OUVRAGE : J.E. Viñuales (ed.), The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: A Commentary

Jorge VIÑUALES

The international community has long grappled with the issue of safeguarding the environment and encouraging sustainable development, often with little result. The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development was an emphatic attempt to address this issue, setting down 27 key principles for the international community to follow. These principles define the rights of people to sustainable development, and the responsibilities of states to safeguard the common environment. The Rio Declaration established that long term economic progress required a connection to environmental protection. It was designed as an authoritative and comprehensive statement of the principles of sustainable development law, an instrument to take stock of the past international and domestic practice, a guide for the design of new multilateral environmental regimes, and as a reference for litigation.

This commentary provides an authoritative and comprehensive overview of the principles of the Declaration, written by over thirty inter-disciplinary contributors, including both leading practitioners and academics. Each principle is analysed in light of its origins and rationale. The book investigates each principle's travaux préparatoires setting out the main points of controversy and the position of different countries or groups. It analyses the scope and dimensions of each principle, providing an in-depth understanding of its legal effects, including whether it can be relied before a domestic or international court. It also assesses the impact of the principles on subsequent soft law and treaty development, as well as domestic and international jurisprudence. The authors demonstrate the ways in which the principles interact with each other, and finally provide a detailed analysis of the shortcomings and future potential of each principle. This book will be of vital importance to practitioners, scholars, and students of international environomental law and sustainable development.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Jorge E. Viñuales: The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: A Preliminary Study 

Pierre-Marie Dupuy: The Philosophy of the Rio Declaration 

Jacqueline Peel: Changing Conceptions of Environmental Risk 

Francesco Francioni: The Preamble of the Rio Declaration 

Francesco Francioni: Principle 1: Human Beings and the Environment 

Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli and Jorge E. Viñuales: Principle 2: Prevention 

Claire Molinari: Principle 3: From a Right to Development to Intergenenerational Equity 

Virginie Barral & Pierre-Marie Dupuy: Principle 4: Sustainable Development through Integration 

Takhmina Karimova & Christophe Golay: Principle 5: Poverty Eradication 

Mamadou Hébié: Principle 6: Special Situation of Developing Countries 

Philippe Cullet: Principle 7: Common but Differentiated Responsibilities 

Christina Voigt: Principle 8: Sustainable Patterns of Production and Consumption and Demographic Policies 

Sandrine Maljean-Dubois: Principle 9: Science and Technology 

Jonas Ebbesson: Principle 10: Public Participation 

Martina Kunz: Principle 11: Environmental Legislation 

Margaret Young: Principle 12: The Environment and Trade  

Malgosia Fitzmaurice: Principle 13: Liability and Compensation 

Makane M. Mbengue: Principle 14: Dangerous Activities and Substances 

Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade: Principle 15: Precaution 

Priscilla Schwartz: Principle 16: The Polluter-Pays Principle 

Neil Craik: Principle 17: Environmental Impact Assessment 

Phoebe Okowa: Principle 18: Notification and Assistance in Case of Emergency 

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes & Komlan Sangbana: Principle 19: Notification and Consultation on Activities with Transboundary Impact 

Claire Mahon: Principle 20: The Role of Women 

Magnus Jesko Langer: Principle 21: The Role of the Youth 

Dinah Shelton: Principle 22: Indigenous People and Sustainable Development 

Mara Tignino: Principle 23: The Environment of Oppressed Peoples 

Marie-Louise Tougas: Principle 24: The Environment in Armed Conflict 

Annyssa Bellal & Gilles Giacca: Principle 25: Peace, Development and Environmental Protection 

Timothy Stephens: Principle 26: International Environmental Dispute Settlement

Peter H. Sand: Principle 27: Cooperation in a Spirit of Global Partnership

Jorge. E. VIÑUALES (ed.), The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015 (720 pp.)

Jorge E. Viñuales is Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge.