No Cover Image

E-Thesis 836 views

The Legal Status of Sustainable Development / Nasia Dikigoropoulou

Swansea University Author: Nasia Dikigoropoulou

Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.

DOI (Published version): 10.23889/Suthesis.41151

Abstract

Despite the widespread endorsement and political appeal of sustainable development, its seemingly ambiguous and vague nature has raised considerable controversy as its normative content and legal implications. That sustainable development was to have normative significance was evident since its intr...

Full description

Published: 2016
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa41151
first_indexed 2018-07-27T19:33:16Z
last_indexed 2025-04-05T03:26:43Z
id cronfa41151
recordtype RisThesis
fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2025-04-04T15:21:25.8795956</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>41151</id><entry>2018-07-27</entry><title>The Legal Status of Sustainable Development</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>d0ea64a9551d2f4f4b0a038e9c937891</sid><ORCID>NULL</ORCID><firstname>Nasia</firstname><surname>Dikigoropoulou</surname><name>Nasia Dikigoropoulou</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>true</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2018-07-27</date><abstract>Despite the widespread endorsement and political appeal of sustainable development, its seemingly ambiguous and vague nature has raised considerable controversy as its normative content and legal implications. That sustainable development was to have normative significance was evident since its introduction on the international political agenda by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development. The declaratory instruments which were subsequently adopted, and particularly the 1992 Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, have emphasized the need for the progressive development of international law on sustainable development. Despite developments, however, over the past 30 years and the widespread political endorsement of sustainable development by the international community, the legal status of sustainable development remains the subject of debate. Indeed there is little evidence to support a claim that there exists a legal obligation for states to develop sustainably. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, although international law may not strictly require development to be sustainable; there is a procedural obligation on states to adopt the appropriate state conduct and governance processes to strive to make progress towards sustainable development. The treaties and soft law documents which have endorsed sustainable development require states to adopt the necessary means to promote, ensure, contribute to, or work towards the fulfillment of the sustainable development objective. In this respect, its normativity lies not in requiring that a specific end result be fulfilled, but in requiring the adoption of all possible and available means necessary to strive to achieve that result. Its core principles of integration, ecological sustainability and public participation, provide for an identifiable list of measures which may be expected to be implemented by states as part of their efforts to facilitate progress to sustainable development, and against which state conduct may be assessed. Specific tools have been developed to facilitating the implementation of this obligation. The most notable of these is the environmental assessment regime. The environmental assessment process has been interpreted by the European Court of Justice as an instrument for sustainable development in light of its core principles. National case law in Cyprus also indicates that the national court has interpreted the law on environmental impact assessment in a way which recognizes such an obligation.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords/><publishedDay>31</publishedDay><publishedMonth>12</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2016</publishedYear><publishedDate>2016-12-31</publishedDate><doi>10.23889/Suthesis.41151</doi><url/><notes>Due to Embargo and/or Third Party Copyright restrictions, this thesis is not available via this service.</notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Law</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><degreelevel>Doctoral</degreelevel><degreename>Ph.D</degreename><apcterm>Not Required</apcterm><funders/><projectreference/><lastEdited>2025-04-04T15:21:25.8795956</lastEdited><Created>2018-07-27T15:16:06.7234749</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Nasia</firstname><surname>Dikigoropoulou</surname><orcid>NULL</orcid><order>1</order></author></authors><documents/><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2025-04-04T15:21:25.8795956 v2 41151 2018-07-27 The Legal Status of Sustainable Development d0ea64a9551d2f4f4b0a038e9c937891 NULL Nasia Dikigoropoulou Nasia Dikigoropoulou true true 2018-07-27 Despite the widespread endorsement and political appeal of sustainable development, its seemingly ambiguous and vague nature has raised considerable controversy as its normative content and legal implications. That sustainable development was to have normative significance was evident since its introduction on the international political agenda by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development. The declaratory instruments which were subsequently adopted, and particularly the 1992 Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, have emphasized the need for the progressive development of international law on sustainable development. Despite developments, however, over the past 30 years and the widespread political endorsement of sustainable development by the international community, the legal status of sustainable development remains the subject of debate. Indeed there is little evidence to support a claim that there exists a legal obligation for states to develop sustainably. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, although international law may not strictly require development to be sustainable; there is a procedural obligation on states to adopt the appropriate state conduct and governance processes to strive to make progress towards sustainable development. The treaties and soft law documents which have endorsed sustainable development require states to adopt the necessary means to promote, ensure, contribute to, or work towards the fulfillment of the sustainable development objective. In this respect, its normativity lies not in requiring that a specific end result be fulfilled, but in requiring the adoption of all possible and available means necessary to strive to achieve that result. Its core principles of integration, ecological sustainability and public participation, provide for an identifiable list of measures which may be expected to be implemented by states as part of their efforts to facilitate progress to sustainable development, and against which state conduct may be assessed. Specific tools have been developed to facilitating the implementation of this obligation. The most notable of these is the environmental assessment regime. The environmental assessment process has been interpreted by the European Court of Justice as an instrument for sustainable development in light of its core principles. National case law in Cyprus also indicates that the national court has interpreted the law on environmental impact assessment in a way which recognizes such an obligation. E-Thesis 31 12 2016 2016-12-31 10.23889/Suthesis.41151 Due to Embargo and/or Third Party Copyright restrictions, this thesis is not available via this service. COLLEGE NANME Law COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Doctoral Ph.D Not Required 2025-04-04T15:21:25.8795956 2018-07-27T15:16:06.7234749 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law Nasia Dikigoropoulou NULL 1
title The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
spellingShingle The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
Nasia Dikigoropoulou
title_short The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
title_full The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
title_fullStr The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
title_full_unstemmed The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
title_sort The Legal Status of Sustainable Development
author_id_str_mv d0ea64a9551d2f4f4b0a038e9c937891
author_id_fullname_str_mv d0ea64a9551d2f4f4b0a038e9c937891_***_Nasia Dikigoropoulou
author Nasia Dikigoropoulou
author2 Nasia Dikigoropoulou
format E-Thesis
publishDate 2016
institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/Suthesis.41151
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Hilary Rodham Clinton School of Law
document_store_str 0
active_str 0
description Despite the widespread endorsement and political appeal of sustainable development, its seemingly ambiguous and vague nature has raised considerable controversy as its normative content and legal implications. That sustainable development was to have normative significance was evident since its introduction on the international political agenda by the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development. The declaratory instruments which were subsequently adopted, and particularly the 1992 Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, have emphasized the need for the progressive development of international law on sustainable development. Despite developments, however, over the past 30 years and the widespread political endorsement of sustainable development by the international community, the legal status of sustainable development remains the subject of debate. Indeed there is little evidence to support a claim that there exists a legal obligation for states to develop sustainably. Nonetheless, it is proposed that, although international law may not strictly require development to be sustainable; there is a procedural obligation on states to adopt the appropriate state conduct and governance processes to strive to make progress towards sustainable development. The treaties and soft law documents which have endorsed sustainable development require states to adopt the necessary means to promote, ensure, contribute to, or work towards the fulfillment of the sustainable development objective. In this respect, its normativity lies not in requiring that a specific end result be fulfilled, but in requiring the adoption of all possible and available means necessary to strive to achieve that result. Its core principles of integration, ecological sustainability and public participation, provide for an identifiable list of measures which may be expected to be implemented by states as part of their efforts to facilitate progress to sustainable development, and against which state conduct may be assessed. Specific tools have been developed to facilitating the implementation of this obligation. The most notable of these is the environmental assessment regime. The environmental assessment process has been interpreted by the European Court of Justice as an instrument for sustainable development in light of its core principles. National case law in Cyprus also indicates that the national court has interpreted the law on environmental impact assessment in a way which recognizes such an obligation.
published_date 2016-12-31T04:22:27Z
_version_ 1858703874934702080
score 11.453587

Similar Items