Earth System Law: Towards a New Legal Paradigm for the Anthropocene

This Special Issue contributes to developing knowledge and research on the new overarching legal phenomenon of Earth system law. As the first collection of publications on the topic, its contributions draw on and respond to the initial conceptualization of earth system law and the research agenda proposed in the pioneering article, ‘Earth System Law: The Judicial Dimension of Earth System Governance”. The primary objective of this Special Issue is to instigate a wider academic debate on the type of legal transformations that are required for the purpose of the Anthropocene.

The contributions to this Special Issue address different questions regarding the understanding of earth system law, its form and content, as well as its internal ethical orientation and/or ontology. They assess the added value brought by earth system law in normative, analytical and transformative terms, and addresses its perceived differences with, and contributions to, the existing systems of law, including but not limited to, international environmental law.

The Special Issue brings together scholars from an interdisciplinary background, ranging from law, governance, political sciences and international relations. Contributors draw on their respective disciplinary fields and knowledge to explore how earth system law is situated, and what potential future role it could play, in the earth system governance paradigm, its research agenda, and the scholarship produced by this network.