Development of a bioeconomy is seen to offer significant possibilities to address the challenges faced by a world with a growing population, resource scarcity, environmental degradation and climate change. The technical potential for a bioeconomy is impressive. It has been estimated that over 90 per cent of oil-based products could be replaced by bio-based alternatives. However, there are several challenges, uncertainties and concerns related to the development of a bioeconomy. These include potential negative effects of increased use of biomass on biodiversity and food production, as well as health and environmental risks associated with new biotechnologies. The urgency of the problems that a bioeconomy may provide solutions to and the new sustainability challenges emerging in a growing bioeconomy indicate the need to develop regulatory regimes that make the transition to a bioeconomy more rapid, controlled and sustainable. This article discusses the key issues in developing a bioeconomy that call for regulatory intervention. Further, it explores the need for development in regulatory approaches, strategies and structures for enabling the transition to and sustaining a bioeconomy and explains why, in theory, regulatory systems based on integrative, adaptive and proactive law approaches are a promising way to meet that need. © 2016 International Bar Association.
In developing and emerging countries, rapid urbanization at an unprecedented pace and degradation of ecosystem services at an alarming rate have caused many regions, especially those in environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs), to encounter the "regional development dilemma" (RDD), in which regions can hardly divert their current development pattern to achieve a transition to sustainability. The main research focus of this study is to introduce-by means of a case study-a payments for ecosystem service (PES) scheme as a policy instrument that incorporates an ecosystem services (ES)-based baseline for payments and a spatial-targeting-based allocation plan to address that dilemma and to bridge, as well as achieve, sustainable development goals simultaneously at a regional scale. The water source areas of the Middle Route Project in the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in China were used as the case study. Land Use/Land Cover Change (LUCC) of this area between 2002 and 2010 was detected by adopting remote sensing and spatial analysis technologies. The ecosystem services value (ESV) variation was then estimated and the eco-compensation plan was determined through comprehensively applying equivalent weighting factors of the ecosystem service of terrestrial ecosystems in China and the adjustment coefficient of the ecosystem service based on the notion of willingness to pay for ecosystem services. Results show that rapid urbanization has substantial impacts on the spatial dynamics and quality of ecosystems in the research area. From 2002 to 2010, the total ESV declined by CNY 6 billion. Therefore, the baseline eco-compensation from the benefit zone to the research area was CNY 1.1 billion under the assumption of commensurability. Responsibility ought to be shared by Henan and Hebei provinces, and Beijing and Tianjin, with payment of CNY 422.3, 388.5, 110.9, and 133 million, respectively. We drafted the allocation plan of eco-compensation based on the spatial pattern of ESV variation, and suggested policy tools tailored for subregions in the research area defined by LUCC change categories. Such an integrated study can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of regional PES schemes and provide a set of policy instruments with upgraded spatial-targeting and better cost-efficiency, particularly as blueprints for regional governments in developing and emerging countries that aim at leveraging regional sustainability through bridging and achieving SDGs.
Freshwater biodiversity continues to decline. Protected areas are recognized as critical tools in its conservation. Concurrently, despite global efforts to ensure water supplies, billions of people remain without access to pure water. Conversely, flooding kills tens of thousands of people each year. While designated primarily for nature conservation, protected areas supply a range of other ecosystem services to human society. The natural infrastructure they protect should be seen as a key component of water security and improved conservation of ecosystems, and recognized and invested in as a critical tool for water provision and regulation in the landscape. At the 2014 World Parks Congress delegates identified actions needed to maximize the potential of protected areas to contribute to water services: iKnowledge and capacity building: strengthening technical expertise and capacity building with respect to the role of protected areas in water security. iiValuation: to drive positive change in protected area management. iiiPolicy frameworks: covering legal, institutional, economic and social factors that produce a good synergy between protected area management and water security. ivPricing policy: integrating all the information from valuation of the role of protected areas in terms of water supply, regulation and quality. vWater security: considering natural infrastructure as a key investment in addressing water related risks and a legitimate component of water security strategies. viPartnerships: strengthening these across sectors with a wider group of stakeholders to promote the conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems in protected areas. viiLearning lessons from successful water management: by identifying knowledge requirements for legal, institutional, economic and social factors that synergize protected area management and water security management. None of these steps is technically impossible. Providing the right mixture of policies, legislation, economic and social approaches remains the main challenge for their achievement. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept aims at encouraging sustainable development (SD) towards sustainability on the ground by promoting three core functions: conservation, development, and logistic support. Sweden and Ukraine exemplify the diverse governance contexts that BRs need to cope with. We assessed how the BR concept and its core functions are captured in national legislations. The results show that the core functions are in different ways reflected in legal documents in both countries. While in Ukraine the BR concept is incorporated into legislation, in Sweden the concept is used as a soft law. In Ukraine managers desired stronger legal enforcement, while in Sweden managers avoided emphasis on legislation when collaborating with local stakeholders. Hence, BR implementation have adapted to different political cultures by development of diverse approaches. We conclude that a stronger legal support might not be needed for BRs, rather SD needs to be recognized as an integrated place-based process at multiple levels. © 2013 The Author(s).
This paper assesses EU nature conservation and EU climate protection policies within the context of their local implementation in Vienna/Austria in order to gain insights into the decision-making process as well as to show the extent of achievements and experienced difficulties. In this connection, this paper also investigates based on published knowledge and the perceptions of stakeholders the awareness of nature conservation measures as climate-change adaptation and possibly ways of improvement. In order to address these issues, additionally to an in-depth literature review, 16 experts working in Vienna in the field of either nature conservation or climate protection were interviewed. The transcriptions of these interviews were then used in a qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the vast majority of the interviewed stakeholders see EU climate policy and nature conservation policy separately. Furthermore, the implementation of EU climate and nature conservation policy in Vienna is indicated as a “learning by doing” process. There the currently limited cooperation between stakeholders can be improved. Our study also finds that the awareness of different stakeholder groups of the possibility to use nature conservation as a measure against climate change is limited.
Maintaining peace and conserving biodiversity hinge on an international system of cooperation codified in institutions, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brings recent progress to a crossroads. Against this backdrop, we address some implications of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the governance of biodiversity conservation both within and beyond Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens the governance system for biodiversity conservation, as it pertains to Russia and beyond, due to three interacting factors: (i) isolation of Russia from the international system, (ii) halt and delay of international cooperation, and (iii) changes in international and domestic policy priorities. We recommend making the existing international system of governance for conserving biodiversity more resilient and adaptable, while aligning security agendas with biodiversity conservation goals.
The contribution concerns Directives of the European Union related to environmental liability and the restoration of environmental damages caused by Fiber Banks in Swedish coastal waters. Fiberbanks and fiber-rich sediments are legacies of the previously unregulated wastewater discharge from the pulp and paper industry. Large quantities of this toxic waste material have accumulated in the Baltic Sea floor and on the bottom of rivers and lakes. The Environmental Liability Directive, the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive of the EU addresses the liability against and restoration of damages of soil, water and biological diversity. The contribution aims to identify – based on the first results of an ongoing project -the potential to establish a liability for restoration measures also for cases of ongoing damages even if the discharges have been lawfully emitted prior to the release of these Directives. An in-depth literature review is applied as well as hermeneutic methods, such as comparative legal analyses and different types of text interpretation (e.g. historic, wording, rational).
The results show the kind of scientific evidence that exists for negative causal effects by Fiber Banks on soil, water and biological diversity respectively. Furthermore, the legal framework as well as the related judgement at EU-level will be presented which are relevant to establish the duty to restore and the liability of particular stakeholders to do so. Finally, first answers to questions about the level of evidence required to establish causality of negative effects by Fiber Banks as well as to questions about the burden of proof in such procedures will be presented.
The first results on this ongoing project show based on Swedish costal Fiber Banks the high potential of the interplay among the three Directives to effectively mitigate even past and ongoing environmental damages that have their origin in a time prior to the entering into force of these Directives. Such an institutional interplay can provide a blueprint for other restoration activities beyond the case study presented, in wider EU and globally. The presentation has its focus on SDG 16 as it particular guides SDG 16.3. “16.3 Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all” as well as 15.5 “Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species”. It relates to the conference topic through its call for liability for and restoration of environmental damages that have been caused by past human culture of ignoring nature.
The growing worldwide demand for Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction has led to a new age of energy saving. Besides the energy saving extent, the costs of energy saving measures as well as the environmental and social impacts are also necessary to be evaluated in order to make sure that the application of these measures can also meet sustainable development requirements. Thus, a sustainability evaluation method based on Life Cycle Theory is innovatively designed in this study. We present its new aspects, describe its working steps in detail and also test this new method by means of a case study on Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP), which is a renewable technology that is widely applied in the building sector in China. Data for the case study is collected by literature review and site investigation. Results show that the energy consumption of the investigated GSHP cases has an energy saving rate as around 40.2%.The main environmental impacts of GSHP are found to be global warming, acidification and eutrophication in the production process, and soil temperature change in the operation process. The prevention cost of the environmental impacts is around 15.84 RMB/m2 in the production process, and 5 RMB/m2 in the operation process. The payback time of our cases is around 4 years, and it will rise to 4.29 years if accounting the environmental prevention cost. We conclude based on the case study that our assessment method proofs to be useful as it can demonstrate comprehensive characteristics of sustainability for energy saving measures in the whole life cycle. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
This paper aims to comparatively analyze the carbon reduction potential of several low carbon technologies by means of different assessment and planning methods for regional development. Seven commonly used building energy saving technologies are evaluated and the priority-setting among them is identified on the example of the building sector in Chongming Island, Shanghai. By applying Decoupling Theory, the CO2 emission reduction extent under a low carbon scenario and an ideal scenario are estimated for 2030. The required application areas for different technology schemes are calculated using the Technology Combination Planning Method. In order to further find out required application areas for each technology under the least costs, the Goal Programming Method is then applied. Findings of the Technology Combination Planning Method reveal that the combination of energy saving technologies with high GHG emission reduction such as building insulation and geothermal heat pump have obvious effect in helping reducing the required technology application area. Goal Programming provides results for the required application area of each technology, and the minimum emission reduction cost is found as 2.54 × 108 US dollar under low carbon scenario and 3.50 × 108 US dollar under ideal scenario. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
Building sector accounts for a large percentage of the total national energy consumption in most of the countries, thus it is critical to formulate and implement appropriate energy saving policies in the building sector. This paper focuses on energy saving policies in the building sector by conducting a comparative study between Japan and China. The exiting Building Energy Saving (BES) policies, actual effectiveness of policy implementation and obstacles to the effective policy implementation are compared in sequence. Related policies are categorized into four groups: control and regulatory instruments; economic/market-based instruments; fiscal instruments and information and voluntary actions. Policy effect analysis identifies that BES policies have promoted building energy saving in both Japan and China. Obstacles comparison reveals that Japan and China shared many obstacles including high transaction costs and lack of applicable methodology. Compared with Japan, China is suffering more obstacles such as inefficient enforcement, insufficient levels of information and awareness and immature financial regulation system. Based on the previous findings, common suggestions for overcoming these obstacles of BES policies in Japan and China are presented, such as the accurate methods of baseline identification and emission accountings, innovative incentives, and more capacity building activities. Distinct suggestions for Japan and China are also added by considering their own situations so that both countries can further improve their BES policies. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
In order to meet the goals of GHG reduction and sustainability in industry development, strategies are needed that are reducing GHG emissions without compromising other economic, environmental and social priorities. In this paper, existing low carbon and sustainability requirements and evaluation methods are comparatively analyzed based on an in-depth literature review. Based on this analysis, multi-attributive assessment is selected as the methodological basis of our envisaged assessment framework; modified indicators and classified values are designed accordingly. The building sector in China is analyzed as a case study. Eleven main building energy saving technologies are assessed. The results show that under the sustainability criterion, the priority order of the assessed technologies is as follows: geothermal heat pump; solar thermal; solar PV; air conditioning energy saving; central heating system energy saving; building enclosure; lighting energy conservation; electric water heater energy saving, washing machine energy saving, refrigerator energy saving (these three have equal priority), and cooking appliance energy saving. The GHG and sustainability properties of technologies are discussed by comparing the indicator scores of the two aspects. The designed evaluation method can be used in regional cases if data resources are available; and for other sectors after indicator modification. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
In economics, the issue of 'future generations' is mainly related to the environmental problems of resource consumption and pollution and their distribution over long time horizons. This paper critically discusses fundamental concepts in economics, such as efficiency and optimality, in relation to the incorporation of future generations in present day decision-making. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and discounting are used as a starting point and criticized for its inherent flaws such as incommensurability of values and its tendency to hide rather than reveal underlying values which are assumed to be fixed. We then investigate alternative approaches, in which, unlike in CBA, the preferences are not assumed to be a priori but must be constructed. Thus, interest groups or individuals must sit down together and figure out what things seem to be worth. The aim is to involve all interested parties in planning for the future. Similarly, on a national and regional level, increasingly stakeholder processes, deliberative and interest group procedures are used to develop strategies and visions for resource management and conservation. A similar case can be made for institutions at the international level. The legal examples provided in this paper show that rather than only installing an institution such as the guardian for the future on the global level, more 'democratized' bottom up approaches might be more appropriate. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Coordination and cooperation are necessary topics to strengthen international environmental agreements that improve action against worldwide challenges towards sustainable development and environmental protection, such as invasive alien species (IAS). This study aims to assess to what extent national and transnational cooperation and coordination influences the implementation of a supranational regulation against IAS based on an example from the European Union (EU). Data is used from a broader study, including 47 responses to an online questionnaire and 22 interviews completed by experts from two countries (Austria and Romania), together with in depth literature. Additionally, the IAS-Regulation is analyzed from the perspective of cooperation and coordination. The terms "cooperation" and "coordination" were found within the text of the IAS-Regulation 11 and nine times respectively, whereas their context was transnational and national levels mainly, and transnational, respectively. It was further acknowledged from the majority of the answers from the survey respondents that the national coordination and cooperation is weaker than the transnational level due to the influence of the national competence distribution. Results from the interviews are separated into 'transnational' and 'national' cooperation and coordination. They show that the majority of the 47 responses indicate that the distribution of competence is one of the main influencing factors on the implementation. It is concluded that the current situation of cooperation and coordination in Austria and Romania renders it difficult for the European Commission to receive a realistic view about IAS and the implementation of the IAS Regulation in the two countries; hence, it is difficult to offer helpful support especially due to poor national cooperation. The current study can serve as a blueprint for further studies. Even in regional integration contexts beyond the EU, it can prove helpful to assess the impact of different kinds of competence distribution on the implementation of common norms. Thus, this research can path the way innovatively and serve as a comparative example for similar future studies.
Trophy hunting constitutes globally a major part of the wildlife tourism industry and is connected through the export of kills to international wildlife trade. Inconsistencies found between kills and exports can contribute to identify illegal trophy hunting that constitutes a major threat to biodiversity conservation. This paper quantitatively analysis in how far data of trophy hunting kills and of trophy exports are consistent on the example of South Africa and what are potential reasons for inconsistencies found. Data was extracted from two different sources for the year 2018. These were the South African Professional Hunting statistics(SAPHs) containing trophy kills information for each species and the country of origin of the hunter on the one side and trade data reported under the CITES Trade Database on export of trophy items from South Africa on the other side. The findings show on the one hand in both data bases the same 28 trophy-hunted endangered taxa reported. On the other hand the same data reports hunters with in total 64 nationalities from abroad participated in a total of 4,726 trophy kills were reported while a total of 3,131 hunting trophy items were exported out of South Africa to 37 countries as the final destination. The data of trophy hunting kills and data of trophy hunting export was found to differ to varying degrees across the countries contributing to trophy hunting and CITES-listed trophy-hunted species. Possible reasons for this inconsistency are identified and also recommendations for improving the CITES reporting system are made.
Trophy hunting constitutes a major part of the global wildlife tourism industry and is connected through the export of kills to international wildlife trade. Inconsistencies between kills and exports can contribute to identifying illegal trophy hunting that constitutes a major threat to biodiversity conservation. This paper quantitatively analyses to what extent the data of trophy hunting kills and of trophy exports are consistent using the example of South Africa. Data was extracted from two different sources for the year 2018. These sources were trade data reported under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and its Trade Database on the export of trophy items from South Africa, which is compared with the South African Professional Hunting statistics (SAPHs) containing trophy kills information for each species and the country of origin of the hunter. The data of trophy hunting kills and data of trophy hunting export was found to differ to varying degrees across the countries contributing to trophy hunting and CITES-listed trophy-hunted species. We found that both databases report hunting of the same 28 threatened taxa. On the other hand, the same data reports that hunters of 64 nationalities participated in a total of 4,726 trophy kills, while only 3,131 hunting trophy items were exported from South Africa, to 37 countries as final destinations. Among the possible reasons for the discrepancies found, we suggest that the time required to taxidermize trophy specimens may delay the items being addressed to their final destination, in addition to the dual citizenship of some hunters that should also have some influence on our results, as well as the important commercial destination of Brussels Airport. The USA show the highest absolute number of trophy hunters, followed by Spain, but Denmark is the highest driver per capita. Therefore, greater participation of these countries in conservation policies for endangered species is necessary. Additionally, a more detailed differentiation of the term “trophy” to more specific terms such as claws, skins, skulls, etc. may improve reporting systems to easier identify illegal activities related to hunting.
During the past decades numerous environmental performance evaluation programs have been developed and implemented on different geographic scales. This paper develops a taxonomy of environmental management behavioral patterns in order to provide a practical comparison tool for environmental performance evaluation programs. Ten such programs purposively selected are mapped against the identified four behavioral patterns in the form of diagnosis, negotiation, learning, and socialization and learning. Overall, we found that schemes which serve to diagnose environmental abnormalities are mainly externally imposed and have been developed as a result of technical debates concerning data sources, methodology and ranking criteria. Learning oriented scheme is featured by processes through which free exchange of ideas, mutual and adaptive learning can occur. Scheme developed by higher authority for influencing behaviors of lower levels of government has been adopted by the evaluated to signal their excellent environmental performance. The socializing and learning classified evaluation schemes have incorporated dialogue, participation, and capacity building in program design. In conclusion we consider the ‘fitness for purpose’ of the various schemes, the merits of our analytical model and the future possibilities of fostering capacity building in the realm of wicked environmental challenges.
This paper aims to provide a new approach to objectively assess hierarchies and priority setting in the relationship between environmental, social and economic sustainability within Sustainable Development. After a literature review, several widely used conceptual figures (diagrams) describing this relationship were assessed using SWOT analyses in order to identify the major weaknesses in these pictorial descriptions. Based on the findings, a new concept called '3-D Sustainability' has been developed and is presented visually as well as is described in the text. This concept introduces and ranks criteria for the assessment of hierarchies within, and conflicts of interests between, social, environmental and economic sustainability (the three dimensions of sustainability). These criteria are applied to several existing hierarchies and solutions to conflicts of interests. Based on the SWOT analyses, the main shortcomings of the widely used conceptual figures were identified as (1) misinterpretation of embeddings, (2) misjudgement of equity between the three dimensions of sustainability, (3) a lack of expression of limitations, and (4) lack of adequate decision support. These shortcomings are overcome (theoretically and in practice) by '3-D Sustainability', a slightly more complex, but conceptually richer, figure than the widely used conceptual figures assessed. In particular, the shift of the burden of proof within the three sustainability dimensions is argued as a main solution. The application of the criteria of '3-D Sustainability' to several real examples indicates its usefulness in decision support, while justifying more sustainable hierarchies and solutions in the settlement of conflicts of interests within the three sustainability dimensions. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Environmental, social and economic capitals, capacities and carrying capacities provide the theoretical construct of the three dimensions of a sustainable development. Based thereon, this chapter aims firstly to provide a conceptual overview on two main objectives of multilevel rule of law systems that should be addressed when adapting these systems towards a more sustainable direction. This first aim is addressed based on ‘3-D Sustainability’, a concept offering six flexibly applicable decision-making criteria for priority setting between these sustainability dimensions based on the burden of proof in the sense of the precautionary principle. The theoretical application of these criteria on several real-world examples of legislative acts indicates the concept’s usefulness in practice. The two main objectives identified within this first aim are to stay through international environmental policy within the environmentally sustainable scale and to politically define flexible legal trade-off mechanisms, which more sustainably deal with conflicts among these sustainability dimensions. Secondly, the chapter strives to identify ways to strengthen the application of the existing international environmental legislation. Thus, several innovative mechanisms are identified that overcome current implementation and enforcement deadlocks, without changing existing laws, but also increasing its direct effect. In summary, the chapter innovatively offers—based on ongoing research—several solution proposals for addressing in a sustainable manner geopolitical and organizational scales as well as trade-offs when it comes to re-writing existing environmental legal institutions (de lege ferenda). It further provides proposals for the innovative implementation of existing normativeregimes without modifying legal text (de lege lata). © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.
This paper introduces the so-called 'Convention-Check' as a new bottom-up approach of assessing the contribution of large-scale protected areas to the implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) that are introduced from the top down. The assessment consists of three major sub-sequential parts: the current contribution of a protected area to the implementation of the MEAs, recommendations for improvements and - through an ex-post-evaluation - the impact of the recommendations provided. The Convention-Check is carried out in a total of ten methodical working steps. A very first application of the method is presented based on the example of an Austrian National Park. In this example, a Convention-Check was carried out using five MEAs and was evaluated after two years. The results show that there is great variability regarding the number and intensity of implementation measures already taken by the different levels of governance addressed. Potential reasons and perspectives for the example situation, as well as possibilities for future improvement of the method and its global application on large scale protected areas, are discussed. A significant and causal impact of the Convention-Check towards improved protected area governance is already shown by the Austrian example after two years. The Convention-Check combines different working methods from social as well as natural sciences in a new way. Its innovative approach is designed to overcome deadlocks in the top-down implementation of MEAs by means of bottom-up initiatives out of large scale protected areas, and aims to contribute towards improved global protected area governance. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
The paper offers a new conceptual framework based on property rights and financial compensation in different nature conservation situations in order to provide a globally applicable system for the assessment of participation of public and private stakeholders in envisaged changes within those situations. These situations of change represent a modification from conservation toward non-conservation and vice versa. The framework distinguishes further between governance systems based on command and control as wells as on negotiation. Within these main change situations and governance types, the framework allows the distribution of change situations into 8 main sections. These main sections are further separated into 32 sub-sections by means of different property right and compensations situations among public and private stakeholders. The theoretical utility of this new framework is then demonstrated by testing it by means of a random sample of 74 papers (25%) out of representative 297 papers from the academic literature dealing with property rights. These 74 papers provided practical examples for situations of change in conservation as evidence for most of the 32 sub-section. Several papers provide examples for more than one sub-section. The allocation of papers to these different subsections is described and discussed in detail. This widely possible allocation proofs in general the global applicability and usefulness of the new framework. The framework also proofed to be appropriate for formally (rule of law based) and informally (customary law based) institutionalized situations where rights are given to public and private stakeholders for other practical cases of public participation. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.
This paper aims to provide a new and practical approach called 'Legislation-Check' to identifying shortcomings in national legislation in terms of how well it implements sustainable development, and ways of improving the legislation. National legislation was chosen as it represents a sort of 'skeleton of society' and defines the status quo, as well as setting the main environmental, societal and economic directions of the population covered.The approach presented is based on a new concept called '3-D Sustainability', which focuses on the precautionary principle. 3-D Sustainability provides criteria in a flexible hierarchy for solving conflicts of interest between economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. In this paper, these criteria and dimensions are applied to various sectors of Austrian national environmental legislation to identify the shortcomings of the legislation and ways of addressing these shortcomings.This paper shows, by way of quantitative data, a significant increase in the use of sustainability related terms in generally applicable legal instruments (both federal and provincial) in Austria since 2003. In qualitative terms the results of the paper further indicate, using national environmental legislation, several hierarchical disorders between different legal acts and opportunities for improving them. Furthermore, inadequacies in the way that the legislation handles sustainable development and a total lack of overall objectives and targets in terms of sustainability are highlighted, which can jeopardise sustainable development.The concept of '3-D Sustainability' has not previously focused on national legislation, despite the practical importance of the legal implementation and enforcement on this geographic level. Hence, this paper contributes, through scientifically-based decision support, to practical pathways for the innovation of institutional, procedural and substantive arrangements in existing legislation.The approach presented in this paper is not restricted to environmental issues, but is applicable to all thematic areas. It is also not geographically limited, but could be implemented in any country and also beyond national borders. Furthermore, the approach can be easily replicated and provides systematically gained results for global governance change towards sustainable development. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Multilateral Environmental Agreements-MEAs-are indispensable legal frameworks for environmental sustainability and also define the operating rules of their implementation bodies ("Secretariats"). The contribution assesses in how far the norms defining Secretariats' functions differ and also reflect on actual functions for three MEAs, namely (1) the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora-CITES (1973), (2) the Convention on Biological Diversity-CBD (1992), and (3) the Convention on Migratory Species-CMS (1979). It does so by comparative legal interpretation of the main norms of these MEAs laying down the functions of its respective Secretariats as well as an in-depth review of academic literature about these functions. The results for these three conventions divide into nine functional areas and show an unexpectedly wide range of different functions laid down in the conventions as well as extensive variety in the discretion for many of these functional areas. Some potential explanations of these formal differences are provided. The paper further finds that actually executed functions may not be fully covered by the underlying legal norms but rather by "flexible" highest governing bodies of MEAs and concludes that occasionally an unusual legislative style was chosen, and shows potential solutions and future research directions.
The aims of this Special Issue (SI) are to provide a broad and structured overview on literature published related to Law and Ecological Economics (EE) as well as to offer latest insights into this wide and further emerging combined field of research by means of contributed papers. Thus, this introduction into the SI firstly implements a systematic database term search and further analyses 129 papers identified. It was found that the majority refers to the “laws” of thermodynamics. Only 33 publications could be related to EE and Law, latter in the sense of the Rule of Law, with quite even allocation among the three streams identified, namely theoretical and philosophical considerations, strategic transition and transformation studies, and practical case studies. The literature overview also chronologically indicates that the vast majority of those 33 papers have been written during the past 15 years. The second part of this introduction describes the content of the seven contributions to this SI more in detail. Afterwards it shows that these contributions tend similarly more into the directions of providing strategic transition and transformation studies as well as practical case studies, indicating an overall shift from theory towards practical implementation of EE within Law.
This chapter summarizes the main findings of the previous chapters. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.
In December 2022 the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was internationally concluded. It aims to steer Biodiversity Governance, Policy and Laws towards a vision of living in harmony with nature.
The presentation aims
to provides an overview on the wider political embedding of the GBF,to shows the interrelations and distinctions among the GBF and further related governance settings, andto elaborate the development, novelty and implementation of the GBF Hermeneutic methods are applied such as comparative legal analyses and different types of text interpretation (e.g. historic, wording, rational).
The presentation will present
how during the process of negotiating the GBF its theory of change, mission and structure were modified,how the GBF’s wording changed related to the overall directions (goals, milestones, targets) related to more concrete measures against Biodiversity loss were modified andbased on these modifications, an outline of major legal implementation challenges and perspectives of the GBF, and exemplifies this by the project ALPMEMA.The final negotiations on the GBF levelled the path to finally conclude this new framework. While theory of change and mission of the GBF seem to have during the negotiations received a more varying and less concrete wording for further legal implementation, its overall directions could be considered at the first view more streamlined. The new inclusion of clauses referring to e.g. national priorities during the GBF-implementation will also enchance legal measures that solely aim at reducing biodiversity loss. While an opportunitiy for loss-reversal is exemplified by the ongoing EU co-funded project ALPMEMA.
Within Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, it is stated that: “Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.” This contribution addresses the question where within the three dimensions of Sustainable Development (SD), the environmental, social, and economic ones, gender could be located for sustainable decision-making and how gender should be theoretically as well as practically operationalized therein. The analysis addresses the problem domain of sustainable decision-making among withstanding environmental, social, and economic interests. In terms of methods, the assessment is done after an in-depth literature review and conceptionally based on 3-D Sustainability, a decision support method for preliminarily prioritizing different options of action all contributing to an SD. The assessment is not country-wise limited. 3-D Sustainability offers, therefore, a set of criteria and preconditions for developing non-fixed hierarchies of priorities. In this way, it provides sufficiency, eco-effectiveness, ecological equity (consisting of intra- and intergenerational equity), socio-effectiveness, eco-efficiency, and socio-efficiency as SD-criteria (of 3-D Sustainability) most relevant to reaching sustainable decisions with regard also to gender. Detailed definitions of these criteria that allow to quantitatively assessing them are presented and discussed in relation to gender. The application of this concept is shown by means of several practical examples in a deductive manner. Particular operationalizing tools for such sustainable decision-making are further described for addressing – also in bottom-up manner – organizations and institutions, such as a ban of unequal payments as an intra-generational and socio-effective instrument under 3-D Sustainability. The contribution additionally results in the presentation of gender policy and instruments mixes found during the literature review for each of the six criteria. The contribution concludes by highlighting the innovativeness of this approach and further explaining (1) its potential for a global application in terms of sustaining the social carrying capacity within 3-D Sustainability, as well as (2) its replicability.
Forest-related legal questions appear often interwoven with complicated networks of numerous other themes at several geographical levels. This paper introduces a new analytic tool based on 3-D Sustainability to restructure complex question bundles from policy practice to ease and support practical legal solution prioritization. This approach is applied to the enviro-socio-economic context of forests and their multifunctional use in Japan. First it is shown how the initial problem formulations from practice listed in a table are addressed by the different categories of 3-D Sustainability. Then it is presented how the order of the initial problem formulation was in the table reshaped based on this approach and also which problems were combined for a common search of solutions. In conclusion, the new analytic tool proofed to be applicable also in practice and provided already appropriate support to gain first ideas of solutions including legal ones and their preliminary prioritization, although the work is further in progress. The tool represents a rather simple but effective methodological option to structure complex question bundles and prioritizing solutions also for further legal measures, not only limited to issues of forests or geographically restricted to Japan, and appears to be widely applicable and definitely replicable.
This chapter provides an overview on the content of this edited volume. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.
This introductory contribution to a Special Issue (SI) titled “Legal Aspects of Ecosystem Services” intends to provide both a short introduction on the SI-topic as well as a brief overview on the content of each paper therein. The introduction aims to provide an overall entry point into the topic from a legal as well as an interdisciplinary perspective. It first offers initial insights into the relationship between the rule of law as one socially constructed normative framework and ecosystem services. Furthermore, it also points out interrelations among rule-focused, economic-focused and information-focused incentives, all with the potential to influence human behaviour with regard to ecosystem services. The overview delivers as a sort of short-cut a table of authors, levels of the geopolitical scale addressed, types of analysis implemented and themes focused upon within the Special Issue. It further provides an overview of the main direction of each contribution to this SI. The conclusions strive to provide a brief summary of the “why” the “when” the “where” the “how” and the “what” of current and future research on legal aspect of ecosystem services.