Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger and Judge C.G. Weeramantry, eds., Sustainable Development Principles in the Decisions of International Courts and Tribunals 1992–2012

Abstract

The publication of this book, following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is a valuable contribution to further clarifying the different legal parameters of sustainable development. The SDGs were established as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015. They represent a universal charter on how to combine economic development, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability by 2030 in areas of critical importance, including key natural resources, such as water, energy, and biodiversity. Yet, if it is already hard to pursue each one of these three concerns separately, combining all of them requires considerable efforts, new orientations, and innovative thinking. The book under review offers a panorama of the progress made towards this direction in international courts, tribunals, and other mechanisms for the resolution of disputes related to sustainable development. In this book, world-class sustainable development law experts discuss the contribution of the judiciary to the implementation of sustainable development principles. More particularly, the book explores how various principles of sustainable development are reflected in the decisions of international courts, tribunals, and other dispute settlement mechanisms as well as the normative consequences of a commitment to sustainable development in these decisions. The main argument is that an expanding body of jurisprudence balances and integrates all aspects of sustainable development, mainly through the activation of the 2002 New Delhi Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development.1 These principles constitute a laboriously reviewed and debated road map developed by the International Law Association’s Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development.