Making Environmental Law Function in the Anthropocene

Abstract

Earth is home to all known life, on land , within th e ocea n s, inland waters, and amidst the atm os ph ere. Thisco mmunity of life ex i sts within well recogni zed frontiers. But, human induc ed degradation of ecosystems is rend ering mu chof th e Earth l ess habit abl e for th e humans and th e o th er spec i es. To co pe with th e escalating in sults to human life and health,governments h ave been es tabli shing environmenta l laws sin ce th e 1970 s. It pos its a v ital question at this jun cture: What shouldbe the functions th at envi ronmental law should se r ve, both today and into th e foreseea bl e future? This articl e will su gges t fourth ematic areas fo r action in this r ega rd. F ir st, all laws and policies shou ld embr ace a holisti c view of Earth; seco nd , a co mm onand shared anal yt ic meth odology needs to be depl oyed such as environmental imp ac t assess ment ; third, a strategic cock-p itfor ecological coop era ti on required to provide so lutions for environmental crises; finally, a se t of mutually recog ni ze d an dshared principles will need to be embra ce d in order to provide a cohere nt and harmoni ze d outlook fo r humanity 's ecol og i ca l civilization .