Planetary boudaries and regime interaction in international law

Dario Piselli and Harro van Asselt lay the foundations for examining the relationship between international law and the planetary boundaries in Chapter 7. They argue that one of main challenges in the study of planetary boundaries is the fact that Earth system processes are often closely intertwined. These biophysical interactions also raise important questions for the international legal regimes that govern each individual boundary. For example, how do these regimes interact with each other, and what effect do governance interactions have on the complex feedbacks and loops that occur between planetary boundaries? Can different regimes work in conjunction and prevent ‘problem-shifting’ between one boundary and the next? And what tools does international law offer to manage these interacting regimes? By linking the literature on planetary boundaries to that of regime interaction in international law, the authors seek to provide preliminary answers to such questions. The chapter first illustrates the variety of regime interactions that can occur in practice by drawing on two case studies of coupled planetary boundaries – related to interactions between climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion on the one hand, and freshwater use and biogeochemical flows on the other. The chapter then suggests that managing regime interactions cannot be limited to the solution of norm conflicts or the creation of overarching legal frameworks, but must also emphasise the promotion of conceptual, regulatory and operational synergies between the different types of actors and institutions involved in the relevant legal response.