Sustainable Development Principles in the Decisions of International Courts and Tribunals: 1992-2012

by Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger (Editor), Judge C.G. Weeramantry (Editor)

The 2002 New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law relating to Sustainable Development set out seven principles on sustainable development, as agreed in treaties and soft-law instruments from before the 1992 Rio ‘Earth Summit’ UNCED, to the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, to the 2012 Rio UNCSD. Recognition of the New Delhi principles is shaping the decisions of dispute settlement bodies with jurisdiction over many the environment, human rights, trade, investment, and crime, among others. This book explores the expanding international jurisprudence incorporating principles of international law on sustainable development. Through chapters by respected experts, the volume documents the application and interpretation of these principles, demonstrating how courts and tribunals are contributing to the world’s Sustainable Development Goals, by peacefully resolving disputes. It charts the evolution of these principles in international law from soft law standards towards recognition as customary law in certain instances, assessing key challenges to further judicial consideration of the principles, and discussing, for instance, how their relevance for compliance and disputes related to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The volume provides a unique contribution of great interest to law and policy-makers, judges, academics, students, civil society and practitioners concerned with sustainable development and the law, globally.

932 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, University of Cambridge
Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger is Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor in the University of Cambridge, and Full Professor of Law at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She serves as Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, also a founding Fellow of the Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance, Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, and Director of Studies and Law Fellow in Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge. Author or editor of over twenty books and 120 papers, she edits the Treaty Implementation for Sustainable Development series and advises countries and international organizations on treaty commitments on climate change, biodiversity, trade and investment, and other Sustainable Development Goals.