CISDL News & Press Releases

New York USA| February 6, 2002

Sustainable Justice?

How to become legally sustainable? The World Summit for Sustainable Development should strengthen and highlight progress in international sustainable development law, advises the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) in the global preparatory process for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD). Indeed, sustainable development law is one of the only elements that has substantially moved forward in the last 10 years.

Sustainable development law is centered around the intersection between social, economic and environmental law. But justice is not always consistent. Social, environmental and economic obligations can overlap, or even conflict. The tangled legal issues arising may have been the subject of grand debates, but they are not impossible to resolve. Indeed, compromises are being made every day, in negotiations, courtrooms and tribunals around the world, every time a new regulation is written or challenged.

In a legal brief entitled International Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practice and Prospects, released at the Second Preparatory Committee for the World Summit for Sustainable Development, the CISDL argues that international sustainable development law provides the framework for resolving many of the existing conflicts within the international community. Among them, the brief addresses the complex relationship between climate change and foreign direct investment, and between biodiversity protection law and international trade rules.

The CISDL advises the World Summit for Sustainable Development to explore major principles of sustainable development law, including:

1. Recognize and develop the legal principles of sustainable development, both substantive and procedural, as identified by the International Law Associations’s Committee on the Legal Aspects of Sustainable Development.

2. Explore the practical connection between environmental protection, economic development and human rights at the domestic, regional and international levels.

3. Examine the financing of international sustainable development law, including the role of the private sector and international assistance for environmentally and socially sustainable technologies, projects and systems.

4. Ensure full and meaningful monitoring, implementation and enforcement mechanisms designed to support the goals of international sustainable development law.

The CISDL is presently working on building substantive knowledge and analysis of international sustainable development law principles, with a focus on strengthening increasing linkages among international sustainable development law experts, professionals and practitioners. It will be hosting a high level legal experts panel on March 28, 2002, entitled Legal Rules, Common Future 2002: Principles and Best Practices of International Sustainable Development Law, as a side event during the Third Preparatory Committee. Subsequently, it will be holding a conference from May 22-25, 2002 in Montreal, Canada entitled Sustainable Justice 2002: Implementing International Sustainable Development Law.

"In order to strengthen the ISDL agenda, the WSSD must highlight the contribution of international law to sustainable development, and survey innovative ISDL instruments for best practices," said CISDL Director Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger in New York. She can be contacted at mcsegger@cisdl.org or +1 (514) 398-8918.

The Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL) commission is based in the McGill University Faculty of Law (founded in Montreal, Canada, in 1849), works in cooperation with the McGill School of the Environment, the Université de Montreal Faculty of Law, and the Université de Québec à Montreal, with guidance from the three Montreal-based multilateral environmental accords (the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the UNEP Biodiversity Convention, and the Montreal Protocol multilateral fund). Its mission is to promote sustainable societies and the protection of ecosystems by advancing the understanding, development and implementation of international sustainable development law.