Sovereignty or sustainability in the anthropocene

Sovereignty is generally understood to comprise the bundle of powers of nation-states but legal theory is rarely captures the complexities of a unique and exceptional power. Historically, the exercise of sovereign prerogatives has resulted in sovereign exceptionalism that prioritises national interests over those of other states and the environment. The governance of tropical forests illustrates the tension between permanent sovereignty over national resources and the need to treat forests as global commons in the interests of all peoples. We can bequeath a habitable planet to future generations or we can choose to perpetuate national interest through sovereignty, but we cannot have both so long as sovereign prerogative trumps common good

Geoengineering : risks, rights and justice

This article discusses arguments that manipulating the Earth’s climate may provoke unforeseen, unintended and uncontrollable consequences that threaten human rights. The risks arise from both main types of geoengineering: solar radiation management (SRM) techniques and carbon dioxide removal (CDR). SRM creates particular risks because it is difficult to test on a wide scale and may not be capable of being recalled after deployment. Adequate, enforceable governance structures do not currently exist to assess and regulate the risks of climate engineering, not least whether such technologies can be terminated in the absence of significant emissions reductions. This article is divided into six sections. After the opening introductory section, section 2 discusses the links between climate change and human rights. It briefly outlines the range of rights, including procedural rights, that might be violated by geoengineering. This is followed, in section 3, by an evaluation of the risks of SRM and CDR. The fourth section discusses debates on the ethics of geoengineering. Section 5 critiques hubristic faith in technological solutions. The final section examines the governance of geoengineering and the extent to which international environmental law and human rights law might be used to regulate the research and deployment of geoengineering

A legal paradigm shift towards climate justice in the Anthropocene

Business as usual is widely acknowledged as the main driver of ecological collapse and climate breakdown, but less attention is paid to the role of law as usual as an impediment to climate justice. This article analyses how domestic and international environmental law facilitate injustices against living entities and nature. It calls for a paradigm shift in legal theory, practice and teaching to reflect the scale and urgency of the unfolding ecological catastrophe. Section 2 outlines the links between climatic harms and climate injustices. This is followed by discussions of unsustainable law and economic development in sections 3 and 4. Section 5 examines the potential contribution of new materialist legal theory in bringing about a legal paradigm shift that reflects the jurisgenerative role of nature in promoting climate justice

Voicing suffering and commitment of the intellectual

How can we explain the complexities of Upendra Baxi’s lifework? He is committed to activism yet is attached to complex theorising; he is committed to the Global South yet has a deep engagement with Northern thinking; he makes a trenchant critique of human rights and law while asserting the importance of human rights and the rule of law; he is committed to human social justice while asserting the importance of climate justice. This article explores Baxi’s approach to the relationship between activism and theory, to constitutionalism and the rule of law, to human rights and to climate justice and suggests that any perplexity is resolved through his commitment to giving voice to and alleviating the plight of the impoverished, the disempowered, the suffering, and the rightless in his native India and elsewhere

Rethinking development and social justice : beyond law and development?

In a legal context, and primarily in relation to the now well-established field of ‘law and development’, this book takes up the need to think beyond development in order to address the global social injustices that inform the key problems facing the global South. These injustices comprise interconnected phenomena including impoverishment, displacement, post-coloniality, cultural and social exclusion, warfare and terrorism, climate injustice, ineffective governance, gender injustice, and the underlying structural injustices of the global economic system. And here, the contributors to this book take up the challenge of exploring new, alternative epistemologies that might provide effective alternatives to neoliberal globalisation: including feminist concepts of relationality, Islamic approaches, the role of the state, human rights discourses; and the nature and role of forms of resistance. The book thus explores whether it is possible to address social injustices in the global South in ways that avoid perpetuating problems – such as skewed growth, extractivism and inequality – associated with the concept of development

Introduction : climate justice in the Anthropocene

The need to address climate and environmental change becomes ever more urgent as climate harms and ecological destruction intensify and become more frequent. The articles in this issue emerged from a workshop in 2019, and they explore the multi-faceted nature of climate justice against the backdrop of the Anthropocene trope. The articles address specific issues such as corporate responsibility, the plight of farmers in India, climate displacement, and gender justice. In doing so, they reveal common themes such as the limitations and failings of business as usual and law as usual, the centrality of human rights and vulnerability theory in the pursuit of climate justice, the indivisibility of justice, and alternatives ways of achieving it

Environmental law and the unsustainability of sustainable development : a tale of disenchantment and of hope

In this article we argue that sustainable development is not a socio-ecologically friendly principle. The principle, which is deeply embedded in environmental law, policymaking and governance, drives environmentally destructive neoliberal economic growth that exploits and degrades the vulnerable living order. Despite seemingly well-meaning intentions behind the emergence of sustainable development, it almost invariably facilitates exploitative economic development activities that exacerbate systemic inequalities and injustices without noticeably protecting all life forms in the Anthropocene. We conclude the article by examining an attempt to construct alternatives to sustainable development through the indigenous onto-epistemology of buen vivir. While no panacea, buen vivir is a worldview that offers the potential to critically rethink how environmental law could re-orientate away from its ‘centered’, gendered and anthropocentric, neoliberal sustainable development ontology, to a radically different ontology that embraces ecologically sustainable ways of seeing, being, knowing and caring

: The regulation of renewable energy in South Africa

As a developing country, South Africa’s demand for electricity is accelerating in order to facilitate economic growth and provide the necessary basic services to its people. Historically, the South African government has primarily opted to cater for the country’s electricity needs by means of coal as an affordable fossil fuel-based energy source. However, amidst the world’s changing climate and the plummeting costs of renewable energy technologies, there is increasing global pressure to phase out the use of fossil fuels as the key contributor to anthropogenic climate change and to move towards renewables as the world’s main source of energy. The primary problem highlighted in this thesis is the fact that South Africa’s energy laws have been developed to accommodate fossil fuels as the main source of energy, effectively neglecting the need to incorporate provisions that support and regulate the renewable energy sector. The thesis argues for the need for South Africa to transition away from fossil-fuel and nuclear based energy solutions based on the potential of renewables not only to improve energy security, but also to contribute towards social, economic, and environmental development. However, the transition to renewables and the realisation of its associated benefits will only be realised by means of a regulatory framework dedicated to the development of the renewable energy sector. The researcher argues that, in their current form, South African laws and policies limits the growth of the renewable energy sector. In order to propose reform and to develop the law to support renewable energy sufficiently, the thesis explores international law as well as global best practice in the United Kingdom and Germany related to renewable energy regulation. The comparative analysis allows the researcher to make recommendations to inform the development of South Africa’s renewable energy legal framework. It is argued that, given South Africa’s status as a developing country, such reform must be based upon the fundamental principles of climate change mitigation and social development. Ultimately, it is submitted that, a law dedicated to renewable energy can, and must, play an imperative role in realising the concept of sustainable development in South Africa.Thesis (LLD) -- Faculty of Law , School of Public Law, 202