Aantekening: om globale omgewingsreg en -regulering in die antroposeen te herbedink

Abstract

The word anthropocene describes a new geological epoch that follows the holocene epoch. It is the signifier of the period in which people have a devastating and overwhelming impact on the earth and its systems. The anthropocene also describes the new context in which we are going to have to consider how we should deal with the effects of global anthropogenic ecological change by means of, among others, global environmental law and governance. In the anthropocene we have to deal with a new situation and it calls for new perspectives and paradigms on development and progress. This will require new perspectives on and reimagining of orthodox social institutional constructs like global environmental law and governance and their ability to successfully mediate the human-environment interface. In this article I reflect on how we will have to rethink the composition, functions and objectives of global environmental law and governance in the anthropocene. I specifically attempt to identify a host of considerations that environmental lawyers will have to contemplate if global environmental law and governance were to respond better to the many challenges and complexities in the anthropocene epoch.