Ecosystem services and human well-being in a globalized world: Assessing the role of law

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 31, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 692-720

  Blanco, Elena ^a   Razzaque, Jona ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT; ECOSYSTEM SERVICE; ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION; FREE TRADE; GLOBALIZATION; GOVERNANCE APPROACH; HUMAN RIGHTS; LAW ENFORCEMENT; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT;

EID: 74349114311     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.0.0098     Document Type: Article

References (177)

1. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM Assessment, ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN WELL-BEING: SYNTHESIS, at v (2005), available at http://www. millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.356.aspx.pdf.
2. Id.
3. James E. Salzman, A Field of Green: The Past and Future of Ecosystem Services, 21 J. LAND USE & ENVTL. L. 133, 134 (2006).
4. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at vii, fig. B.
5. Id. at 49.
6. Ezequiel Lugo, Ecosystem Services, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the Conceptual Difference Between Benefits Provided by Ecosystems and Benefits Provided by People, 23 J. LAND USE & ENVTL. L. 243, 251-55 (2008).
7. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 40.
8. EVAN NOTMAN ET AL., STATE OF KNOWLEDGE: ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FROM FORESTS (2006), available at http://www.fs.fed.us/ecosystemservices/pdf/state-of- knowledge.pdf.
9. Geoffrey Heal et al., Protecting Natural Capital through Ecosystem Service Districts, 20 STAN. ENVTL. L.J. 333, 334 (2001), cited in Gretchen C. Daily et al., The Value of Nature and the Nature of Value, 289 SCIENCE 395 (2000).
10. Alicia Robbins, Ecosystem Services Markets 2 (27 Oct. 2005), available at https://digital. lib.washington.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1773/2244/ tp12.pdf?sequence=1. This paper is part of a series of discussion papers to provide background information at the Saving Washington's Working Forest Land Base Forum, organized by the University of Washington.
11. Id. at 3.
12. Lugo, supra note 6, at 260-61.
13. ANANTHA KUMAR DURAIAPPAH, MARKETS FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES: A POTENTIAL TOOL FOR MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS (2006), available at http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2007/economcs-mar-kets-eco-services. pdf.
14. Convention on Biological Diversity, adopted 5 June 1992, arts. 20-21, 1760 U.N.T.S. 142 (entered into force 29 Dec. 1993), available at http://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cbd-un-en.pdf; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), adopted 9 May 1992 (entered into force 21 Mar. 1994), available at http://unfccc.int/resource/ docs/convkp/conveng.pdf.
15. "[W]ater is both a provisioning service, since ecosystems are the source of water used by people, and a supporting service, since water is required for life on Earth and thus supports all other ecosystem processes." MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 106.
16. Id. at 10.
17. Id.
18. Id. at 6.
19. Goal 7 aims to halve the proportions of people in the world without access to safe drinking water by 2015. UNITED NATIONS, THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT 2008, at 40 (2008). Similarly, the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) reiterated the aim to halve the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, § II, IV, U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 1 99/20 (2002), available at http://www.un.org/jsummit/html/documents/summit-docs.html.
20. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT 2008, supra note 19, at 40.
21. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at v.
22. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess. (Resolutions, pt. 1), at 71, art. 25, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 AM. J. INT'L L. 127 (Supp. 1949). This list is not an all-inclusive list and other elements, such as water, can be included. Peter H. Gleick, The Human Right to Water, 1 WATER POL'Y 487 (1998).
23. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, arts. 11.1, 2, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3 (entered into force 3 Jan. 1976);
24. Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted 20 Nov. 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, U.N. GAOR, 44th Sess., Supp. No. 49, art. 24(2)(c), U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989) (entered into force 2 Sept. 1990), reprinted in 28 I.L.M. 1448 (1989).
25. "States Parties to the ICESCR have the obligation to respect, promote and protect and to take appropriate steps to achieve progressively the full realization of the right to adequate food." FAO, Intergovernmental Working Group for the Elaboration of a Set of Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security, annex I, ¶ 17 (Sept. 2004), available at http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/008/J3345e/j3345e01.htm#a1.
26. The Right to Adequate Food, General Comment No. 12, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts., 20th Sess., ¶ 6, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/1999/5 (1999).
27. For example, General Assembly Resolution 54/1 75 states that "[t]he rights to food and clean water are fundamental human rights and their promotion constitutes a moral imperative both for national Governments and for the international community." The Right to Development, adopted 17 Dec. 1999, G.A. Res. 54/175, U.N. GAOR, 54th Sess.,
28. U.N. Doc. A/Res/54/175 (2000).
29. See also Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, supra note 19, f 18.
30. FAO, supra note 24, annex I, § II(2.5).
31. Id. annex I, § II(4.10, 8.1).
32. Id. annex I, § II(8.11).
33. Id. annex I, § II(8.13).
34. The Right to Water, General Comment No. 15, U.N. ESCOR, Comm. on Econ., Soc. & Cult. Rts., 29th Sess., Agenda Item 3, U.N. Doc. E/C.12/2002/11 (2002).
35. Id. ¶ 1.
36. Id.
37. Id. ¶ 2.
38. Id. ¶ 3.
39. All human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated." Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted 25 June 1 993, U.N. GAOR, World Conf. on Hum. Rts., 48th Sess., 22d plen. mtg., ¶ 5, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.157/23 (1 993), reprinted in 32 I.L.M. 1661 (1993).
40. See also JACK DONNELLY, UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN THEORY AND pRACTICE 27-33 (2d ed. 2003).
41. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 1948, G.A. Res. 217A (III), U.N. GAOR, 3d Sess. (Resolutions, pt. 1), at 71, art. 19-20, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), reprinted in 43 AM. J. INT'L. L. 127 (Supp. 1949).
42. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted 16 Dec. 1966, G.A. Res. 2200 (XXI), U.N. GAOR, 21st Sess., Supp. No. 16, art. 19, 25, U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 999 U.N.T.S. 171 (entered into force 23 Mar. 1976).
43. Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, adopted 25 June 1998, U.N. ESCOR, Econ. Comm'n for Eur., Comm. on Envtl. Pol'y, 4th Ministerial Conf., U.N. Doc. ECE/CEP/43 (1998) [hereinafter Aarhus Convention]; Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, adopted 14 June 1992, U.N. GAOR, 19th plenary mtg., princ. 10, U.N. Doc. A/CONF.151/26/Rev. 1 (Vol. I) (1993).
44. Aarhus Convention, supra note 39, art. 19(3).
45. Id. pmbl., art. 1.
46. Int'l Law Ass'n, The Berlin Rules on Water Resources, adopted 21 Aug. 2004, arts. 4, 17-21, 30, 69-71, available at http://www.cawater- info.net/library/eng/l/berlin-rules.pdf.
47. Id. art. 18.
48. Rome Declaration on World Food Security, FAO, Report of the World Food Summit, 13-17 Nov 1996 (WFS96/Rep) Part One, Appendix.
49. See also FAO, Contemporary Thinking on Land Reforms (1998), available at http://www.fao.org/sd/ltdirect/ltan003 7.htm
50. Id.
51. FAO, supra note 24, annex I, § II(1.2, 8.10, 7).
52. The FAO Voluntary Guidelines highlight the importance not only of including all stakeholders in access to food production and consumption but also creating an enabling
53. environment through education and widening participation whereby stakeholders can exercise choices with respect to the satisfaction of their basic rights. Id. Guidelines 6, 8.
54. UN Env't Programme (UNEP), Creating Pro-Poor Markets for Ecosystem Services (2005), available at http://www.unep.org/DEC/Support/Cross- Cutting/ProPoor.asp
55. Jona Razzaque, Trading Water: The Human Factor, 13 REV. EUR. COMMUNITY & INT'L ENVTL. L. 24-25 (2004).
56. Valuation can be made according to several approaches: basic needs approach, human rights approach, participatory approach, or economic accounting. Rajendra Pradhan & Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Which Rights Are Right? Water Rights, Culture and Underlying Values, 10 WATER NEPAL 37 (2003).
57. Esteve Corbera, Nicolas Kosov & Miguel Martinez Tuna, Marketing Ecosystem Services Through Protected Areas and Rural Communities in Meso-America: Implications for Economic Effciciency, Equity and Political Legitimacy, Working Paper 94, Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research (2006), available at http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/working-papers/twp94. pdf.
58. Thanks to a recent land reform, the Asociación Nueva America owns about 600 hectares of land that now belongs to the local community. See Silvia Ortega, Resumen de Bue- nas Prácticas en el Foro-E de la Conferencia FAO/Países Bajos: Agua para Alimentos y Ecosistemas jPara que sea una Realidad!, Case study presented to the FAO Conference Water for Food and Ecosystem, 2005, The Netherlands, available at http://www.fao.org/ag/ wfe2005/casedb-en.asp.
59. CERDENA is an NGO financed by the Inter-American Foundation whose aim is to develop techniques of conservation and provision of renewable natural resources.
60. Corbera et al., supra note 51, at 11.
61. However, some MEAs do mention ecosystem and adopt an ecosystem approach. Lugo, supra note 6, at 250.
62. Mark Paquin & Karel Mayrand, MEA-based Markets for Ecosystem Services, (OECD Workshop on Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Private Investment, Working Paper 3, Draft of Concept Paper (2005), available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/14/62/35000276.pdf.
63. DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 16.
64. Id.
65. The UN Environment Programme's 2004 report stressed the role of market-based instruments in achieving the objectives of the MEAs. UNEP, ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS IN BIODIVERSITY- RELATED MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS 11 (2004).
66. Convention on Biological Diversity, supra note 14, art. 11.
67. Id. Decision VI/15.
68. Implementation of the Strategic Vision Through 2005, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, Animals Comm., 19th mtg., (18-21 Aug. 2003), at 3, AC19 Doc. 6.1, available at http://www.cites.org/eng/com/AC/19/E19-06-1.pdf.
69. The Ramsar Strategic Plan 2003-2008, ¶ 8.1, Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, 8th mtg., (18-26 Nov. 2002), available at http://www.ramsar.org./key-strat-plan-2003-e.pdf
70. DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 21.
71. UNEP, ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS IN BIODIVERSITY-RELATED MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS, supra note 59, at 47-48.
72. UNEP, Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Pro-Poor Markets for Ecosystem Services: Discussion Paper 10 (5 Oct. 2005), available at http://www.unep.org/dec/docs/MEA-MES.Discussion.Paper.doc.
73. UNEP, Joint Liaison Group for the Rio Convention (Plus Ramsar), available at http://www.unep.org/DEC/OnLineManual/Compliance/ InternationalCooperation/Enhancing-SecretariatCooperation/Resource/tabid/724/ Default.aspx. The Joint Liaison Group was established to improve the exchange of information between the Rio conventions to explore opportunities for synergistic activities and to increase coordination between the CBD, UNFCCC, and UNCCD.
74. DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 22.
75. Flexible regulatory mechanisms can take into account the different nature of resources. It can be to control the pollution generating products or to assess value of ecosystem services. PAY: ESTABLISHING PAYMENTS FOR WATERSHED sERVICES (Mark Smith, Dolf de Groot, Danièle Perrot-Maître & Ger Bergkamp eds., 2006).
76. James Salzman, Barton H. Thompson, Jr. & Gretchen C. Daily, Protecting Ecosystem Service: Science, Economics and Law, 20 STAN. ENVTL. L.J. 31 1, 312 (2001);
77. James Salzman, Valuing Ecosystem Services, 24 ECOLOGY L.Q. 887, 889 (1997). However, a number of articles consider the importance of ecosystem services in environmental law. J.B. Ruhl & R. Juge Gregg, /ntegrating Ecosystem Services into Environmental Law: A Case Study of Wetlands Mitigation Banking, 20 STAN. ENVTL. L.J. 365 (2001);
78. James Salzman & J.B. Ruhl, Currencies and the Commodification of Environmental Law, 53 STAN. L. REV. 607 (2000).
79. Paquin & Mayrand, supra note 56.
80. THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS REPORT, supra note 19, at 6, 36.
81. "For example, the Mgahinga and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Conservation Trust in Uganda contributed to the simultaneous implementation of the CBD, the Ramsar Convention and the UNFCCC." DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 18.
82. Within the EU, two directives regulate the emission trading: Directive 2003/87/EC and Directive 2004/101/EC At the national level, for example, in the UK, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Regulations 2003 guides the emission trading scheme.
83. Frances Irwin & Janet Ranganathan, Restoring Nature's Capital: An Action Agenda to Sustain Ecosystem Services 29 (2007), available at http://www.wri.org/publication/restoring-natures-capital. Here, governance includes institutions and law, and their structures and processes. It involves private and public actors and includes economic, social, and environmental dimensions of decision making processes.
84. Amartya Sen, Global Justice: Beyond International Equity, in GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS: INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY 116, 123 (Inge Kaul, Isabelle Grunberg & Marc A. Stern eds., 1999).
85. While "the state still defines the policies and rules for those within its jurisdiction. global events and international agreements are increasingly affecting its choice[s]." WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT, THE STATE IN A CHANGING WORLD 12 (1 997);
86. Robert McCorquodale & Richard Fairbrother, Globalization and Human Rights, 21 HUM. RTS. Q. 735, 737 (1999).
87. PAUL GUINNESS, GLOBALISATION 17 (2003).
88. WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2002: TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS 98 (2002), available at http://www.unctad.org/ Templates/WebFlyer.asp?intItemID=2477&lang=1, pointed out the increasing inequality in development and growth between nations. While the richest fifth income rose from 70 percent to 85 percent, the poorest global income dropped from 2.3 percent to 1.4 percent.
89. See John Williamson, The Washington Consensus as Policy Prescription for Development, Address Before the World Bank (13 Jan. 2004), available at www.iie.com/publications/papers/williamson0204.pdf.
90. Market-led reforms in Niger, for example, have had a negative impact on the right to food since privatization of the veterinary office has left peasants unable to pay vets bills and treat their cattle for illnesses. See The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, Civil, Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, /ncluding the Right to Development, Report of the Special Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, U.N. GAOR, Hum. Rts. Council, 7th Sess., Agenda Item 3, at 11, U.N. Doc. A/HRC/7/5 (2008).
91. Tony Evans, If Democracy, So Human Rights?, 22 THIRD WORLD Q. 623 (2001).
92. See also McCorquodale & Fairbrother, supra note 77, at 737-38.
93. These problems have been outlined by MICHAEL LIKOSKY, LAW, INFRASTRUCTURE AND HUMAN RIGHTS 170 (2006), who argued that a special Human Rights Unit (HRU) should be created within the UN to deal with the issues arising by Private-Public Participation in the context of infrastructure projects.
94. The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81, at 11; Nils Roseman, The Human Right to Water under the Conditions of Trade Liberalisation and Privatisation: A Study on the Privatisation of Water Supply and Wastewater Disposal in Manila, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Occasional Papers: International Development Cooperation (2003) cited in The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81.
95. Aditya Chakrabortty, Secret Report: Biofuel Caused Food Crisis,CUARDIAN, 4 July 2008, available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableen-ergy.
96. Roseman, supra note 84.
97. The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81, at 18.
98. Just ten corporations control one third of the US commercial seed market (including Monsanto, Aventis, and Pioneer) and 80 percent of the pesticide market. Another ten corporations control 57 percent of the total sales of the main retailers and account for 37 percent of the world's sales on food and beverages. Id. at 17.
99. For a discussion of the issues involving problems encountered by Ghanaian farmers unable to compete with tomato imports, see Dep't of Int'l Dev., Smarter Farming Helps Developing Countries to Compete, 26 May 2006, available at http://www.dfid. gov.uk/Media-Room/Case-Studies/2006/Smarter-farming-helps- developing-countries-to-compete/.
100. Anup Shah, Corporations and Workers Rights, Global Issues: Social Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All, 28 May 2006, available at http://www. globalissues.org/article/57/corporations-and- workers-rights.
101. In 2006, the villagers of Plachimada (India) claimed that the bottling operations of Coca-Cola caused a severe shortage of water in the village. P.N. Venugopal, Coca-Cola Moving Out of Plachimada?, INDIA TOGETHER, 27 Jan. 2006, available at http://www.indiatogether. org/2006/jan/env-cokesaga.htm.
102. Especially the diversion of eating crops into bio fuels. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), BIOENERGY AND AGRICULTURE: PROMISES AND CHALLENGES (Peter Hazell & R.K. Pachauri eds., 2006);
103. Daniel Howden, The Fight for the World's Food, INDEPENDENT, 23 June 2007, cited in The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81, at 21-22.
104. McCorquodale & Fairbrother, supra note 77, at 738.
105. The World Bank has recognized that "[s]ocial disruption is inevitable in large scale irrigation projects. Local people often find that they have less access to water, land and vegetation resources as a result of the projec[t]." The World Bank, Technical Paper No. 140, 2 Environmental Assessment Sourcebook 96, n.140 (1991), cited in McCorquodale & Fairbrother, supra note 77, at 743.
106. Mary Robinson, Globalisation and Human Rights, 21st Century Trust Seminar on Globalisation: Rhetoric, Reality and International Politics, Address before Congress (31 Oct. 2003), available at http://www.21stcenturytrust.org/ Robinson.pdf; The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81, at 18-19.
107. See OECD, Managing the environment. The role of economic instruments (1994) cited in DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 4.
108. An example of this is provided by the creation of some national parks and nature reserves in Africa. When the park has been established with no consultation with the local people and they are excluded from benefit sharing, the degradation of the area that was to be protected actually increases as those forced out need to trespass to access what they could access before in a legitimate way. If consultation and benefit sharing are implemented these tensions are greatly reduced. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 621.
109. Id.
110. Today twenty three countries recognize the right to food in their constitutional texts, seven make an explicit reference and ten as a principle of state policy. FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS, THE RIGHT TO FOOD: IN THEORY AND IN PRACTICE 43-4, (1998), available at http://www.fao.org/legal/rtf/booklet.pdf. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, § 2 7(1)(b) guarantees the right of everyone to have access to sufficient food and water.
111. S. AFR. CONST. §27(1)(b).
112. For examples from other national constitutions, see MALCOM LANGFORD ET AL., LEGAL RESOURCES FOR THE RIGHT TO WATER: INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL STANDARDS 45 (Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions 2003), available at http://www. cohre.org/store/attachments/COHRE%20Sources%208. pdf.
113. PUCL v. Union of India, Writ Petition (C) No. 196 (2001), available at http://www.pucl.org/reports/Rajasthan/2001/starvation-writ.htm.
114. See also Court Order, available at http://www.hrln.org/ issue.php?id=14&pil=1 &pilid=1 8. Charan Lal Sahu v. Union of India 1 990 A.I.R. 1480, 1495, available at http://indiankanoon.org/doc/299215/;
115. Hussain v. Union of India 1990 A.I.R. 321 (Kerala) 340;
116. Razzaque, supra note 49, at 21.
117. Upendra Baxi, Taking Suffering Seriously; Social Litigation in the Supreme Court of India, in LAW AND POVERTY: CRITICAL ESSAYS 387 (Upendra Baxi ed.,1988).
118. Millennium Development Goals, available at http://www.un.org/ millenniumgoals/.
119. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 12.
120. Jona Razzaque, Implementing International Procedural Rights and Obligations: Serving the Environment and Poor Communities, in HOW TO MAKE POVERTY HISTORY-THE CENTRAL ROLE OF LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS IN MEETING THE MDGS 175 (Tom Bigg & David Satterthwaite eds., 2005)
121. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at iii.
122. Mohan Rao, Equity in a Global Public Goods Framework, in GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS, supra note 76, at 68, 70.
123. Jenny Steele, Participation and Deliberation in Environmental Law: Exploring and Problem-Solving Approach, 21 OXFORD J. LEGAL STUD. 415, 437-38 (2001).
124. Tropical forests play an important role in carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, prevention of deforestation and desertification. See Adrian Wells, Cecilia Luttrell & David Brown, Public Goods and Private Rights: The illegal Logging Debate and the Rights of the Poor, 9 FORESTRY BRIEFING (2006), available at http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/ download/542.pdf.
125. J. Peter Brosius, Endangered Forests, Endangered People: Environmentalist Representations of Indigenous Knowledge, 25 HUM. ECOLOGY 47 (1997).
126. Wells et al., supra note 108, at 2-3.
127. "Forest governance pertains to how decisions related to forests and forest dependent people are made, who are responsible, how they wield their power, and how they are held accountable. It encompasses decision-making processes and institutions at local, national, regional and global level." Center for International Forestry Research, Forest and Governance Programme, available at http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Research/Governance.
128. It has been argued that for services to be bought and sold, these must have well defined property rights that facilitate the exchange. See ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS: POLICIES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 192 (C.A. Tisdell ed., 1 993), cited in DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 5.
129. Id. at 13.
130. Id. at 20.
131. OECD, MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENT: THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS (1994), cited in DURAIAPPAH, supra note 13, at 4.
132. Marcus Moench, Searching for Balance: Water Rights, Human Rights and Water Ethics, 10 WATER NEPAL 165 (2003).
133. Corbera et al., supra note 51.
134. Irwin & Ranganathan, supra note 75.
135. Corbera et al., supra note 51, at 11.
136. PAY, supra note 69, at 76.
137. Id. at 75.
138. See JAMES W. HARRIS, PROPERTY AND JUSTICE 23 (1996).
139. Thanks to a recent land reform, the Asociacion Nueva America owns about 600 hectares of land that now belong to the local community. See Silvia Ortega, Resumen de Buenas Prácticas en el Foro-E de la Conferencia FAO/Países Bajos: Agua para Alimentos y Ecosistemas jPara que sea una Realidad!, CARE, Ecuador, Case Study presented to the FAO Conference Water for Food and Ecosystems,(2005), available at http://www.fao. org/ag/wfe2005/casedb-en.asp
140. Id.
141. FAO, REPORT ON LAND TENURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (2002), available at http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/005/ Y4307E/y4307e00.htm. In the forest sector, the long production cycles accentuate the importance of the tenurial regime. Wells et al., supra note 108, at 1.
142. Women head 30 percent of rural households but own less than 2 percent of all land. Lack of inheritance rights and a variety of obstacles to purchase, management and ownership of land remain despite international instruments and national declarations of gender equality in many constitutional texts. FAO, Women's Right to Land: A Human Right (2002), available at http://www.fao.org/news/2002/020302-e.html.
143. Indigenous peoples also face considerable obstacles to land tenure and enjoyment despite the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) stating the right of indigenous peoples to their lands (art 8.1(b)) and to choose a livelihood according to their traditional culture and the duty of States to consult with and respect the decisions of indigenous peoples in respect of their lands, territories and resources.
144. It can, for example, exclude women or certain ethnic groups from secure access, see FAO, REPORT ON LAND TENURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT, supra note 125, at 4.10-4.17.
145. The Indigenous Mayagna Community of Awas Tingni, North Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua filed a petition against the government of Nicaragua to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights for protection against the violation of their right to judicial protection and of land and resources rights according to the constitution and national legislation. The community had previously failed in its attempts to demarcate the lands following the logging concession. The petition was upheld by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
146. Kevin Gray, Property in Thin Air, 50 CAMBRIDGE L.J. 252 (1991).
147. Brent M. Haddad, Property Rights, Ecosystem Management, and John Locke's Labor Theory of Ownership, 46 ECOLOGICAL ECON. 9 (2003).
148. The power of exclusion is, according to Gray, the most significant characteristic of individual property rights. Gray, supra note 130, at 252.
149. Several Latin American countries (e.g. Guatemala, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Colombia) have engaged in a land reform program involving the recognition of land rights of indigenous communities.
150. In a Sri Lankan case concerning the Eppawela Phosphate Mining Project, the Supreme Court applied the public trust doctrine to protect agricultural lands, and prevent the forced relocation of residents in Sri Lanka's North Central Province. Bulankulama v. The Secretary, Ministry of Industrial Development, 7 S. ASIAN ENVTL. L. REP. 1 (2000).
151. Carol M. Rose, Joseph Sax and the /dea of the Public Trust, 25 ECOLOGY L.Q. 351 (1998).
152. Carol M. Rose, The Comedy of the Commons: Custom, Commerce, and /nherently Public Property, 53 U. CHI. L. REV. 711(1986);
153. Joseph L. Sax, The Public Trust Doctrine in Natural Resource Law: Effective Judicial Intervention, 68 MICH. L. REV. 471 (1970);
154. Jan S. Stevens, The Public Trust: A Sovereign's Ancient Prerogative Becomes the People's Environmental Right, 14 U. CAL. Davis L. Rev. 195 (1980).
155. JOSEPH SAX, DEFENDING THE E NVIRONMENT: A STRATEGY FOR CITIZEN ACTION (1970). According to Sax, because certain natural resources such as air and water are important to the citizens as a whole, private ownership of such resources are unwise. In his opinion, the government should advance the general public interest instead of redistributing public resources for private gain.
156. Alison Rieser, Ecological Preservation as a Public Property Right: An Emerging Doctrine in Search of a Theory, 15 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 393 (1991).
157. Examples of the cases can be found in David V. Zwaag, The Concept and Principles of Sustainable Development: "Rio Formulating" Common Law Doctrines and Environmental Laws, 13 WINDSOR Y.B. ACCESS TO JUST. 39, 62-64 (1993).
158. It is argued that public trust doctrine does not give specific guidance to courts. Steven M. Jawetz, The Public Trust Totem in Public Land Law: Ineffective-and Undesirable-Judicial Intervention, 10 ECOLOGY L.Q. 455 (1982).
159. Huffman argues that public trust doctrine affects private property rights and is used as an effort to evade just compensation. James L. Huffman, A Fish out of Water: The Public Trust Doctrine in a Constitutional Democracy, 19 ENVTL. L. 527 (1989).
160. Jona Razzaque, Case Law Analysis: Application of Public Trust Doctrine in Indian Environmental Cases, 13 J. ENVTL. L. 221-34 (2001).
161. David Takacs, The Public Trust Doctrine, Environmental Human Rights, and the Future of Private Property, 16 N.Y.U. ENVTL. L.J. 735-40 (2008).
162. - (1997) 1 Supreme Court Cases 388.
163. Id. ¶ 35.
164. Erin Ryan, Public Trust and Distrust: The Theoretical Implications of the Public Trust Doctrine for Natural Resources Management, 31 ENVTL. L. 477, at 490 (2001).
165. J.B. Ruhl & James E. Salzman, Ecosystem Services and the Public Trust Doctrine: Working Change from Within, 15 SE. ENVTL. L.J. 223, 232 (2006).
166. Id. at 230.
167. Id. at 237.
168. The Right to Food, Promotion and Protection of All Human Rights, supra note 81, at 2.
169. Especially the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organization. Id.
170. Id.
171. Bronwen Morgan, Emerging Global Water Welfarism: Access to Water, Unruly Consumers and Transnational Governance, in CONSUMER CULTURES, CLOBAL PERSPECTIVES: HISTORICAL TRAJECTORIES, TRANSNATIONAL EXCHANGES 279, 284-85 (John Brewer & Frank Trentmann eds., 2006).
172. The Aarhus Convention emphasized the need for capacity building to increase compliance in developing countries in the first meeting of the Parties to the Convention (Lucca, 2002) and has devoted much time and effort to ensure that the economies in transition of Central Asia.
173. Jona Razzaque, Participatory Rights in Natural Resource Management: The Role of Communities in South Asia, in ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND JUSTICE IN CONTEXT 117 (Jonas Ebbesson & Phoebe Okowa eds., 2008).
174. Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted 10 Dec. 2008, G.A. Res. 63/117, U.N. GAOR, 63d Sess., 66th plenary mtg., U.N. Doc. A/RES/63/117 (2009).
175. Sen, supra note 76, at 123.
176. MILLENNIUM ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT, supra note 1, at 20.
177. For example, 1998 UNECE Aarhus Convention, UNECE Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo 1991), 2000 EU Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). At the international level, transboundary management of ecosystem services is still under-developed.