Sustainable Development Law: Principles, Practices, and Prospects

Hundreds of new bilateral, regional, and global treaties have been negotiated in relation to the world’s most pressing sustainability, development, and justice challenges over the past two decades. The majority of these face significant implementation challenges. At the same time, disputes over human rights, environmental protection, and economic development are increasingly common.

Sustainable Development Law analyses these advances and challenges in the international law on sustainable development at the intersection between international social, environmental, and economic law. It opens by examining the origins of the concept of sustainable development, identifying and discussing the foundations of its legal aspects. The principles of international law related to sustainable development are considered, based on international instruments and disputes across international courts and tribunals. Later chapters provide illustrative examples of legal instruments and regimes that address the 169 targets in relation to the 17 Global Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, the authors propose cutting-edge research agendas and conclude by exploring the limits of sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Law is designed as a high-level textbook, examining the nature of law of sustainable development. Chapters offer key takeaways and questions to consider for those studying the subject. It also would be suitable for practising lawyers and policy makers who want to develop their understanding of the subject area.

Damilola S. Olawuyi, Professor and UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Chair in Sustainable Development Law and Policy, University of Cambridge

Prof. Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger is a world-leading scholar and jurist in the field of sustainable development law and governance. She holds the Chair in Sustainable Development Law and Policy at the University of Cambridge, where she is also law fellow and director of studies at Lucy Cavendish College, and a fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. As Senior Director of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), she has published over 24 books and more than 160 papers in five languages, and edits a CUP series on sustainable development treaty implementation. Prof. Cordonier Segger holds PhDs of law from both Oxford and Cambridge, is a laureate of the prestigious HE Judge CG Weeramantry International Justice Award and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2022.

Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi is UNESCO Chair in Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at the College of Law, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and Vice Chair of the International Law Association. He is an eminent member of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL), where his books on international economic law, poverty eradication and sustainable development have won impressive accolades. He is Senior Advocate of Nigeria and is laureate of the prestigious HE Judge CG Weeramantry International Justice Award 2024.