Rule of Law for Nature: New Dimensions and Ideas in Environmental Law

Human laws must be reformulated to keep human activities in harmony with the unchanging and universal laws of nature.' This 1987 statement by the World Commission on Environment and Development has never been more relevant and urgent than it is today. Despite the many legal responses to various environmental problems, more greenhouse gases than ever before are being released into the atmosphere, biological diversity is rapidly declining and fish stocks in the oceans are dwindling. This book challenges the doctrinal construction of environmental law and presents an innovative legal approach to ecological sustainability: a rule of law for nature which guides and transcends ordinary written laws and extends fundamental principles of respect, integrity and legal security to the non-human world.

• Analyses the shortcomings of environmental law and proposes remedies which will appeal to those interested in the gap between innumerable environmental laws and the reality of environmental degradation
• Introduces new approaches and ideas intended to strengthen environmental protection by law and provides an overview of the state of constructive legal theories on environmental law
• Uses examples and case law in order to illustrate the application of proposed reforms