In Search of Shared Environmental Principles

Abstract

The growing role of international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from the Global North in defining global environmental policies brings into question the effectiveness of top down management and the position of the underrepresented Global South. The few attempts that have been made to include diverse cultural and religious perspectives into policymaking models, led mostly by the United Nations, have resulted in simplifications and were often driven by a ‘civilizational standard’ approach that has finally produced non-deliberative processes aimed solely at securing the support of the Global South for arbitrarily decided global policies.Change may be brought about by the developing Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) compatible with the Abu Dhabi Declaration, signed by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, developed at a religious level in Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si encyclicals, followed by intercultural, bottom-up cooperation, inclusive to religious argumentation.This article recommends deliberative involvement of diverse religious traditions to produce new incentives for bottom-up development of multicentric policy concerning the environmental crisis in opposition to hitherto observed doctrinal and practical focus on global management tools and centralized responses to the environmental crisis under the umbrella of United Nations policymaking, supported by international private actors such as the World Economic Forum.