Verschuuren, Jonathan --- "The growing significance of the principle of sustainable development as a legal norm" [2016] ELECD 1373; in Fisher, Douglas (ed), "Research Handbook on Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016) 276

Book Title: Research Handbook on Fundamental Concepts of Environmental Law

Editor(s): Fisher, Douglas

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784714642

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: The growing significance of the principle of sustainable development as a legal norm

Author(s): Verschuuren, Jonathan

Number of pages: 30

Abstract/Description:

There has been considerable debate about the legal nature of the principle of sustainable development as well as its meaning. Is it really a legal principle? These debates are related because the rather vague and ambiguous terminology makes a straightforward legal implementation or application of the principle of sustainable development in legal practice difficult. Legal scholars have labelled ‘sustainable development’ a concept, a goal, a policy objective, a guideline, an ideal, a meta-principle, a weak norm of international law, a concept or principle of customary law, or a legal principle. Since its rise in international environmental law in 1992, sustainable development has been increasingly referred to by drafters of environmental and other treaties as well as by international and domestic courts. Increased reference to sustainable development – sometimes as a principle but more often as an objective or a concept – has led to its stronger normative power and its stronger legal status. The integration of environmental concerns into decision-making processes has been broadly accepted and it can authoritatively be seen as a firm legal duty. Although many commentators probably think that this process has not gone fast enough, it is the view of the author of this chapter that an extrapolation of the use of the principle of sustainable development will see a further increase of its impact upon judicial reasoning and upon how legal texts will be drafted in the near future.