ISSUE: 2012(1)

A WORD FROM THE EDITORS: INNOVATIONS IN SOCIAL JUSTICE AND ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE

In this issue of the IUCNAEL eJournal we invite readers to explore Innovations in Social Justice and Environmental Governance. During the past few decades, much attention has been paid to ‘efficient’ environmental protection. Less has however been said about the social cost of this focus. Following the global economic crisis of 2008, the debate as to the best course for government, governance and regulation has been reignited. In many jurisdictions, where government coffers have been reduced, there is a renewed emphasis on market-based instruments. Yet these same instruments frequently empower the rich at the expense of poorer sectors of society. Regulated access is often easier for those who are confident, informed and mobile. Innovations in environmental law may, however, show the way toward improved environmental governance that simultaneously significantly improves the lot of the least advantaged in society. The three articles published in this issue of the eJournal address the above themes.

Some of the problems inherent in market-based approaches to environmental regulation are neatly illustrated in Jessica Owley’s article titled ‘Neoliberal Land Conservation and Social Justice’. Professor Owley examines the relationship between conservation easements and environmental justice and identifies significant drawbacks in the use of this type of regulatory mechanism from an environmental justice perspective. While the theory behind their use is that they provide a cost effective way of conserving land without removing it from private ownership or necessarily removing it from some form of productive use, the reality is that the environmental and social benefits they may bring appear questionable in certain circumstances. According to Owley, conservation easements are, for example, often applied to land that is not earmarked for development. Furthermore, the group of persons able to enjoy the conserved land is frequently limited to the owner and/or those invited onto the land by the landowner. Even where access is nominally more open, the author highlights the reality that conservation easements are often applied to land located some distance from urban centers that makes access to the land impractical for many sectors of society. Conservation easements are generally paid for by the government through direct subsidies or tax incentives granted to the landowner. Owley draws out the link that this creates between members of the public and the landowners receiving the subsidy or tax incentive. She implicitly argues that the link points to the need for both the usual government controls and active engagement by the public in both the creation and enforcement of easements. This link is, however, shown to be rather weak. Owley therefore suggests several ways in which the use of conservation easements could be improved to address some of these social and environmental concerns.

Where Owley’s article considers ways of improving an existing market-based mechanism to ensure both better environmental governance and improved social justice, Jordi Jaria i Manzano takes a more radical approach, suggesting that it is time to reconsider the idea of environmental justice in order to address existing inequalities in the use and distribution of natural resources. In his article titled ‘Environmental Justice, Social Change and Pluralism’, Professor Jaria i Manzano argues that until we address the assumption underlying the western constitutional model, namely that welfare creation is dependent on increasing the use of resources, we will never be able to improve social justice and environmental governance at the local or global levels. He contends that the way to address this problem does not lie in an attempt to redefine the concepts of social welfare or environmental justice on an abstract level, but rather to adopt a procedure which allows the global and local communities to engage together in refining these concepts. His paper explores the nature of this procedure.

In the third article titled ‘Environmental Governance and Marine Governance in the Caribbean’, Dr Michelle Scobie considers the relationship between social justice and regional marine governance. She focuses on the institutions tasked with providing marine governance in the Caribbean Region, highlighting existing gaps within these institutions and the resultant regional social and economic inequalities they cause. She proposes a range of ways through which these institutions could be strengthened to provide both stronger governance at the regional level and capacity building to, in particular, the small island developing states in the region. Historically, debates on marine governance have predominantly focused on inter-state relations, and this article takes the debate on marine governance in a new direction, linking it clearly to questions of social justice at the local scale.

Following the above articles you will find a diverse array of country reports from scholars situated in 25 different jurisdictions across the globe. These provide an overview of recent legal, policy and judicial developments in these countries. We hope that these provide you with interesting insights into several jurisdictions you would ordinarily not have an occasion to follow. You will furthermore find reviews of three recently published books by members of the IUCNAEL. We would like to again thank all authors for their contributions and support and look forward to receiving any comments from the readership.

Elizabeth Kirk & Alexander Paterson
(IUCNAELJournal@gmail.com)

You can download the full contents of Issue 3 or access individual articles and reports under the tabs below.