Abstract
This relatively slim volume should appear on reading lists for all environmental law courses. It strips back the subject of international environmental law to the basics and asks those hard questions with which students often grapple. Many academics and practitioners will have encountered the first edition of International Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics, published in 1997. This 2014 edition is definitely worth reading, both for those who come to text for the first time and for others. It is axiomatic to state that the world has changed in so many ways since the first edition, but it is not only that which makes the second edition different, it is the development in the author’s thinking which means that this is very much a book in its own right and can be approached as such.
The author, Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato, New Zealand, states in the introduction his intention in revisiting this topic nearly two decades later is that, ‘the reader will not become disillusioned with any of the particular arguments, but rather, to understand what its limits are, but still to apply any argument (but knowing its limits) where positive environmental benefits can be achieved’ (p. 3). He goes on to explain that this edition is more pragmatic than the original book. He concludes that it is no longer sufficient to try to understand environmental problems of an international dimension in terms of philosophical paradigms and that it is necessary to work directly towards solving the problems (p 3).
The book consists of eleven chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion. The main body of the text is about exploring different dimensions of the ethical component of international environmental law. It examines with clarity and succinctness why and how the environment is protected at a global level. He picks over the inconsistencies and challenges that exist at national and regional level that impede any meaningful progress at international level.
The second edition of International Environmental Law, Policy and Ethics, as would be expected, has regard to the many developments, political, social and economic in international environmental law, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 and the 2012 Rio +20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Most chapters have a one-word title, which are self-explanatory, (for example, Chapter Two is entitled Anthropocentricism). Much of the book, however, deals with anthropocentric issues and Chapter Three is about self-interest. Both these chapters consider how these topics are reflected in law and policy. Chapter Four is a substantial chapter on economics which clearly sets out arguments for and against placing an economic value on the environment as a way of achieving its protection. The chapters on religion, aesthesis, culture and future generations can all be read on their own, but collectively augment the overall pragmatic, holistic and realistic conclusion being threaded together by Gillespie. Chapter Nine on animals and other living entities traces the development of the intellectual moral consideration for animals and current thinking, as now reflected in law and policy. The author examines humane treatment and animal experimentation, providing a range of examples. Chapter Ten, on species and ecosystem recognises that international law and policy is increasingly thinking in terms of ecosystems. Gillespie critically examines the reality of the ecosystem approach as yet not being implemented in practice through international law. Most chapters are illustrated with examples drawn from transnational and international case studies.
This is an academically rigorous book that takes the reader back to first principles and then provides historical and philosophical contexts, before dealing with challenging issues on the role of international law in the protection of the environment at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It is informative and questioning, with a pragmatic and somewhat reassuring conclusion.