UNGA as the Anchor: Global Environmental Conferencing

Issue title: Our Earth Matters: Pathways to a Better Common Environmental Future – Part 1

Guest editors: Bharat H. Desai

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Matz-Lück, Nele^{a; *} | Christiansen, Liv^b

Affiliations: [a] Co-Director of the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at Kiel University and Professor of Public Law with a focus on Public International Law particularly the Law of the Sea at Kiel University Law School, Kiel, Germany | [b] Research Associate and Ph.D. candidate at the Walther Schücking Institute for International Law at Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mail: nmatz@wsi.uni-kiel.de.

Abstract: The global environmental conferences convened by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) during the last fifty years have contributed to the development of international environmental law and institution-building. Yet, given the deteriorating state of the global environment they are but one element of international environmental governance. While they were important to bring environmental issues to the attention of states, the time for agenda-setting seems over. Rather the international community must move on to the implementation of existing binding and non-binding rules and principles. While the UNGA continues to play an important role in the context of sustainable development and the Agenda 2030 process and is, indeed a stable platform for international cooperation on environmental issues, it seems that the time for comprehensive global environmental conferences may have come to an end, unless more innovative mechanisms for the implementation of international environmental law and policy are brought forward.

Keywords: United Nations General Assembly, international environmental law, environmental conferences, sustainable development, environmental governance

DOI: 10.3233/EPL-209007

Journal: Environmental Policy and Law, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 519-530, 2020