Sustainable Development Goals

Edited by Duncan French, Birmingham City University, UK and Louis J. Kotzé, Research Professor, North-West University, South Africa and Senior Professorial Fellow in Earth System Law, University of Lincoln, UK

'A must read for those who aim to understand the limitations and potentialities of the SDGs. Using the lens of law, this volume presents a critical analysis of whether the SDGs, rooted in neoliberalism and anthropocentrism, will be able to realize the promise that ''no one will be left behind''. Or, as Long writes in his chapter, ''given that our world is unjust, and a more just world is possible, what role can the SDGs play in getting there from here?''.'--Ellen Hey, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands'This book addresses the questions around the importance and relevance of the SDGs that many lawyers have often wondered but struggled to articulate. It is an honest and deeply interrogated account of the different perspectives on the SDGs and the emerging trend of ''governance through goals''. The editors are to be commended on their thoughtful arrangement of these discussions and views.'--Olivia Rumble, University of Cape Town, South Africa'The Sustainable Development Goals aim to transform our world. Although a drastic change in the way we use the Earth is urgently needed, the question arises whether the SDG's sufficiently facilitate such a transformation. This excellent new book, edited by the world's leading legal scholars in the broad area of sustainable development law, provides clear answers to that pressing question and is a must read for all academics and policy makers involved in steering human behaviour toward a more sustainable track.'--Jonathan Verschuuren, Tilburg University, the Netherlands

• Contents: 1. IntroductionDuncan French and Louis J. KotzéPART I GENERAL THEMES2. The Sustainable Development Goals, Anthropocentrism and NeoliberalismSam Adelman3. The Sustainable Development Goals: An Existential Critique Alongside Three New-millennial Analytical ParadigmsLouis J. Kotzé4. Sustainable Development Goals and Human Rights: Challenges and OpportunitiesLynda M. Collins5. Underpinning Commitments of the Sustainable Development goals: Indivisibility, universality, leaving no one behindGraham Long6. How the Sustainable Development Goals Promote a New Conception of Ocean Commons GovernanceNadia Sánchez Castillo-WinckelsPART II A SELECTIVE ANALYSIS OF PARTICULAR GOALS7. Gender and the Sustainable Development GoalsKaren Morrow8. International Water Law and SDG 6: Mutually Reinforcing ParadigmsOwen McIntyre9. Good Urban Governance as a Global Aspiration: On the Potential and Limits of SDG 11Helmut Philipp Aust and Anél du Plessis10. The Environment and the Sustainable Development Goals: ‘We are on a Road to Nowhere’Werner Scholtz and Michelle Barnard11. Torn by (un)certainty – Can There be Peace Between Rule of Law and Other Sustainable Development Goals?Niko Soininen12. SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals - Cooperation within the Context of a Voluntarist FrameworkNathan Cooper and Duncan FrenchIndex