Theme I

I have a lot of sympathy with the view that expert knowledge is particularly difficult to transfer. As Rolf Dobelli perceptively remarks “insights do not pass well from one field to another” and he calls this effect “domain dependence”[1]. This seems to be particularly true with regard to legal approaches and insights in the multidisciplinary world of international environmental governance. In this context, technical and economic knowledge have, predictably and inescapably, the upper hand in the pursuance of a holistic, interdisciplinary management of the highly complex and continually evolving issues related to the protection of the environment and its sustainability. Here, legal approaches and insights, although fundamental and potentially crucial for better and more participatory governance, are rarely considered. And when tackled, they are handled with the utmost care and from a very narrow angle. This has something to do with the fact that, during the negotiations taking place at the various institutional levels of international agreements establishing environmental regimes, the accredited delegations rarely include scholarly legal experts or specialized international lawyers. But there is another aspect to it, much more subtle and much more difficult to comprehend. It is, in fact, the way we generally conceive and interpret the relationship between international law and governance. Beyond the “domain-dependence” effect of Dobelli, it seems that there is a more covered, a more resistant “domain-hardening” effect featuring international legal thinking.

Approaching the end of an eventful year, I would like to welcome you to the new edition of MEPIELAN E-Bulletin and to express my deepest thanks and appreciation for your interest in reading and sharing with us the informative and thought-provoking material of this Bulletin. Retaining its high level of visibility and attendance, the Bulletin receives visitors from 163 countries. Its articles and elaborated news are quoted in academic articles, research papers and international reports, while authorizations are granted for their appearance in other international websites. It is our hope that the Bulletin, being already in operation for five years, continues to serve its fundamental purpose: to shed light on the importance of orienting our understanding of international environmental law and governance and their sustainability perspective towards the multifarious process of constructing and unfailingly developing international common interest. A global conception of justice can be adequately and substantially performed as common interest justice and it would be more than useful, in this respect, to recall a passage from Aristotle’s Nickomachean Ethics: “The political association”, he writes, “was originally formed and continues to be maintained for the interest of its members; and the lawgivers contemplate about it and postulate that justice is the common  interest” (translation mine).

In a Guest Article of this edition, Dr. Maguelonne D?jeant-Pons, Executive Secretary of the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape, and European Landscape Convention, Council of Europe, provides an authoritative insight into the application of the comprehensive and contextual “landscape approach”, encapsulated in the innovative European Landscape Convention, to generating integrated spatial planning and management for coastal zones and marine areas. Underlining the important public interest role and function of landscape viewed in all its constituent parts (ecological, environmental, social, cultural and economic) and their inter-relationships, as contemplated by the Convention, the author clearly and most usefully pinpoints the elements of a common interest governance associated with the “landscape approach”: the appropriate balancing of landscape protection, management and planning activities; the pursuance of a dynamic preservation and enhancement of  diversity and quality of the landscapes recognizing the fundamental role of knowledge; and the utmost importance of public awareness and active public participation. And as the author concludes, the European Landscape Convention serves as “benchmark by some countries” either “to initiate a process of profound changes in their landscape policies” or to “define their policy”. Relatedly, it would be of great interest, in our view, to envisage the European Landscape Convention as the subject of a more deliberation-based cooperative strategy between its Secretariat and the Barcelona Convention Secretariat. This would be a very promising institutional step to the right direction, in view of the complementary function of the Convention with the equally innovative Mediterranean Protocol of Integrated Coastal Zone Management, developed in the framework of the Barcelona Convention system, and the pertinent need to build a clustering in the governance of these two interrelated international instruments. Hence, both instruments could become more “visible” and their implementation could be performed more effectively and more efficiently in advancing international common interest.

It gives me immense pleasure to welcome you to this year’s first edition of MEPIELAN E-Bulletin and to share with you its insightful, thought-provoking contributions and informative material, all providing different aspects and perspectives of building international common interest in pursuance of the objectives of MEPIELAN Centre.

I am also delighted to inform you that MEPIELAN Centre was accredited as MAP Partner by decision of the 18th Ordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean and its Protocols, held in Istanbul (3-6 December 2013). This is an exciting development which makes MEPIELAN Centre privileged and committed to be actively involved in constructive dialogue and consultations with MAP and the Mediterranean States Parties to the Barcelona Convention System and in addressing key issues of its work and its implementation. And, naturally, this new role will be adequately reflected in contributions and relevant information through the pages of this Bulletin.

So far, the progress of the Bulletin continues. The Bulletin’s website consistently increases its worldwide attendance and visibility: it receives visitors from 163 countries and its audience includes academics, researchers, officials from public authorities, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, university students and private sector. And its scientific dynamic is most encouraging: Bulletin’s articles and elaborated news are internationally quoted and authorizations are granted for their publications in other international websites.

In this edition, the Guest Article is co-authored by Joseph F.C. DiMento, Professor of Law and Planning at the University of California Irvine, USA, and Hermanni Backer, Professional Secretary of the Helsinki Commission, who authoritatively discuss the complex aspects of environmental governance of the Arctic. Underlining its special regional characteristics and the variety of threats and pressures on its fragile natural environment and its native human inhabitants, they provide a well-balanced and insightful approach to the Arctic environmental governance: the existing multi-level governance system of the Arctic regime should become more effective by critically examining the developments in other regions and giving more consideration to the value of certain ideas improving environmental governance – it is within this context, they argue, that any “addition” of new international law could be meaningfully decided.

Welcome to the new edition of MEPIELAN E-Bulletin.

I am grateful to my distinguished colleagues and very promising young academics and researchers who have been instrumental in the success of this Bulletin, contributing fresh thinking, innovative ideas and insightful perspectives to the understanding of complex interdisciplinary issues of international law and policy, environment and development. This advanced knowledge is well disseminated and shared worldwide and the latest figures keep us realistically optimistic. The Bulletin’s website receives visitors from 159 countries worldwide which include academics, researchers, officials from public authorities, officials from intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, university students and private sector. Importantly, Bulletin’s articles and elaborated news are internationally quoted.

The Guest Article of this edition is authored by Peter M. Haas, Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Political Science, USA, who insightfully identifies the two distinctive features of international environmental governance, the multitude of actors and the range of distinct governance components collectively performed, and highlights the creativity impact of their effective interconnection, emphatically pointing to “the value of analyzing networks of non-state actors as determinants of collective action and environmental integrity.”

Welcome to the new edition of MEPIELAN E-Bulletin.

I am grateful to all those who have been instrumental in the continuing success of this Bulletin in times of crisis. According to the latest figures, there have been over 12.500 visits to the Bulletin’s website from 151 countries worldwide.

The vision of the Bulletin to provide a dynamic scholarly forum for inter-disciplinary and innovative knowledge on international environmental law and policy with a view to protecting and advancing international common interest is also served by this edition. Distinguished academic experts and scholars as well as of promising young researchers contribute new ideas and enlightening presentations of current issues and problems of international law and policy, environment and development. Together with the continuing flow of topical thematic news, this edition presents a document  of particular interest, the Rio+20 Declaration on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability adopted by UNEP’s World Congress on June 2012 and presented at the Rio+20 Conference, where, interestingly enough, the Principle of Non-Regression (continuity for more effectiveness of environmental protection and sustainable development) is specifically acknowledged, a principle of fundamental importance for sustainability governance capable of effectively and efficiently addressing contemporary challenges and threats.

Serving as a showcase for new knowledge-advancing books, this edition also presents a new insightful and interdisciplinary book “Environmental Governance of the Great Seas – Law and Effect” by Joseph F.C. DiMento and Alexis Jaclyn Hickman. The authors, adopting a comprehensive and contextual approach to the environmental governance of the great seas, shedding light on the function and prospects of selected six regional seas (The Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the East Asian Seas, the Mediterranean Sea, the West and Central African Seas, and the Wider Caribbean Region) evaluating the effectiveness of their complex and multilevel environmental governance regimes conceptualized as clusters. Perhaps, the most pragmatic theoretical lesson to be drawn is embedded in their “a word on causation”: “Our conclusions about activity in a cluster and outcomes are qualitative and general. It is not possible in the complex environments we are analyzing to describe convincing causal links between individual law and policy initiatives and actual outcomes (whether they be cooperation or improvement of the physical condition of the seas). Many other forces are at work in response of both physical and social systems. And even if elaborate modeling could describe pathways in a convincing manner, data challenges would be enormous, if not overwhelming.”

A Guest Article written by Maguelonne Dejeant-Pons, Head of Division, Policy Development, Democratic Governance Directorate, Council of Europe, provides an authoritative presentation of  the rural heritage  as a factor and a driving force for sustainable spatial development, viewing it as a living heritage with all its tangible and intangible aspects highlighting the importance of assigning to it “heritage value” and of taking action under the European Rural Heritage Observation Guide –CEMAT and the participative approach it advocates. As she concludes, “the rural world is a treasure trove of the cultural, natural and landscape heritage … It is our responsibility to recognize the value of the past, and to protect and promote this heritage, which is an essential factor for economic, social and cultural development”.

Welcome to the 2012 fall edition of MEPIELAN E-Bulletin.

My gratitude and thanks go to all those who have been instrumental in the continuing success of this Bulletin. According to the latest figures, there have been over 10.500 visits to the Bulletin’s website from 143 countries worldwide.

The vision of the Bulletin to provide a dynamic scholarly forum for inter-disciplinary knowledge and discussion and advocate the need to understand environmental governance, its law and policy aspects, in terms of establishing, protecting and promoting international common interest, is realized through the invaluable engagement of distinguished academic experts and scholars as well as of promising young researchers. This edition features several new articles discussing innovative ideas and hotly debated issues of international law and policy, environment and development. While continuing the unending flow of topical thematic news, this edition also presents a new international case of interest, the Yasuni Park Trust Fund as an innovative global experiment reflecting environmental trust governance contributing to sustainability. Moreover, this edition, serving as a showcase for new knowledge-advancing books, presents a new important book “Global Environmental Governance Reconsidered”, an excellent collection edited by Frank Biermann and Philipp Pattberg, which contains insightful articles providing theoretical underpinnings and perspectives of global environmental governance as perceived and researched in the framework of the well-known Clobal Environmental Governance Project.

A Guest Article written by Philipp Pattberg, Associate Professor of Transnational Governance, Institute for Environmental Studies, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands, eloquently takes an insightful and well-balanced view on the outcome of the Rio+20 Summit, highlighting the weaknesses reflected in the official summit declaration “The Future We Want” – evidently defeating the widespread expectations for achieving “a transformative shift” in international environmental governance – but also denoting its few positive results. As he rightly concludes, “while we certainly should search for additional approaches to global environmental governance beyond mega-conferences, what is most needed now is a critical reflection on how the summit results can be used to revive global sustainability governance.”