1st Edition

Confronting Ecological and Economic Collapse Ecological Integrity for Law, Policy and Human Rights

Edited By Laura Westra, Prue Taylor, Agnès Michelot Copyright 2013
    344 Pages
    by Routledge

    342 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    From the first appearance of the term in law in the Clean Water Act of 1972 (US), ecological integrity has been debated by a wide range of researchers, including biologists, ecologists, philosophers, legal scholars, doctors and epidemiologists, whose joint interest was the study and understanding of ecological/biological integrity from various standpoints and disciplines. This volume discusses the need for ecological integrity as a major guiding principle in a variety of policy areas, to counter the present ecological and economic crises with their multiple effects on human rights. 

    The book celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Global Ecological Integrity Group and reassesses the basic concept of ecological integrity in order to show how a future beyond catastrophe and disaster is in fact possible, but only if civil society and ultimately legal regimes acknowledge the necessity to consider ecointegrity as a primary factor in decision-making. This is key to the support of basic rights to clean air and water, for halting climate change, and also the basic rights of women and indigenous people. As the authors clearly show, all these rights ultimately depend upon accepting policies that acknowledge the pivotal role of ecological integrity.

    Foreword 

    Peter Brown  

    Introduction  

    Laura Westra 

    Part 1: The Role and History of Integrity (From Grave Problems to Possible Reversals) 

    Introduction 

    Laura Westra 

    1. Why the Global Ecological Integrity Group? The Rise, Decline and Rediscovery of a Radical Concept 

    Jack Manno 

    2. Environmental Norms in the Courtroom: The Case of Ecological Integrity in Canada’s National Parks 

    Shaun Fluker 

    3. The Future of the Common Heritage of Mankind: Intersections with the Public Trust Doctrine 

    Prue Taylor 

    4. The Exploitation of Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction 

    Tullio Scovazzi 

    5. Ecological Integrity in European Law? 

    Agnes Michelot 

    Part 2: Ecological Integrity and Basic Rights: The Interface 

    Introduction 

    Agnes Michelot 

    6. Lessons Learned From the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign About Responsible Scientific Skepticism 

    Don Brown 

    7. Granting Development consent by specific legislative act: Choice to circumvent public participation and judicial control? The European Perspective 

    Vicky Karageorgou 

    8. The Principles of Integration and Interrelationships in International Law related to Sustainable Development: Sobering Lessons from EU Law 

    Owen McIntyre 

    9. Thinking about the Future of Global Water Governance 

    Joe Dellapenna 

    10. How the UN Agencies contribute to the needs of the world. Focus on Gender 

    Yuliya Lyamzina 

    Part 3: From Disintegrity to Ethical Concern: Cases and Issues 

    Introduction 

    Prue Taylor 

    11. Key actors of the red sludge disaster in Hungary 

    Janos Toth 

    12. Dollars and Dreams: Legal Aspirations and Report Cards in the Murray Darling Basin of Australia 

    Janice Gray 

    Part 4: Integrity and the Economy 

    Introduction  

    Prue Taylor 

    13. How Regulation of Finance Got it Wrong and How it Still Does 

    Giovanni Ferri 

    14. Enhancing Global Regulation: Exploring Alternative Financial Machinery 

    Michelle Gallant 

    15. Moving Forward with Planetary Boundaries and Degrowth 

    Geoff Garver

    16. The virtuous circle of Degrowth and Ecological Debt: a new paradigm for Public International Law? 

    Noémie Candiago 

    17. Tobacco Wars, Analogies and Standards of Review in International Investment Arbitration 

    Valentina Vadi 

    Part 5: Moving Forward: New Approaches & Concluding Thoughts 

    Introduction Beyond Collapse: Claiming the Holistic Integrity of Planet Earth 

    J. Ronald Engel  

    18. The Project of Earth Democracy 

    Peter Burdon 

    19. Dreaming the Universe: Contending Stories of Our Place in the Cosmos 

    Joan Gibb Engel 

    20. Occupy Wall Street: The History and Potential of a Movement to Make a New World Possible 

    Sheila Collins 

    21. Confronting Ecological and Economic Collapse: Ecological Integrity for Law, Policy and Human Rights: The Legacy of Rio+20; Saving the Commons from the Market 

    Klaus Bosselmann 

    22. Confronting Collapse: Human Cognition and the Challenge for Economics 

    William Rees 

    Index

    Biography

    Laura Westra is Professor Emerita (Philosophy) and Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, Canada, and Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Law, University of Milano (Bicocca), Italy. She is the author, editor or co-editor of 29 books, many on ecological integrity, five of which are published by Earthscan/Routledge.

    Prue Taylor is Deputy Director, New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law and Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Planning, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

    Agnès Michelot is Maître de conférences HDR en droit public and co-director of the Center of Juridical and Political Studies (CEJEP) at the Université de La Rochelle, France.