Sustainable development and international law

The results of the Rio Summit of 1992 brought a major conceptual breakthrough: environmental protection as a field of international co-operation expanded into "sustainable development" through the involvement of developing countries. This evolution has a major impact on international law as one of the prime means of co-operation between states. Scholars and practitioners are reviewing the directions into which the emerging order is moving: a stronger role for equity and justice, for compliance-control, for dispute-avoidance and capacity-building. Rule-making will only be successful if it includes all interested parties, and if it takes account of other important concerns such as international trade. This volume contains the revised and edited papers presented at a symposium held in Baden bei Wien in April 1994. The Austrian Government convened this meeting of prominent scholars and practitioners to contribute to the work of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development.