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China and the Challenge of Global Climate Change: Law and Policy Hanenburg-Yntema Fonds – Leuven - 25 March 2011
Prof Geert Van CalsterLeuven law /King’s College /Monash
Overview of Presentation
• Intro• Sovereignty: the starting point (and
nec plus ultra?) of international environmental law
• CBDR, and links to Sustainable development
• China - internal
Intro
• There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics– The Rt.Hon. Benjamin Disraeli [?] Sir
Charles Wentworth Dilke [?]
Sovereignty
• Principle 2 of the Rio Declaration:– States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United
Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental and developmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits
of jurisdiction.
• 'Pollution knows no borders'?
• 'Common concern of mankind' [cf 'Common heritage of mankind' or 'global commons']: a new legal principle or blurb?
CBDR, and links to SD
• Principle 7 Rio Declaration:– States shall cooperate in a spirit of global partnership to
conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth's ecosystem. In view of the different contributions to global environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.
CBDR: Historic responsibility
CBDR: Current responsibility
Source: Guardian and US EIA, 2009 data
• Links to 'sustainable development', which effectively combines trade and economic development with its two best-known negative externalities: environment, and social protection
• If one country does not internalise these, can we do it for them? See WTO /trade issues
China - Internal
China - Internal
• From command and control via 'market-based' (including environmental agreements, benchmarking, top runner initiatives) to somewhere in the middle?
Conclusion
China and the Challenge of Global Climate Change: Law and Policy Hanenburg-Yntema Fonds – Leuven - 25 March 2011
Prof Geert Van CalsterLeuven law /King’s College /Monash
