Locating Nature: Making and Unmaking International Law

This book explores how international law structures ecological degradation and environmental injustice, making inaccurate and unsustainable assumptions about the natural world. It proposes a radical reworking of our understandings of nature and its relationship with law to avert socioecological crises, drawing on diverse disciplines and sociocultural traditions.

Format: Hardback
Length: 270 pages
Publication date: 29 September 2022
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

For those grappling with the pervasive environmental harm on a global scale and its starkly unequal consequences, this book offers a comprehensive exploration of how international law perpetuates ecological degradation and environmental injustice while purporting to safeguard the environment. It uncovers the underlying assumptions embedded within central legal concepts such as sovereignty, jurisdiction, territory, development, environment, labor, and human rights, which perpetuate inaccurate and unsustainable views of the natural world and systematically reproduce environmental degradation and injustice. In order to avert socioecological crises, it is imperative that we embark on a transformative journey to unpack and radically rework our understandings of nature and its relationship with law. By drawing upon diverse disciplines and sociocultural traditions that have been marginalized within international law, we propose more sustainable and equitable ways to reimagine the interplay between law and nature.

Influenced by Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), postcolonialism, and decoloniality, this book seeks to inspire an epistemological shift in the way humans conceptualize the relationship between law and nature. It weaves together insights from various disciplines, including cosmology, mythology, and storytelling, to offer a holistic perspective that recognizes the interconnectedness of all beings and the intrinsic value of the natural world. Through its compelling narrative and thoughtful analysis, this book provides a roadmap for building a more just and sustainable future, where the rights of nature and the well-being of humanity are harmoniously intertwined.

Weight: 714g
ISBN-13: 9781108497268