Introduction to the JGLR special issue on environmental governance

Abstract

Environmental law refers to that body of law at the intersection of private and public law and straddling both domestic and international law, that is primarily geared towards addressing two basic objectives; first environmental harm resulting from human actions and conservation and sustainable use (including access and benefit sharing) of natural resources. The contours of this definition is necessarily expansive because the nature and scope of environmental problems are continuously evolving and every new decade not only brings clarity about existing environmental problems but also confronts us with newer and more complex ones. Given the transboundary nature of some environmental impacts, the growth and development of international environmental law has been particularly phenomenal over the last few decades, although there is disagreement as to effectiveness of these international efforts on the ground, i.e. at a domestic level. That said, given the fact that international law requires looking beyond narrow national interests, cooperation itself is a step forward in a positive direction. The evolution of the discipline of environmental law also reflects the vast nature of the subject, which has meant that academicians have had to grapple with challenges of specialization and the necessary discontinuities that may result from pursuing such inclinations.