Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
the negative picture that assessments of ecosystem health paint is that this
political rhetoric and related legal responses have completely failed to stem
the tide of ecological degradation. At best, theymay have reduced the rate at
which this is occurring.
The main premise of this topic is that this perilous situation, and the
evident inadequacy of measures taken to date to respond to it, demands
something more than a critical analysis of, and tinkering with, the law
for protecting ecosystems as it currently stands. Instead, a fundamental
reappraisal is required of how we can use law to prevent our cumulative
actions from undermining ecosystem functionality. I seek to provide this
at the topic
soutset(
Chapter 2
) by examining the current understanding
in ecology of how ecosystems behave, and considering how this affects
long-standing beliefs on which our own behaviours are founded about
the relations between humanity and nature. I conclude from this that
human societies must show a much higher degree of restraint in their
exploitation of the environment. I then go on, in the following chapters,
to consider how a system of governance can be established (and law
'
s
role in its establishment) that would apply this restraint in public
decision-making and encourage those subject to it to prefer ecologically
sustainable ways of living in the personal choices they make.
My proposals for governance are intended for use in the developed states
whose economies, standards of living and related demands on natural
resources are the principal drivers of ecological degradation within, and
beyond, their national borders. I recognise that the system would need to
be tailored to particular situations and to re
'
ect national circumstances. At
the same time, it would be appropriate for any state that is a major
contributor to the global deterioration of ecosystems to observe principles
that I propose in
Chapter 2
such as the under-utilisation of resources and
the reduction in reliance on activities that are most likely to engender
potentially unwelcome changes in ecosystem structure and functionality. It
would also be appropriate for such states to employ the normative precau-
tionary approach in decision-making that I call for in
Chapter 3
, given the
dif
culties that all states have in common with predicting the cumulative
effects of human activities.
D. Tarlock,
in D. Bodansky, J. Brunnée and E. Hey (eds) The Oxford Handbook
of International Environmental Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 574
'
Ecosystems
'
95;
K. Baakman, Testing Times: The Effectiveness of Five International Biodiversity-related
Conventions (Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers, 2011), pp. 17
-
-
39; K. Mertens, A. Cliquet
and B. Vanheusden,
'
Ecosystem Services: What
'
sinitforaLawyer?
'
(2012) 21 European
Energy and Environmental Law Review,31
-
40.
