INCORPORATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN THE JURISPRUDENCE OF INTERNATIONAL COURTS

Abstract

Sustainable development and environmental protection are key components of global development. Over the past few decades, international legal jurisprudence, within the domestic and international spheres of governance has been shaped to reflect the importance of these concepts in sustaining development. This paper examines the influence of treaties starting with the Rio Declaration which made a transition from international environmental law and international economic law to an international law of sustainable development. The paper further analyses the jurisprudential approach undertaken by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in various cases giving the two concepts some judicial flavour with normative value having received general acceptance by the international community. The approach of this paper is the examination of the jurisprudence of International Court as it relates to environmental protection as a means of achieving sustainable development. This paper concludes that the court has by several proclamations consolidated the law and granted states greater legal certainty. By implication, legal jurisprudence will continue to develop as seen in rapid litigation on sustainable development.