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The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice pp 127–146Cite as

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Earth Trusteeship and the Sovereign State

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Abstract

Bosselmann provides a critical analysis of the relation between Earth Trusteeship and state sovereignty. While the concept of state sovereignty emerged at a time of great distances and absolute national autonomy, in a globalised, interconnected world that utterly depends on the integrity of Earth’s ecological systems, absolute territorial sovereignty is counterproductive and potentially life threatening. Bosselmann argues that reconceptualising state sovereignty is timely and necessary. 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 drafting of a Global Pact for the Environment offers an opportunity for institutionalising Earth Trusteeship at international and national levels. The chapter argues that the Global Pact for the Environment can be thought of an example of Earth Restorative Justice that is required to meet the urgent challenges of today.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See https://earthrestorativejustice.org/ (last accessed 26 January 2022).

  2. 2.

    See https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/pa08.asp (last accessed 26 January 2022).

  3. 3.

    See https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/udhr.pdf (last accessed 26 January 2022).

  4. 4.

    See https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_CONF.151_26_Vol.I_Declaration.pdf (last accessed 26 January 2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Klaus Bosselmann

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  1. Klaus Bosselmann
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Correspondence to Klaus Bosselmann .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Brunilda Pali

  2. RegNet School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Miranda Forsyth

  3. RegNet School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Felicity Tepper

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Bosselmann, K. (2022). Earth Trusteeship and the Sovereign State. In: Pali, B., Forsyth, M., Tepper, F. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Restorative Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04223-2_6

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