From Improvement Towards Enhancement: A Regenesis of Environmental Law at the Dawn of the Anthropocene
25 Pages Posted: 20 Dec 2015
Date Written: December 18, 2015
Abstract
This paper discusses a host of what mostly are still isolated ad hoc technology-driven initiatives, usually in support of human (rights) imperatives, which effectively endeavour to engineer and re-engineer living and non-living environments in ways that have no natural, legal or historical precedent. The umbrella term I propose to capture such initiatives is ‘environmental enhancement'. Potential examples that fit this definition include genetic modification of disease-transmitting mosquitoes to protect human health, solar radiation management initiatives and other forms of climate engineering to sustain human life on earth, the creation of new life forms to secure food supplies and absorb population growth, and de-extinction efforts that help restore the integrity of ecosystems.
The question this paper addresses, in the words of Brownsword, is whether conventional environmental law ‘connects’ with environmental enhancement, and whether states may be duty-bound to enhance environments in pursuit of human rights imperatives.
Keywords: Anthropocene, Environmnental Law, Human Rights, Technologies, Enhancement, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Theory, Regulation
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