Unravelling the Maze of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A Macroscopic Analysis of International Environmental Law and Governance for the Anthropocene

Abstract

Complex adaptive systems are a special kind of system with emergent properties and adaptive capacity in response to external environmental conditions. In this chapter, I investigate the proposition that international environmental law, as a set of multilateral environmental agreements, exhibits the characteristics of a complex adaptive system. This proposition is premised on the scientific understanding that the subject matter displays properties of a complex adaptive system. If so, the legal system may benefit from the insights gained and from being modeled in ways more appropriately aligned with the functioning of the Earth system itself. I provide as context a scientific explanation of the Earth system as a complex adaptive system. I then consider if international environmental law can be understood as a system, which is complex and adaptive. From this exploratory review, I found evidence suggesting that international environmental law is a system with interactive elements. I also found indications of self-organization and emergence, suggesting that international environmental law is a complex system. However, it is still questionable whether the legal system has been autonomously adaptive to and co-evolving with global environmental and geopolitical change in ways that lead to net environmental improvement.