International and National Legal and Institutional Frameworks for the Sustainable Use of Soil

摘要

In the period since the UNCED in 1992, more responsibilities have been placed on States to protect the local, regional and global environment, especially problems shared by the whole community such as soil degradation. Beginning in early 1999, a successful partnership developed between the environmental law and soil science disciplines to seek a better outcome for the global welfare of soil, including an improvement in the environmental law and policy for the sustainable use of soil. In October 2000 the World Congress of the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) passed the Resolution for the IUCN Environmental Law Program to develop legal guidelines, explanatory material and investigate a global legal instrument for the sustainable use of soils, and to pay particular attention to the ecological needs of soil and their ecological functions for the conservation of biodiversity and the maintenance of human life. Further, the February 2001 Decision of the Governing Council of UNEP (21/23, 2001) seeks the development and implementation of laws and policies for the sustainable use of soil through its Montevideo Program Ⅲ. This paper summarises the features of current national soil legislation, and the international environmental law regime for soil, and outlines aspects of the approach being taken by the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law to the development of legal and institutional frameworks for sustainable soil. The paper brings a greater focus on the need for more effective implementation of environmental law and policy at the global, regional and national level for soil conservation, and to achieve and maintain sustainable land use.