Abstract
The call for institutionalizing Earth trusteeship cannot easily be reconciled with state sovereignty. The concept of state sovereignty emerged at a time of great distances and absolute national autonomy. However, in a globalized, interconnected world utterly depending on the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, absolute territorial sovereignty is counterproductive and potentially life threatening. The chapter argues that the time is right for reconceptualizing state sovereignty. Sovereignty includes not just fiduciary and trusteeship obligations towards the state’s own citizens, but also towards humanity at large and Earth as a whole. The UN Agenda 2030 with its Sustainable Development Goals offer a window opportunity for institutionalizing Earth trusteeship at international and national levels. A critical tool for achieving this has been the adoption of the “Hague Principles for a Universal Declaration on Responsibilities for Human Rights and Earth Trusteeship” in the Peace Palace, The Hague, on the day of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (10 December 2018).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barnes P (2001) Capitalism 2.0: who owns the sky? Our common assets and the future of capitalism. Island Press, Washington
Barnes P (2006) Capitalism 3.0: a guide to reclaiming the commons. Berret-Koehler, San Francisco, p 34
Benvenisti E (2013) Sovereigns as trustees of humanity: on the accountability of states to foreign stakeholders. Am J Int Law 107:295
Biermann F (2011) Reforming global environmental governance: the case for a United Nation’s Environment Organisation (UNEO). Stakeholder Forum, Earth System Governance Project, and VU University Amsterdam, p 5
Bollier D (2008) The commons: a neglected sector of wealth creation. In: Heinrich S (ed) Genes, bytes and emissions: to whom does the world belong? Henrich Boll Stiftung, Berlin
Bollier D, Helfrich S (2019) Free, fair and alive: the insurgence power of the commons. New Society Publishers, British Columbia
Bosselmann K (2015) Earth governance: trusteeship of the global commons. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, p 72
Bosselmann K (2016) The planetary integrity project: creating a safe operating space through law and governance. New Zealand Center for Environmental Law, Auckland, p 24
Bosselmann K (2018) Reclaiming the global commons: towards earth trusteeship. In: Martin B, Te Aho L, Humphries M (eds) Responsability: law and governance for living well with the earth. Routledge, London, p 3
Bosselmann K (2019) The atmosphere as a global commons. In: Jaria-Manzano J, Borràs S (eds) Research handbook on global climate constitutionalism. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham. chapter 5
Brundtland Report (1987) Report of the World Commission on environment and development: our common future. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/5987our-common-future.pdf. Accessed 24 Nov 2019
Colin Prentice I, House J, Cornell S (2012) Understanding the earth system: global change for application. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Criddle E, Fox-Decent E (2009) A fiduciary theory of Jus Cogens. Yale J Int Law 34:331
Earth Trusteeship Initiative (2018) The Hague principles for a universal declaration on responsibilities for human rights and earth trusteeship. http://www.earthtrusteeship.world/the-hague-principles-for-a-universal-declaration-on-human-responsibilities-and-earth-trusteeship/. Accessed 24 Nov 2019
Ehlers E, Krafft T et al (eds) (2006) Earth system science in the anthropocene: emerging issues and problems. Springer, Berlin
Hardin G (1968) The tragedy of the commons. Science 162:3859. 1243–1248
Horn C (2016) Kant’s political philosophy as a theory of non-ideal normativity. Kant-Studien 107(1):89–110, pp 89–110
Kump L, Kasting J, Crane R (2011) The Earth system, 3rd edn. Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River
Lenton T (2016) Earth system science: a very short introduction. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Magalhaes P, Steffen W, Bosselmann K et al (2016) The safe operating space treaty: a new approach to managing. Our use of the earth system. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle
Montini M, Volpe F (2015) Sustainable development goals: much ado about nothing. Environ Liability 4:141–147, p 142
Raworth K (2012) A safe and just space for humanity; can we live within the doughnut? Oxfam discussion paper. Oxfam International, Oxford
Sand P (2004) Sovereignty bounded: public trusteeship for common pool resources. Global Environ Politics 4(1):47–71
Sand P (2013) The rise of public trusteeship in international environmental law. Global trust working paper series 03/2013. http://globaltrust.tau.ac.il/publications/. Accessed 24 Nov 2019
Stoddart H (ed) (2011) A pocket guide to sustainable development governance, 1st edn. Stakeholder Forum, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, p 37
Taylor P (1998) An ecological approach to international law: responding to the challenges of climate change. Routledge, London, p 298
Wood MC (2007) Nature’s trust: a legal, political and moral frame for global warming. Environ Aff Law Rev 34:577
Wood MC (2013) Nature’s trust: environmental law for a new ecological age. North Carolina University Press, Durham
Legislative Citation
Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Bosselmann, K. (2020). The Role of Trusteeship in Earth Governance. In: Westra, L., Bosselmann, K., Fermeglia, M. (eds) Ecological Integrity in Science and Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46259-8_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-46258-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-46259-8
eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)