Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Fifty Years of International Lawmaking on the Environment: Women Shaping Legal Principles and Solidarity

Ituarte-Lima, Claudia LU (2026) p.510-531
Abstract
The 1972 Stockholm Conference marked the emergence of transnational environmental law, with states agreeing on commitments towards a healthy environment. While the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment may have been progressive and innovative at that time, it made no explicit mention of women, girls, or gender equality. Instead, women and girls were subsumed within the category of ‘man’. Through legal interpretation and analysis of policy documents, this chapter maps important progress made in the last 50 years. The article uncovers the untold story of women international lawmakers from the global South not only in advances on women’s rights but also in international law relevant to healthy social-ecological systems more... (More)
The 1972 Stockholm Conference marked the emergence of transnational environmental law, with states agreeing on commitments towards a healthy environment. While the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment may have been progressive and innovative at that time, it made no explicit mention of women, girls, or gender equality. Instead, women and girls were subsumed within the category of ‘man’. Through legal interpretation and analysis of policy documents, this chapter maps important progress made in the last 50 years. The article uncovers the untold story of women international lawmakers from the global South not only in advances on women’s rights but also in international law relevant to healthy social-ecological systems more broadly. The article finds that decoupling the notion of vulnerability from weakness and powerlessness and coupling it with agency and solidarity is needed if international law is going to tackle head on the biodiversity, climate change, pollution and water crises and effectively enable Earth stewardship. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Human rights, Environment law, Ecocide, Legal principles, Women rights, Climate change, Biodiversity, Nature, Solidarity, Mänskliga rättigheter, Miljörätt
host publication
Fifty Years of International Environmental Law
editor
Ebbesson, Jonas and Langlet, David
pages
21 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISBN
9781009445771
9781009445740
DOI
10.1017/9781009445740
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d5d6b2bf-d452-4369-bdea-4208af053e42
date added to LUP
2026-07-02 11:59:26
date last changed
2026-08-03 08:56:53
@inbook{d5d6b2bf-d452-4369-bdea-4208af053e42,
  abstract     = {{The 1972 Stockholm Conference marked the emergence of transnational environmental law, with states agreeing on commitments towards a healthy environment. While the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment may have been progressive and innovative at that time, it made no explicit mention of women, girls, or gender equality. Instead, women and girls were subsumed within the category of ‘man’. Through legal interpretation and analysis of policy documents, this chapter maps important progress made in the last 50 years. The article uncovers the untold story of women international lawmakers from the global South not only in advances on women’s rights but also in international law relevant to healthy social-ecological systems more broadly. The article finds that decoupling the notion of vulnerability from weakness and powerlessness and coupling it with agency and solidarity is needed if international law is going to tackle head on the biodiversity, climate change, pollution and water crises and effectively enable Earth stewardship.}},
  author       = {{Ituarte-Lima, Claudia}},
  booktitle    = {{Fifty Years of International Environmental Law}},
  editor       = {{Ebbesson, Jonas and Langlet, David}},
  isbn         = {{9781009445771}},
  keywords     = {{Human rights; Environment law; Ecocide; Legal principles; Women rights; Climate change; Biodiversity; Nature; Solidarity; Mänskliga rättigheter; Miljörätt}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{510--531}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  title        = {{Fifty Years of International Lawmaking on the Environment: Women Shaping Legal Principles and Solidarity}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781009445740}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/9781009445740}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}