Introduction to the Research Handbook on Law, Environment and the Global South

Environmental law has grown over the past five decades around conservation measures, often linked to development concerns.1 At the international level, the Stockholm Declaration – often seen as the foundational instrument of international environmental law – had already linked environmental protection with economic development.2 This link was progressively strengthened up to the point where, in 1987, the notion of sustainable development officially sanctified the bond.3 Since then, there has been no turning back and sustainable development progressively became the anchor around which environmental measures have been structured.4 However, what was supposed to be a more or less equal relationship between environmental protection, social development and economic development became unhinged in 2012 with the introduction of the concept of green economy, which reflects policymakers’ desire to give more importance to economic growth.5 Indeed, one of the major trends over the past couple of decades has been the progressive economisation of environmental regulation.6 The linking of environment and development tends to make us forget that (economic) development has been and remains part of the problem that needs to be addressed. Policymakers have had for decades the benefit of reports like Limits to Growth highlighting the grave dangers associated with the existing development model.7 Yet, environmental law has been conceived mostly within a conceptual framework that makes conservation often subsidiary to economic development concerns. In other words, environmental conservation is largely centred around measures that will not hamper economic growth. This sidelines the fact that growth itself may be inimical to social development and the realisation of human rights.