Full Description
From the first appearance of the term in law in the Clean Water Act of 1972 (US), ecological integrity has been debated by a wide range of researchers, including biologists, ecologists, philosophers, legal scholars, doctors and epidemiologists, whose joint interest was the study and understanding of ecological/biological integrity from various standpoints and disciplines. This volume discusses the need for ecological integrity as a major guiding principle in a variety of policy areas, to counter the present ecological and economic crises with their multiple effects on human rights.
The book celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Global Ecological Integrity Group and reassesses the basic concept of ecological integrity in order to show how a future beyond catastrophe and disaster is in fact possible, but only if civil society and ultimately legal regimes acknowledge the necessity to consider ecointegrity as a primary factor in decision-making. This is key to the support of basic rights to clean air and water, for halting climate change, and also the basic rights of women and indigenous people. As the authors clearly show, all these rights ultimately depend upon accepting policies that acknowledge the pivotal role of ecological integrity.
Contents
Foreword Peter Brown Introduction Part 1: The Role and History of Integrity (From Grave Problems to Possible Reversals) 1. Why the Global Ecological Integrity Group? The Rise, Decline and Rediscovery of a Radical Concept 2. Environmental Norms in the Courtroom: The Case of Ecological Integrity in Canada's National Parks 3. The Future of the Common Heritage of Mankind: Intersections with the Public Trust Doctrine 4. The Exploitation of Genetic Resources in Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction 5. Ecological Integrity in European Law? Part 2: Ecological Integrity and Basic Rights: The Interface 6. Lessons Learned From the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign About Responsible Scientific Skepticism 7. Granting Development consent by specific legislative act: Choice to circumvent public participation and judicial control? The European Perspective 8. The Principles of Integration and Interrelationships in International Law related to Sustainable Development: Sobering Lessons from EU Law 9. Thinking about the Future of Global Water Governance 10. How the UN Agencies contribute to the needs of the world. Focus on Gender Part 3: From Disintegrity to Ethical Concern: Cases and Issues 11. Key actors of the red sludge disaster in Hungary 12. Dollars and Dreams: Legal Aspirations and Report Cards in the Murray Darling Basin of Australia Part 4: Integrity and the Economy 13. How Regulation of Finance Got it Wrong and How it Still Does 14. Enhancing Global Regulation: Exploring Alternative Financial Machinery 15. Moving Forward with Planetary Boundaries and Degrowth 16. The virtuous circle of Degrowth and Ecological Debt: a new paradigm for Public International Law? 17. Tobacco Wars, Analogies and Standards of Review in International Investment Arbitration Part 5: Moving Forward: New Approaches & Concluding Thoughts Introduction Beyond Collapse: Claiming the Holistic Integrity of Planet Earth 18. The Project of Earth Democracy 19. Dreaming the Universe: Contending Stories of Our Place in the Cosmos 20. Occupy Wall Street: The History and Potential of a Movement to Make a New World Possible 21. Confronting Ecological and Economic Collapse: Ecological Integrity for Law, Policy and Human Rights: The Legacy of Rio+20; Saving the Commons from the Market 22. Confronting Collapse: Human Cognition and the Challenge for Economics Index
