The Climate Change Convention and Evolving Legal Models of Sustainable Development

Abstract:     
First conceived in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration, sustainable development has been the clarion for many as the answer to the jobs versus environment dilemma. Twenty years later, Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development tried to place the concept of sustainable development at the center of international policy so that in the coming decades, economic development would proceed in a fashion compatible with environmental protection.

Without these treaties, and perhaps others, sustainable development will become a catchphrase justifying any development project, no matter what the environmental consequences. To understand how these two treaties can give "sustainable development" meaning, we must first trace the evolution of sustainable development in more detail, then consider its critics and the treaties' critics to see whether sustainable development can have legal meaning.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 22

Keywords: climate change, environmental law, international law, sustainable development, sustainability, treaties

JEL Classification: K32

Accepted Paper Series