SOAS Research Online

Abstract

In 2022, the global community celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. This also marked fifty years since the establishment of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Despite progress in global, regional, and national action including the progressive development of environmental law, we are confronted with ample evidence that we are putting extreme pressures on the planet. The pressures have contributed to three interconnected planetary crises facing humanity today, namely the climate crisis, the nature crisis and the pollution crisis. These crises, driven by decades of relentless and unsustainable consumption and production, are amplifying deep inequalities and threatening our collective future. A radical shift is required in the way we design and implement environmental laws to effectively manage our environment. This calls for an enhanced science-policy interface. Environmental law plays a central role in promoting elements of science policy interface, especially in relation to policy re-design and regulatory interventions to reduce the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and increasing pollution. This article focuses on positioning emerging discussions on environmental law and governance using key lessons in recent approaches to environmental rule making, emphasizing integrated approaches to environmental law; identifying options for having a kaleidoscopic view of future environmental law to ensure synergistic approaches to managing the triple planetary crises and re-shaping ecological democracy from an environmental law perspective. It also addresses the role of inclusive environmental law making in the future. Looking ahead 50 years on, the paper identifies opportunities for environmental governance and environmental rule of law to contribute to addressing the triple planetary crisis.