Environmental Policy and Law

 The global environmental awareness and regulatory process has covered a trajectory of 50 years. From the innocent times of the first 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (UNCHE), the world has travelled very far. It has encompassed a veritable process comprising role of actors, polarizing issues such as balancing of environment-development, emergence of norms and governance forms. In the post-Westphalian governance order, the political landscape has been a determining factor for the contemporary environmental discourse. Even as the global governance architecture has become more complex and hierarchical, what can UNCHE + 50 ordain for our environmental future? What alternatives are possible for survival of the planet earth and betterment of the humankind? This article seeks to examine some of these issues of environmental politics that will determine the future course of action at UNCHE+50 event in June 2022 and beyond.

The emergence of the global public interest stems from a shift in the notion of sovereignty that goes beyond the interest of a State per se. It comprises inevitability of the assertion of sovereignty in a state-centric international legal and global order. As growing numbers of international legal instruments factor in and use different nomenclatures to indicate quest to go beyond the narrow confines of ‘sovereignty’ to cater to need for co-existence with other nations and peoples, it calls for sensitivities in our pursuit for something ‘common’ on the planet earth. This article seeks to examine and contextualize the quest for a global common interest in the emerging scenario of deepening of the global environmental challenges and the need to find legal and institutional mechanisms for our survival. Can we chisel the existing tools and prioritize the common interest at the global level? What will it entail?

The negotiation of the future Agreement governing the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction is in its final stage. Essentially a treaty for the protection of general interests, the Agreement can generate several benefits for the governance of the oceans. However, in the first three sessions of the intergovernmental conference, deep discrepancies have emerged with respect to the core issues of the package agreed in 2011. This article identifies various formulas and strategies that have been considered in the negotiations and incorporated in the Revised draft text as possible regulatory options with the potential to bring positions closer and facilitate the agreement: avoiding explicit reference to the legal status of marine genetic resources; the incorporation of differential and contextual norms; the introduction of due diligence obligations; the incorporation of internal soft law; and the reduction of the scope of the treaty. These options may help to provide flexibility and differentiation in the regulation but, as essentially pragmatic measures, they tend to sacrifice the ambition of the final Agreement. On the other hand, if States assume their real role and responsibility in the process –that of interpreters of general interest and custodians of marine biodiversity –they would be in a better position to find novel and more ambitious solutions for bringing this crucial Agreement to fruition. This article advocates a return to basics and the placing of the marine environment at the centre of the regulations.

Sustainable development in Bahrain is considered one of the national core objectives in the Government Action Plan. Bahrain has enacted environmental legislation and adopted the National Environment Strategy. This study examines the appropriateness of the current environmental legislations in the context of SDGs. To achieve this goal; a scoping review was conducted to assess their compatibility. The study revealed that the successful integration of SDGs with the current environmental legislations can be carried out by recognising the challenges highlighted in the 2030 Agenda. This study suggests the quick-updating of the current environmental legislations in line with SDGs. There is still room for improvement, and more comprehensive and sustainable approaches need to be developed in the environment dimension to stay on track to reach the SDGs. The policies should factor in the possible linkage opportunities to develop a holistic management approach in the implementation, considering the international conventions’ obligations. The study can be deemed as the first attempt to examine the consistency of the SDGs with the national environmental legal framework, which can be employed to enhance the sustainable practices. Moreover, the study develops a simple framework that can assist in reviewing, keeping the legislations and strategy consistent with the SDGs.

Bangladesh is rich in biodiversity. However, the biological diversity of Bangladesh is declining day by day. Without the active participation of local people, biodiversity conservation initiatives may fail. Public involvement is vital for biodiversity conservation in the context of the biodiversity of Bangladesh. Public participation is necessary because it promotes the legitimacy of decisions concerning environmental matters, gives the public a chance to express its concerns, can reduce conflict among competing interests and can raise public awareness, educate people and strengthen the local community and indigenous people. The existing legal frameworks of Bangladesh on biodiversity provide some scope for public participation in biodiversity conservation. The current legal frameworks could be improved to ensure effective public participation in biodiversity conservation. Existing laws should be amended to include provisions like mandatory provision for co-management systems for the management of sanctuary, parks and other protected areas, provision for the development of skills and capacity of local people and provision to protect the traditional and the right of livelihood of the indigenous community The government of Bangladesh needs to take initiatives to revise the existing laws to broaden the scope of public involvement to ensure adequate and effective participation in biodiversity conservation efforts.