International Law (War) International Law (Peace) International Law (Anthropocene?)

Organized by Taskforce on Earth System Law

Does shifting paradigms from human welfare to planetary welfare warrant the recognition of a distinct phase of International Law in the Anthropocene?

Inspired by the recent developments in international environmental law (Global Pact on the environment), the evolving earth systems law (Lex Anthropocenae) and the urge to holistically address global sustainability challenges (Pact for the Future), this panel asks the question, how is international law being shaped by these developments?

As background, five major ‘resets’ have held sway in international law. The Westphalian moment, which shaped international law as the law of war; the post WWI and post WWII which recognised the need for international of peace and cooperation, post-colonial UN decades which saw an expansion in subjects of international law, coinciding with international law’s commercial phase with trade, intellectual property, and investment rules and institution building and currently, the environmental phase.

Is there something distinctly different about the environmental phase of international law, as compared to the preceding 4 major resets? Is the ecological focus and the eco-centric arguments and positions shifting a paradigm in international law? Given the ability of humans to affect planetary integrity, should this power shape a different paradigm of care and responsibility in international law, extending beyond the preoccupation within the ‘narrow confines’ of war and peace?

Is the Anthropocene at risk? A new natural resource boom is on the horizon. Terrestrial and seabed resources are now deemed ‘critical’ or ‘strategic’ for the energy and digital transitions. In the new geopolitics of the Anthropocene, there is a need to strengthen international rule of law to address this major threat to the environment and to peoples. The possibilities for this race for critical raw materials span from a neoliberal anthropocentric socio-economic enterprise to the other end of the spectrum, which is participatory, holistic, eco-centric and restrained use of resources within planetary boundaries.

The panel will explore the normative environment and the evolving norms in the energy and digital transformations, the shift in the power and decision-making processes, the elasticity and ability of municipal laws to stretch across borders under the cover of international environmental laws, and the evolving uni and plurilateralism.

The panel will discuss whether there would be a shift towards a more cooperative approach to acquiring raw materials in the Anthropocene. If that is so, would it emerge from this race for raw materials or would it emerge from new partnerships between mining companies and local peoples, between resource rich countries and resource hungry countries, and new norms for resource use?

The panel aims at drawing conclusions around whether a paradigm shift from human welfare, a paramount consideration in international law of war and peace, to planetary welfare, an expanded idea of state security to planetary security, warrant the recognition of a distinct phase of International Law in the Anthropocene?

Consulted bibliography:

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