Green Governance

Ecological Survival, Human Rights, and the Law of the Commons

Burns H. Weston, David Bollier

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781107034365
• eBook ISBN: 9781139604420
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Environmental Law
• Index: Law

The vast majority of the world's scientists agree: we have reached a point in history where we are in grave danger of destroying Earth's life-sustaining capacity. But our attempts to protect natural ecosystems are increasingly ineffective because our very conception of the problem is limited; we treat 'the environment' as its own separate realm, taking for granted prevailing but outmoded conceptions of economics, national sovereignty and international law. Green Governance is a direct response to the mounting calls for a paradigm shift in the way humans relate to the natural environment. It opens the door to a new set of solutions by proposing a compelling new synthesis of environmental protection based on broader notions of economics and human rights and on commons-based governance. Going beyond speculative abstractions, the book proposes a new architecture of environmental law and public policy that is as practical as it is theoretically sound.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• Part I
• 2 The Human Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment
• 3 The Quest for a New Rights-Based Pathway
• 4 Making the Conceptual Transition to the New Paradigm
• Part II
• 6 The Rise of the Commons Movement Globally
• 7 Imagining a New Architecture of Law and Policy to Support the Ecological Commons
• 8 Catalytic Strategies for Achieving Green Governance
• Epilogue
• Appendix Universal Covenant Affirming a Human Right to Commons- and Rights-Based Governance of Earths Natural Wealth and Resources*
• Addendum The International Legal Status of the Human Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment
• Bibliography of Pertinent Books
• Index