Rule of Law for Nature: New Dimensions and Ideas in Environmental Law, edited by Christina Voigt, published by Cambridge University Press, 2013, 408pp., £70.00, hardback.

• Author: Richard Caddell
• Date: 01 November 2014
• Published date: 01 November 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12099

mental institutions in the book

might more explicitly identify the

role that legal rules play in environ-

mental governance systems. This

would increase the chances of

reaching out to legal academics and

practitioners who would in our view

benefit from the interdisciplinary

framework for analysis of environ-

mental problems that the book

provides.

Environmental and climate change

lawyers will find the approach

Young takes to environmental

problem solving to be a refreshing

and illuminating alternative to tra-

ditional legal analysis. Instead of

merely exploring the content of

existing legal rules and applying

them to environmental problems,

Young emphasizes the importance

of understanding the systemic

nature of environmental problems.

This is a starting point from

which effective governance struc-

tures, including legal rules, can be

designed and implemented. This

book should be of great assistance

to lawyers wishing to think beyond

existing legal rules and in desi-

gning alternative environmen-

tal governance strategies for the

future. As Young argues, the

Anthropocene is a ‘game changer’

(p. 130) that must be taken into

account when designing environ-

mental governance strategies for

the future. Young’s accessible

approach should see environ-

mental and climate change

lawyers engage more fully in this

dialogue and provide an even

more valuable contribution to the

development of climate change

governance.

Jeffrey McGee

Senior Lecturer

Newcastle Law School

University of Newcastle

Kerryn Brent

PhD Candidate

Newcastle Law School

University of Newcastle

Rule of Law for Nature:

New Dimensions and Ideas

in Environmental Law,

edited by Christina Voigt,

published by Cambridge

University Press, 2013,

408pp., £70.00, hardback.

In recent years, strong concerns

have been expressed that current

environmental law frameworks

have proved insufficient to foster

meaningful improvements to the

variety of ecosystems affected by

anthropogenic activities. Despite an

ever-expanding collection of regula-

tory initiatives and actors at the

global, regional and international

levels, considerable ecological prob-

lems remain. The global community

roundly failed to meet the 2010 bio-

diversity loss target set by the

Convention on Biological Diversity.

Climate change commitments

remain decidedly elusive. Mean-

while the land, air and sea-space of

the planet continue to provide

numerous sobering examples of

over-consumption and poor stew-

ardship of global resources. Con-

ceptually, there have long been calls

for a more explicit link between the

environmental regulation of human

activity and the inherent rights of

nature to survive and flourish. From

Christopher Stone’s seminal call to

facilitate the public enforcement of

the interests of the natural environ-

ment, to D’Amato and Chopra’s

thesis as to the right to life for iconic

species, there are numerous

examples of advocacy towards a

more tangible constitution for

natural values and objects. In this

enlightening, thought-provoking

and challenging volume, Christina

Voigt advances such calls further

with an extensive review of develop-

ments across a wide variety of

sectors to advance a discernible rule

of law for nature.

Rule of Law for Nature: New

Dimensions and Ideas in Environ-

mental Law comprises 21 substan-

tive chapters from an extensive

cast of expert contributors drawn

across a wide range of regulatory

fields. The book opens with a series

of philosophical chapters outlining

how a discernible rule of law for

nature might be conceptualized

and advanced. In Voigt’s preface,

she establishes the central argu-

ment of the book: that a clearer

and more environmentally

grounded set of guiding objectives,

fundamental principles and legal

machinery is necessary for effective

ecological protection worldwide.

Hans Christian Bugge sets the

scene by reflecting on the funda-

mental challenges inherent in

current environmental lawmaking,

with a regulatory ethos that is pre-

dominantly centred on localized

self-interest, and identifying a

series of factors that impede politi-

cal and popular will to address par-

ticular problems. Following this

theme, Edith Brown Weiss, in a

typically insightful contribution,

addresses the problems posed by

the ‘kaleidoscopic’ legal landscape,

in which the sheer scale of actors,

institutions and initiatives often

struggles to facilitate normative

and practical coherence. Nicholas

Robinson then moves to discuss

‘evolved norms’, outlining the tra-

jectory of particular approaches to

environmental regulation that have

blossomed into guiding principles

in decision making, suggesting that

such a process demonstrates that

nature rights exhibit the potential

to be taken seriously as elevated

components of the normative land-

scape. Klaus Bosselmann examines

the potential foundations for a rule

of law for nature, reflecting on the

core objectives of the rule of law

generally and identifying central

imperatives that may be of particu-

lar importance to this concept in

the context of the natural world.

Cormac Cullinan further advances

this theme by arguing that the

current environmental governance

failures necessitate a reconceptua-

lization of the rule of law in this

context, so as to ground regulation

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

Book Reviews RECIEL 23 (3) 2014

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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