The growing significance of the principle of sustainable development as a legal norm

This chapter seeks to determine the current legal status of the principle of sustainable development in international law. There has been considerable debate about the legal nature of the principle of sustainable development as well as its meaning. Is it really a legal principle? Increased reference to sustainable development – sometimes as a principle but more often as an objective or a concept – has indeed led to its stronger normative power and its stronger legal status. The integration of environmental concerns into decision-making processes has been broadly accepted and it can authoritatively be seen as a firm legal duty. Although many commentators probably think that this process has not gone fast enough, it is the view of the author of this chapter that an extrapolation of the use of the principle of sustainable development will see a further increase of its impact upon judicial reasoning and upon how legal texts will be drafted in the near future.