, H. E. (1987). The economic growth debate: What some economists have learned but many have not. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 14, 323–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daly, H. E. (1996). Beyond growth. The economics of sustainable development. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engelmann, R. (2013). Beyond sustainababble. In The Worldwatch Institute (Ed.), State of the World 2013: Is sustainability still possible? (pp. 3–16). Washington DC: Island Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Georgescu-Roegen, N. (1986). The entropy law and the economic process in retrospect. Eastern Economic Journal, 12, 3–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griggs, D., Stafford-Smith, M., Gaffney, O., Rockstroem, J., Oehman, M. C., Shyamsundar, P., Steffen, W., Glaser, G., Kanie, N., & Noble, I. (2013). Sustainable development goals for people and planet. Nature, 495, 305–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grober U (2012) Sustainability. A cultural history. Green Books, Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Court of Justice (ICJ). (1997). Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (HungarylSlovakia), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports, 1997:7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jørgensen, S. E., Fath, B. D., Nielsen, S. N., Pulselli, F. M., Fiscus, D. A., & Bastianoni, S. (2015). Flourishing within limits to growth: Following Nature’s way. Abingdon: Earthscan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, R. E., & Bosselmann, K. (2015). Operationalizing sustainable development: Ecological integrity as a Grundnorm of international law. Transnational Environmental Law, 2, 194–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Korten, D. C. (1992). Sustainable development: A review essay. World Policy Journal, 9, 157–190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquardt, B. (2003). Umwelt und Recht in Mitteleuropa. Von den grossen Rodungen des Hochmittelalters bis ins 21. Jahrhundert. Schulthess, Zurich, III and 80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marquardt B (2006) Historia de la sostenibilidad. Un concepto medioambiental en la historia de Europa central (1000-2006), 32: 172–197.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W., III. (1972). The limits to growth. Washington DC: Potomac Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (1992). Beyond the limits: Confronting global collapse, envisioning a sustainable future. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (2004). Limits to growth: The 30-year update. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S. (1848). Principles of political economy. London: Longmans, Green and Co..

    Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M. (2014). Revising international environmental law through the paradigm of ecological sustainability. In F. Lenzerini & A. Vrdoljak (Eds.), International law for common goods: Normative perspectives in human rights, culture and nature (pp. 271–287). Oxford: Hart Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M. (2015). Investimenti internazionali, protezione dell’ambiente e sviluppo sostenibile. Milan: Giuffré. (in Italian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M. (2017). The double failure of environmental regulation and deregulation and the need for ecological law (pp. 265–285). XXVI: Italian Yearbook of International Law.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M., & Volpe, F. (2015). Sustainable development goals: Much ado about nothing? Environmental Liability, 4, 141–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M., & Volpe, F. (2016). In praise of sustainability: The encyclical letter Laudato Sì and its legal-economic implications. Italian Yearbook of International Law, XXV, 311–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montini, M., & Volpe, F. (2017). Regulation for sustainability: Promoting an ecology-based approach. Federalismi, 3, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patten, B. C., & Odum, E. P. (1981). The cybernetic nature of ecosystems. The American Naturalist, 118, 886–895.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prigogine, I., & Stengers, I. (1997). The End of Certainty New York: The Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porritt, J. (2006). Capitalism as if the world matters. London: Earthscan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut economics: Seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Stuart, I. I. I., Chapin, F., Lambin, E., Lenton, T. M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H. J., Nykvist, B., de Wit, C. A., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., Sörlin, S., Snyder, P. K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R. W., Fabry, V. J., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P., & Foley, J. (2009a). Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14(2), 32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Stuart, I. I. I., Chapin, F., Lambin, E., Lenton, T. M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H. J., Nykvist, B., de Wit, C. A., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., Sörlin, S., Snyder, P. K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R. W., Fabry, V. J., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P., & Foley, J. (2009b). A safe operating space for humanity. Nature, 461, 472–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rockström, J., Sachs, J. D., Öhman, M. C., & Schmidt-Traub, G. (2013). Sustainable development and planetary boundaries – Background research paper the UN High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, pp. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumacher, E. F. (1973). Small is beautiful. A study of economics as if people mattered. London: Vintage Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Soentgen, J. (2016). Sustainability as usufruct. The roman expression usus fructus and its bearing on the concept of sustainability/Nachhaltigkeit als Niessbrauch: Das romische Rechtsinstitut des usus fructus und seine systematische Bedeutung fur das Konzept der nachhaltigen Nutzung. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 25, 117–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockstrom, J., Cornell, S. E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E. M., Biggs, R., Carpenter, S. R., de Vries, W., de Wit, C. A., Folke, C., Gerten, D., Heinke, J., Mace, G. M., Persson, L. M., Ramanathan, V., Reyers, B., & Sorlin, S. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet. Science, 347, 6223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tiezzi, E. (1986). Tempi storici, tempi biologici. Milano: Garzanti.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (1992). UNCED Rio declaration on environment and development, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.151/26, 14 June 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2002) World summit on sustainable development. Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development A/CONF.199/20, 4 September 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2012). Conference on Sustainable Development, “The future we want”, General Assembly, Resolution A/RES/66/288, 27 July 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • UN. (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, General Assembly, Resolution A/RES/70/1, 25 September 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vatn, A. (2018). Environmental governance – from public to private? Ecological Economics, 148, 170–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Viñuales, J. (2015). The Rio declaration on environment and development. A commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • WCED. (1987). World commission on environment and development,. Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weeramantry, J. (1997). Separate Opinion, Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia), I.C.J. Reports, 1997:85–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westerlund, S. (2008). Theory for sustainable development. In H. C. Bugge & C. Voigt (Eds.), Sustainable development in international and National law (pp. 47–66). Groningen: Europa Law Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Westra, L. (2016). Ecological integrity and global governance. Science, ethics and the law. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. R4S Regulation for Sustainability Research Centre, Department of Business and Law, University of Siena, Siena, Italy

    Massimiliano Montini

Authors
  1. Massimiliano Montini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Massimiliano Montini .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecotechnology and Sustainable Building Engineering Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden

    Volker Mauerhofer

  2. Department of Economics, University of Messina (Italy), Messina, Italy

    Daniela Rupo

  3. Department of Economic Studies, University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Pescara, Italy

    Lara Tarquinio

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Montini, M. (2020). Designing Law for Sustainability. In: Mauerhofer, V., Rupo, D., Tarquinio, L. (eds) Sustainability and Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42630-9_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42630-9_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-42629-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-42630-9

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation