Development without Destruction: The UN and Global Resource Management

Introduction: Concepts and Principles

Introduction: Concepts and Principles • Concepts and Principles • Chapter Outline • Methodology This book is about the United Nations and global resource management, in particular the maintenance of the natural adaptability of ecosystems and the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations of humankind. It seeks to analyze the role of the United Nations system in developing and consolidating universal values, principles of international law, and concepts of international governance to promote sustainable development. It hence focuses on natural resource management in areas both within and beyond the national jurisdiction of states as well as on the global commons, such as the high seas, outer space, and the climate system. The management of natural resources and the environment is not an issue that features in the UN Charter, yet since 1945 the United Nations has had a profound impact on how natural resources are viewed and how they are used. Various principal actors within the UN proper as well as several specialized agencies are involved in resource management, bringing in different perceptions and emphases from the particular set of responsibilities of each of these institutions. The conceptual contribution of the UN to international approaches to natural resource management has been extensive and includes the generation of new concepts for resource management , such as resource sovereignty (on land and in the sea), the common heritage of humankind, the sharing of natural resources, sustainable development, and the use of collective sanctions to address resource conflicts. This study identifies the extent to which these concepts reflect and to a certain extent also shaped universal values such as development, respect for nature, sustainability, and peace and security. At the same time, these global resource concepts constantly face important challenges , such as the tensions between development and the environment, conservation and exploitation, sovereignty and internationalism, territoriality and functionality , and armed conflict and access to natural resources and between a value-driven 2                     Development without Destruction and an interest-driven international society. Such tensions have had a profound impact on the actual content of UN-generated concepts related to natural resources. The objective of this book is to demonstrate the role of international organizations , particularly the United Nations, in developing universal values about global natural resource management for sustainable development. Key values are a dutiesbased as well as a rights-based concept of national resource sovereignty, sustainability , peace, international management of the global commons, and recognition of the notion of global public goods. I demonstrate that these values derive from the same tradition within the United Nations that attempts to foster economic and social progress. Yet proponents of these values now pay increasing attention to equitable and sustainable development and the interests of future generations of humankind. Concepts and Principles At the outset of this study, it seems appropriate to briefly present a number of basic concepts and principles that will be regularly referred to and further elaborated in the following chapters. Basic Concepts The basic concepts of this study include natural resources, natural wealth, ecosystem, environment, sustainable use, and global commons. Natural Resources Whereas the term “natural resources” does not appear in the UN Charter, the constitutive acts of various bodies within the UN system established in the aftermath of World War II do refer to “natural resources.” Thus, for example, one of the purposes of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development was to develop “the productive resources of its members,”1 while the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations was mandated to promote “the conservation of natural resources.”2 The work of these institutions will be presented in chapter 4. Dictionaries define “natural resources” as “materials or substances of a place which can be used to sustain life or for economic exploitation”3 or as “material from nature having potential economic value or providing for the sustenance of life.”4 Natural resources are generally classified into nonrenewable (stock) and renewable (flow) resources or into nonliving and living resources. Nonrenewable resources, such as minerals, are resources that are consumed as they are used; the quantity of these resources (at least from a human perspective) is fixed. In contrast, renewable resources are resources that are naturally generated and provide new supply units within at least one human generation. Nonetheless, renewable resources are not necessarily inconsumable; in certain circumstances they can indeed be susceptible to Introduction                     3 depletion, exhaustion, and extinction, frequently because of human activities. As a...