Global momentous events such as the Stockholm + 50 Conference (2–3 June 2022) come once in a generation. The conference provided an occasion to look back at the global environmental regulatory enterprise to look ahead for a better future. In the scholarly realm, it is an audacious task to engage in the stocktaking of the fifty years journey. Hence, the meticulous scholarly terrain mapping undertaken by Professor Bharat H. Desai through the lens of outstanding global thought leaders, encapsulated in twenty-two chapters of the book under review, needs to be applauded. The work, published in September 2022, following the Stockholm + 50 events, is a timely stocktaking through each of the forward-looking chapters. As reflected in the wider horizons of the editor's scholarly trajectory, the book nudges the decision-makers of the world to “arise, awake and not stop until the goal is reached … to avert the existential planetary crisis”. Significantly, the editor has drawn contributions from thought leaders from all parts of the world. The book foreword has been written by the legendary Professor Edith Brown Weiss of Georgetown University. She has also applauded that the editor “has once again displayed his devotion to conserving our planet”.
The book is divided into three parts. The first part (Testing Times) comprises contributions from Nicholas Robinson of Pace University; Peter Haas of the University of Massachusetts; Elisabeth Dowdeswell, Lt. Governor of Ontario; Karan Singh, former Union Minister of India; and Donald Kaniaru, former United Nations Environment Programme top official and reminds us of the need for concerted executive, political, and judicial action as time is rapidly lost to save our planet at the juncture of the Stockholm Moment. The second part (Global Ideas) has ideational papers from Yann Aguila of Global Pact Coalition Paris; Bharat Desai of Jawaharlal Nehru University; David Hunter of American University; Owen McIntyre of National University of Ireland; Jordi Jaria-Manzano of Universitat Rovira i Virgili; Klaus Bosselmann of University of Auckland; Anna Sundström of Olof Palme International Center; Krishna Oli, formerly of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development in Nepal; and Jonas Ebbesson of Stockholm University. These chapters examine new ideas, legal processes, and the potential instrumentalities required to grapple with environmental challenges in the state-centric system. Finally, the third part (Sectoral Ideas) covers ideas on a range of issues by Eleanor Sharpston, formerly of the European Union; Shailesh Nayak of the National Institute of Advanced Studies of Bengaluru; Kirk Junker of the University of Cologne; Philippe Cullet of the University of London; Chris Backes of Utrecht University; Surya Subedi of University of Leeds; Oliver Ruppel of Stellenbosch University and Gregory Rose of University of Wollongong. They scan and seek to probe solutions to some of the prominent sectoral environmental challenges. These solutions, in the words of the editor, “would serve as reparative measures for course correction, as well as [help] to heal some of the challenges of planetary health”.
The scope and wide range of ideas covered in the book provide testimony of the vital role in finding solutions to challenges of the time. It provides formidable tools for governmental leaders, policymakers, the United Nations system, environmental activists, and members of civil society. The book would serve as a scholarly reference book for teaching and research in the field of international environmental law, and the editor deserves rich encomiums for this contribution to the global knowledge pool. The dedicatory ode to the Earth serves as a wake-up call for humankind: Let me not hit thy vitals, or thy heart.
Competing interests
The author declares none.
