Co-Opting Common Heritage: Reflections on the Need for South-North Scholarship

Abstract

This paper analyzes some of the ways in which the concept of, “common heritage of mankind,” has been interpreted and deployed by scholars in the area of international environmental law. The author critiques the, “co-option,” of common heritage by those who seem to have little regard for the historical context in which it developed and the concerns that it encapsulated. The author then uses this critical evaluation of the common heritage literature to explain the need for South-North scholarship, an alternative way of conceptualizing the relationship between developing and developed nations, reflected in the work of Ivan Head and others, which refuses to accept and perpetuate the marginalization of the South and which instead works for a more just and inclusive legal order.

Keywords: Common heritage of mankind, South-North relations