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22 Rev. Eur. Comp. & Int'l Envtl. L. 1 (2013)

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RECIEL 22 (1) 2013. ISSN 0962-8797


Editorial


What's in a name? About  one year ago, I suggested to
the publisher to change the name of the journal from
Review  of European   Community   and  International
Environmental   Law  to Review  of European,  Com-
parative and International Environmental  Law.  The
European  Community   as such had ceased to exist as a
result of changes put into place by the 2009 Treaty of
Lisbon, and even though the European Union - and EU
law and policy - will continue to be a key focal area for
the journal, it is important to keep up with the times.

So what does this name change mean?  In my view, the
scope of the journal will not change. RECIEL will con-
tinue to distinguish itself from other environmental law
journals by approaching environmental law and policy
from an international perspective. One way to do so is
by adopting the lens of international environmental law
(e.g., how to enforce trade restrictions under the Mon-
treal Protocol). Another is to focus on legal develop-
ments  in supranational organizations like the EU (e.g.,
how  has the precautionary principle been applied in
case law by the Court of Justice of the EU?). A third way
is to explore how legal developments in different juris-
dictions compare  (e.g., what are the similarities and
differences between emissions trading systems in the
EU   and Australia?). The  latter inevitably involves
examining  the prevailing domestic legal frameworks.
Nonetheless, such  a comparative analysis may  yield
important insights for the international level (e.g., how
emissions trading systems can be linked; or how the
policy instrument of emissions trading is being diffused
across jurisdictions). But to be completely clear about
the scope: RECIEL's focus is still squarely on the inter-
national aspects of developments in environmental law
and  policy, and does not include legal issues that are
purely of interest to a domestic audience.

Neither will the name change affect the contents of the
journal. Indeed, RECIEL will   continue  to publish
cutting-edge contributions employing a variety of ana-
lytical approaches. The first issue under the new name
does exactly this. It starts with seven articles on the
theme  of assessing progress in international environ-
mental  law, guest edited by  Jorge Vifiuales of the
Graduate  Institute in Geneva. Vifiuales has assembled
an impressive group of distinguished authors to provide
new  ideas and  suggestions on how  to improve  the
implementation   of international environmental law
and policy.

Vifiuales' own article kicks off the special issue in a
provocative fashion. He points to the paradox of the
'sustainable development snake': while the concept of


sustainable development was  incredibly successful in
uniting countries in the late 198os/early 1990s, with the
Earth Summit  and a variety of new environmental trea-
ties as the most tangible results, it is equally unsuccess-
ful in ensuring that the commitments agreed upon in
these years are actually implemented. While Vifiuales'
call to abandon the notion of sustainable development
in the implementation stage may sound radical to some,
it can also be seen as a much-needed fresh approach to
ensuring that the lofty goals of sustainable development
are realized in practice.
The issue proceeds with an article by Elisa Morgera and
Annalisa  Savaresi documenting  the conceptual  and
legal history of the 'green economy' concept that gained
traction before and during the United Nations Confer-
ence on Sustainable Development  in Rio de Janeiro in
2012  (Rio+20).  Like sustainable development,  the
concept can be viewed as an attempt to integrate envi-
ronmental  and developmental concerns. Morgera  and
Savaresi trace how  it emerged out of the notion of
'green growth', and how  the different perceptions of
countries were reflected in the compromise at Rio+20.
Moreover,  they provide a  first analysis of how the
outcome  document   of Rio+20  measures  up  against
legal yardsticks related to environmental integration,
human  rights and corporate accountability.
The following two articles by Joost Pauwelyn and Dan
Farber provide a new  - and likely to be contested -
injection into discussions on differentiation in interna-
tional environmental and climate change law. Pauwe-
lyn compares  how  differentiation has evolved in the
climate change and trade negotiations, arguing that the
static developing/developed countries distinction has
led to gridlocks in both fora. However, in recent years,
Pauwelyn  argues, both regimes have moved away from
this North-South dichotomy  in practice. He cautiously
welcomes  this shift, but rather than suggesting as a
consequence  that developed and developing countries
are to be  treated on equal  footing, he shows that
the dichotomy  is being replaced by more differentia-
tion, taking into account the situation of, for instance,
least developed countries and economies in transition
depending  on the specificities of a regime. Farber also
suggests a novel interpretation of differentiation, point-
ing to inequalities within emerging economies such as
Brazil, China, India and Mexico. He argues that, given
these inequalities, emerging economies  should take
responsibility for funding the adaptation of vulnerable
and  poorer  communities  within their countries to
climate change impacts, giving a new twist to the prin-
ciple of common  but differentiated responsibilities in
the climate change context.


@ 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Maiden, MA 02148, USA.


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