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Environmental Law Toward

Sustainability Targets
Usha Natarajan
(2022) 5(6) One Earth 577-581

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Voices
Environmental law toward sustainability targets
The degraded state of the natural commons indicates that the institutions, organizations, and governance
mechanisms through which we regulate our impact on the natural environment are fragmented and insuffi-
cient. This Voices asks: to what extent can environmental law integrate the UN Sustainable Development
Goals and hold nations accountable for missed sustainability targets?
Damilola S. Olawuyi
UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and
Sustainable Development, College of Law, Hamad
Bin Khalifa University; Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy,
Environment and Sustainable Development, Afe
Babalola University
Rebecca Bratspies
Center for Urban Environmental Reform, School of
Law, City University of New York
ll
A nexus governance approach to SDG implementation
Prior to the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the respon-
sibilities of countries to address environmental challenges were already well codified
in a wide range of legally binding multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs)
signed by virtually all countries of the world. Currently more than 250 MEAs—such
as the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement on climate change,
and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora, among others—address various environmental concerns. The legally
binding nature of MEAs means that they offer promising pathways to ensure that
countries make progress with respect to all SDG targets.
However, despite the clear intersections in the scope and objectives of the
MEAs and SDGs, several MEAs have yet to sufficiently reflect a clear linkage to the
SDGs in their reporting, verification, and compliance requirements. International
environmental law has key roles to play in accelerating the SDGs by linking and
integrating existing reporting obligations under the MEAs with applicable SDGs
through a nexus governance approach. A nexus governance approach can promote
integration and interoperability through information sharing, coordinated program-
ming, and institutional cooperation with respect to the MEAs and SDGs. Such integra-
tion can enable stakeholders at national and international levels to formulate
and implement multiscale action and plans that offer co-benefits and reduce
duplication.
Human rights are the path
To realize the SDGs, we must fully integrate human rights law into international environ-
mental law. Everyone has human rights—regardless of race, age, gender, nationality, or
level of wealth. The UN Human Rights Commission’s recent recognition that human
rights include the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live, work, and
play in a healthy environment is an important step forward, one I hope the UN General
Assembly will soon take as well.
The right to a healthy environment joins the rights to water, health, and life in defining
state obligations and in creating obligations for other ‘‘organs of society,’’ including
multinationals. These rights change the focus of international law. They put the welfare
of ordinary people at the center. Everyone can make the same human rights demands
on states and ‘‘other organs of society’’ to respect, protect, and promote the right to
breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in a healthy environment.
To realize these rights, states must prioritize the most vulnerable—those already
overburdened by pollution, poverty, and the legacy of colonialism and racism. This
necessarily means integrating environmental justice and climate justice into deci-
sion-making at both state and private levels. Doing so provides an important starting
point for realizing the SDGs, bringing the SDGs within the ambit of existing, well-
developed human rights tribunals and legal mechanisms. This is how we can respond
effectively to climate change. We simply cannot continue to tear the world apart to
build our fire.
One Earth 5, June 17, 2022 ª 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. 577
 ll
Voices

Time for a healthy, resilient, and productive ocean

The SDGs play an essential role in enhancing cooperation at all levels to achieve
a shared set of priorities. But it also makes sense to translate key elements of the
SDGs into binding international law to ensure direct state action wherever possible.
SDG 14 (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources)
provides a useful example (see Chapter 21 in Fulfilling the Sustainable Development
Goals). Although SDG 14 raised the profile of ocean issues, many states lack the
capacity to fully implement the goals, and no one state acting alone can achieve
them. International collaboration and capacity are essential!
By agreeing to incorporate relevant parts of SDG 14 (particularly 14.2 and 14.5; and
14.1, 14.A, and 14.C) directly into the emerging UN Intergovernmental Conference on
Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, states could provide the
Kristina Maria Gjerde
IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme
enabling conditions for sustained action. Transforming the moral commitments to
prevent and significantly reduce pollution; sustainably manage, protect, and restore
marine and coastal ecosystems; avoid significant adverse impacts; strengthen resil-
ience; and increase scientific knowledge into measurable obligations could (1) establish
overarching objectives, criteria, and decision-rules to guide implementation; (2)
enhance planning, monitoring, reporting, and review to keep states accountable; and
(3) ensure adequate and sustained financial and in-kind support for collaborative
marine science, environmental assessments, capacity building, and technology trans-
fer. Through aligning vision with ambition, we can ensure that all states contribute to
and benefit from a healthy and productive ocean.

Shift toward a sustainable economic and business model

Fifty years on, the goals set out in the Stockholm Declaration are more important today
than ever as environmental pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate change threaten the
very survival of both people and the planet’s ecosystems. A fundamental shift is needed
in the existing economic model, in which businesses play a key role. Such a shift would
require both states and businesses to change the current course. States should move
toward a bottom-up, inclusive, and communitarian model that puts the needs of local
communities, biodiversity, and the environment at the heart of conceiving and
executing development policies, plans, and projects. They should harness the potential
of businesses to promote a sustainable lifestyle built around, for example, reducing
needs for raw materials, growing and buying food locally, and sharing and recycling
resources to replenish nature. For example, we can learn from how Indigenous peoples
Surya Deva
have been living in harmony with nature for centuries. In addition to such a course
Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University
correction by states, actions by businesses must be central to achieving sustainable
environmental governance in line with the Stockholm Declaration. Businesses should
move away from the shareholder primacy model and integrate respect for both human
rights and the environment into their DNA. They should adopt the full life-cycle environ-
mental assessment for their products and services rather than promote unnecessary
consumption, contribute to circular economies, facilitate sharing of green technologies,
and not lobby against laws and policies intended to mitigate climate impacts. A reform
of corporate laws as well as a range of incentives and disincentives on the part of states,
consumers, investors, and the media should support such a shift toward sustainable
business models.

578 One Earth 5, June 17, 2022

 ll
Voices

Cooperation and capacity for ocean stewardship

A new UN ocean treaty highlights how international law can evolve to facilitate cooper-
ation, advance common interests, and create enabling environments for capacity
development in pursuit of sustainable development. The 1982 UN Convention on the
Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) provided a much-needed framework for cooperation to
ensue, but without a rigorous accountability mechanism, both UNCLOS and the
SDGs fall prey to the same weakness. SDG 14 has four targets that expired in 2020:
the goals were not attained. A fresh opportunity presents itself with a new international,
legally binding instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiver-
sity of areas beyond national jurisdiction under UNCLOS; it could help address this
challenge by establishing mechanisms for (1) international cooperation, including
a conference of parties and other bodies; (2) capacity development, including a desig-
Harriet Harden-Davies1 and Angelique Pou-
nated body or process to review progress; (3) funding for implementation; and (4) infor-
ponneau2
1
Australian National Centre of Ocean Resources mation sharing and reporting frameworks. This treaty represents an important step by
and Security, University of Wollongong states to serve as stewards of the ocean, promote sustainable development, and
2
University of Malta Islands and Small States’ provide pathways for greater accountability. It highlights the role of international law
Institute
in providing frameworks to hold nations accountable and political moments for action.
The implementation of the treaty will neither be static nor occur in isolation, and
continued effort will be needed to put the principle of equity into practice, give voice
to ocean-dependent communities, and safeguard the ocean commons for future
generations.

Address informalities to strengthen SDG support

In contrast to that in developed countries, access to services and resources in devel-
oping countries can be dominated or highly influenced by informal arrangements. For
example, fulfillment of SDG 6.1 (safe drinking water) often depends on community-
based or small-scale water providers that might not be recognized by the state. These
community-based water services often rely on informal or illegal water tenure that is
highly insecure and vulnerable to appropriation by third parties, especially when there
is increasing competition from industry, agriculture, and even water utilities. Further-
more, provision of water to urban slums, where land tenure is also insecure, is problem-
atic for formalized water utilities because of the increased risk to their assets and finan-
cial security.
In addition, emerging pollutants present an increasing challenge to water-quality
Mohamad Mova Al’Afghani
Law Faculty, Universitas Ibn Khaldun Bogor
targets (SDG 6.3). For example, water-source contamination from persistent organic
pollutants could tremendously increase the cost of treatment for water utilities.
Community-based water services and self-supply arrangements will be the most
vulnerable to this threat because they have very limited treatment capacity. As such,
fulfillment of safe drinking water (usually the domain of water law) can be very much
dependent on the fulfillment of water-quality targets (usually the domain of environ-
mental law).
Thus, achieving SDG targets to enable a clean water future for all in developing coun-
tries will require reconciling the legal system with the gray area of informality and inte-
grating fragmented bureaucratic and legal sectors.

One Earth 5, June 17, 2022 579

 ll
Achmad Gusman Siswandi
Faculty of Law, Universitas Padjadjaran; Indone-
sian Center for the Law of the Sea
Usha Natarajan
Columbia University and Dalhousie University
580 One Earth 5, June 17, 2022
Voices
The oceans connect—not separate—us all
The oceans, as one of the fundamental factors in achieving sustainable development,
are represented not only through SDG 14 (Life below Water) but also through other
goals. In many parts of the world, fishers and coastal communities still live below
the poverty line. Realizing the full potential of the ‘‘blue economy’’ is therefore crucial
to achieving SDG 1 (No Poverty). The oceans hold abundant sources of protein essen-
tial for our health and well-being. Ensuring the sustainability of our marine biodiversity
is undoubtedly pivotal in achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger). Covering around 70% of
Earth’s surface, the oceans offer promising new sources of clean energy. Speeding
up research to develop marine renewable energy is of paramount importance to the
achievement of SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy). The fact that the oceans cover
two-thirds of Earth’s surface also reaffirms their important roles in controlling the
planet’s climate, and understanding these roles is vital in the context of SDG 13
(Climate Action).
Nevertheless, fragmented international law continues to pose challenges in address-
ing interconnected problems surrounding our oceans. In the context of illegal, unre-
ported, and unregulated fishing, there need to be more concerted efforts in integrating
the obligations of flag states, port states, and market states and the prevention of
fishery-related crimes. Another critical issue is marine environmental protection in the
international seabed area. Given that the Law of the Sea Convention regulates only
the utilization of non-living resources in this particular area, the ongoing negotiations
on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity could shed some light
on how to ensure an integrated approach in managing marine resources beyond
national jurisdiction. Global ocean governance should not be conducted in silos
because the oceans should connect rather than separate us in undertaking our collec-
tive efforts to pursue the SDGs.
Who makes international environmental law?
The Paris Agreement and the UN SDGs are the latest in a series of international laws and
policies over the last five decades that have failed to tame economic growth to the
service of social and environmental justice. Today’s dominant form of economic devel-
opment—globalized capitalism—causes inequalities to increase within and between
states and creates the systemic collapse of ecosystems. The Earth’s richest 20%
consume 80% of its natural resources and produce 90% of its waste (Chapter 3 in
The Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development).
For instance, two states in the United States (Texas and New Jersey, whose combined
population is 37 million) emit as much carbon dioxide as the 1 billion people in sub-Sa-
haran Africa (Chapter 4 in Research Handbook on Climate Change Law and Loss &
Damage). Contemporary environmental change at levels unprecedented in human
history are the legacy of Western development choices universalized and normalized
through international laws and institutions. Western industries and corporations are
inseparable from their history of empire, slavery, genocide, apartheid, racial discrimina-
tion, and natural resource exploitation. Combatting these legacies requires ceding law
and policymaking power to people and places that live in greater harmony with nature
and each other—those whose philosophies, laws, and languages are systemically
silenced in international fora. After 50 years of failure, a sustainable global environment
requires not more laws but different lawmakers—those who have a better under-
standing of the inextricable and intertwined relationship between the way people treat
each other and the way we treat our planet.
 ll
Voices

SDGs: Steering or complementing sustainability transformations?

So far, we have little clear evidence of the extent to which the SDGs have been inte-
grated into environmental law on different levels of governance. A recent analysis of
that evidence (The Political Impact of the Sustainable Development Goals:
Transforming Governance through Global Goals?) distinguished four key questions in
relation to assessing the steering effects of the SDGs on environmental governance:

Salla Rantala
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)
(1) Additionality: would the changes we have observed not have materialized in the
absence of the goals?
(2) Ambition: do the goals call for something drastically new and sufficiently ambi-
tious?
(3) Coherence: are the goals coherent enough to be able to foster a transition toward
planetary integrity?
(4) Implementation: can the means of implementing the goals improve the environ-
mental steering effects?

Although we need more research on the steering effects of SDGs, addressing the
current global environmental emergencies and achieving the needed sustainability
transformations require ‘‘all hands on deck,’’ going beyond simply integrating SDGs
into environmental laws. The good news is that we can already note the role of the
SDGs in inspiring actions taken by diverse actors and drawing attention to governance
that takes into account synergies and trade-offs between different sustainability
targets. Perhaps the most important impacts of the SDGs will ultimately be those
that led us to make choices to produce inclusive and widespread sustainability bene-
fits and that steered us away from the paths in conventional environmental law and
governance that focused on individual problems in silos.

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

The authors declare no competing interests.

One Earth 5, June 17, 2022 581