What we talk about when we talk about compliance: the case of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols

Speaker: Dr Xiaoou Zheng, Assistant Professor in Public International Law, Xiamen Academy of International Law 

About this Event

Compliance is at the core of our understanding about multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and their effectiveness in addressing global environmental challenges such as biodiversity loss. The issue of compliance is often approached by international legal scholars, when adopting a doctrinal approach, with a focus on the international responsibilities of States envisaged by treaties and/or other sources of international law as a basis for asserting demands on certain conducts of States. Meanwhile, compliance intrigues questions of why and how. For instance, while many legal scholars with a political science approach tend to agree that most States respect most of the international norms most of the time, their opinions vary as to whether it is because it suits States’ interests just right, or States have a general propensity to comply, or because that international legal norms are reflections of the common understanding of States hence their legitimacy generates the “pull” towards compliance. These classical debates have also led to the empirical studies on the various institutional and procedures designs of the multilateral compliance mechanisms and systems, as well as the national approaches and the roles of non-State actors in the process of ensuring compliance with international environmental law.

This multi-faceted feature of the issue of compliance is the basis for a closer look at the means, norms and actors in ensuring and promoting compliance under the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This research is valuable for two main reasons. First, as the CBD and its two supplementary Protocols constitute the most comprehensive multilateral legal framework concerning biodiversity so far, its various mechanisms and procedures to promote compliance and address cases of non-compliance remain little studied. Second, an in-depth analysis of the compliance mechanisms and procedures under the CBD framework may inform not only the scholarly discussion on the issue of compliance with MEAs, but also national strategies of implementation and the interested public in participating in the compliance processes with respect to biodiversity-related subjects that represent the “common concern of mankind”. Against this background, this project asks three sets of questions about compliance. Part I is to describe the status quo. What are the legal basis and normative standards for compliance under the CBD framework? How is compliance reviewed, monitored and assessed, against what principles or rules, via what procedures and by whom? What are the consequences of non-compliance? Who are the main actors in the process of compliance and what is their respective role? Part II aims to investigate the normative implications of compliance on state responsibility and liability. Part III looks at the national law and regulations for measures of implementation or enforcement. What are the roles of the national courts and other entities in plugging the compliance gaps in international biodiversity law?