Elaboration of the concept of ecological debt - Part 2

Part 2 of a five-part report on ecological debt: in 2003, several departments of Ghent University (Belgium) - in cooperation with the Belgian NGO VODO - have been working on a research project on ecological debt. The research was ordered by the Belgian development cooperation and aimed at clarifying the concept of ecological debt and studying its applicability to Belgian and international policy. The report has about 230 pages and is divided into five sections. It can be downloaded from the website of the Centre for Sustainable Development (Ghent University), where the executive summary of the report (in English and in Dutch) is also available, as well as a Powerpoint presentation with an overview of the main results: http://cdonet.rug.ac.be/onderzoek/ecological_debt

Paredis Erik, September 2004

To download : PDF (140 KiB)

Summary :

Part 2 of the report focuses on Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) and discusses the status of ecological debt in international environmental law and obstacles and solutions for introducing the concept in international law. It also looks at solutions for introducing the concept of ecological debt in international environmental law, compensation for historical debt and preventing further accumulation of ecological debt. It ends with conclusions and a selected bibliography.