A martian at the united nations or naive thoughts on global environmental governance

Abstract

What if a Martian were to come to observe the Earth and its inhabitants? Not just your typical Martian, but a jurist Martian. He had first come 50 years ago, in 1972 for the Stockholm Conference and had had come back once again in our time. Facing the rapid degradation of the Earth, he undertook to meet the Secretary-General of the United Nations. They first discussed the dual failure of global environmental governance: it is observed through the fatality of the elaboration of new ambitious norms as well as the implementation of existing norms. Together, they identified several roots of these difficulties. They mainly revolved around the auto-limitation of States and their selfish nature entailed by their Sovereignty on natural resources. Finally, naïve lines of thought to help set up a more efficient and fairer system were put on the table. They imply the return to values in the international landscape and the recognition of a global public interest. As he was leaving, the Martian concluded with a question on the art of reform: how could such changes be accepted by the States? Human history showed that only the occurrence of disasters can provoke deep-seated questioning. Our Martian feared that, for its next time on Earth, he might have little to see.