Introduction: Environmental Rule of Law and the Critical Role of Courts in Achieving Sustainable Water Resources

Date01 March 2018
AuthorScott Fulton and Antonio Herman Benjamin
48 ELR 10208 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 3-2018
This year’s 8th World Water Forum in Brazil—the
largest gathering on this subject, held every three
years—wil l for the rst time bring judges and pros-
ecutors together with policymakers from around the world
to discuss the precarious state of freshwater resources and
the importance of rule of law in achieving water resource
objectives. Recognizing this, the Environmental Law
Institute (ELI), in collaboration with the Global Judicial
Institute for the Environment (GJIE) and the International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Com-
mission on Environmental Law, is dedicating this section
of this issue of the Environmental Law Reporter to marking
the symbolic and reective importance of the role of the
judiciary in achieving water justice and ecological sustain-
ability. e Comments we present here—all written by
practicing senior judges—speak to the lega l and scientic
complexity involved in adjudication of water controversies
in dierent jurisdictions, the criticality of rule of law in
protecting and maintaining water resources, the central
role of the courts in advancing environmental rule of law,
and the approaches judges are taking in their eort to ful-
ll this role.
e concept of “environmental rule of law” draws its
meaning from its precursor, the general concept of “rule
of law,” which has been dened within the U.N. system as
the “principle of governance in which all persons, institu-
tions and entities, public and private, including the State
itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promul-
gated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated,
and which are consistent with international human rights
norms and standards.”1 is denition contains three
related strands: the idea that law be consistent with funda-
mental rights; the notion that law be inclusively developed
and fairly eectuated; and the importance of accountabil-
ity not just on paper, but in practice, such that the law
becomes operative through observance of or compliance
with it. ese strands are best seen as interdependent: when
law is consistent with fundamental rights, and is inclu-
sively promulgated and even-handedly implemented, then
it will be respected by members of the aected community
and observed in their actions and behaviors. Conversely, if
the law is neither respected nor observed, then the societal
values and objectives reected in law will prove elusive.
Experience to date in the environmental setting permits
a more granular understanding of the conditions necessary
for formation of environmental rule of law, as reected by
the consensus declaration contained in the March 2013
1. Report of the Secretary-General, he Rule of Law and Transitional Justice in
Conict and Post-Conict Societies, S/2004/616 (Aug. 23, 2004).
Introduction: Environmental
Rule of Law and the Critical
Role of Courts in Achieving
Sustainable Water Resources
by Scott Fulton and Antonio Herman Benjamin
Scott Fulton is President of the Environmental Law Institute, was formerly General Counsel and an Administrative
Appeals Judge at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and serves as a member of the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) International Advisory Council on Environmental Justice. Antonio Herman Benjamin is a Justice at
the National High Court of Brazil, Chair of the World Commission on Environmental Law of the International Union for
Conservation of Nature, and Secretary General of the UNEP International Advisory Council for Environmental Justice.
Authors’ Note: We want to thank Alejandra Rabasa, Director of
ELI’s Judicial Education Program, for conceptualizing and steering
the process that led to this publication and for her contributions to
this introductory piece.
J’ R    W W F
Copyright © 2018 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT