Description: There is persuasive evidence suggesting we are on the brink of human-induced ecological disaster that could change life on Earth as we know it. There is also a general consensus among scientists about the pace and extent of global ecological decay, including a realisation that humans are central to causing the global socio-ecological crisis. This new epoch has been called the Anthropocene. Considering the many benefits that constitutional environmental protection holds out in domestic legal orders, it is likely that a constitutionalised form of global environmental law and governance would be better able to counter the myriad exigencies of the Anthropocene. This book seeks to answer this central question: from the perspective of the Anthropocene, what is environmental constitutionalism and how could it be extrapolated to formulate a global framework? In answering this question, this book offers the first systematic conceptual framework for global environmental constitutionalism in the epoch of the Anthropocene.
Brief description: Louis J Kotzé is Chair of the Law Group and Professor of Law, Wageningen University and Research, the Netherlands.
Review Quotes:
"The first comprehensive treatise of the burgeoning literature on global environmental constitutionalism, this book is incredibly well researched, insightful and inspirational. A landmark publication for years to come." --Professor Klaus Bosselmann, University of Auckland, New Zealand
"This is a book about responsibility in the age of the Anthropocene. It identifies the core issues of the current socio-ecological crisis, points out priorities, and proposes interventions. Kotzé delivers a compelling argument that humanity finds itself in a rare global constitutional moment that requires us to reimagine the law at a planetary scale and to create, enact, and advance global environmental constitutionalism." --Professor Maria Ivanova, University of Massachusetts, United States "With humanity poised on the precipice of an environmental abyss, we need intellectual visionaries to design and build the bridge to a sustainable future. With Global Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene, Professor Louis Kotzé demonstrates that he not only possesses such vision, but can articulate it in a clear, concise, and compelling fashion. While Kotzé acknowledges the formidable magnitude of the challenges we face, his book identifies prospective solutions and thus offers a much-needed beacon of hope." --Professor David Boyd, Simon Fraser University, Canada "Global Environmental Constitutionalism in the Anthropocene comes none too soon... The book is a thorough and hopeful account of how constitutionalism can quite literally, and perhaps with no time to spare, help to constitutionalize responses to the Anthropocene." --James R May, Distinguished Professor of Law, Widener University Delaware Law School, Journal of Human Rights and the Environment