has to be determined whether the guidelines will provide requirements for soil and
land management.
57
To sum up, soil related provisions could be found in various treaties such as the
UNCCD, the CBD and the UNFCCC. There is no overarching soil treaty which sets
a general framework or coordinate the various actions.
58 Neither the UNCCD, nor
the CBD or the UNFCCC foresee soil specific provisions. The factual level of
regulatory effects on soil conservation is thus very limited.
4.2 General Concepts
Any time the need of additional international rules for soils is mentioned, the usual
reaction for the time being is that there is no appetite within the international community for new treaties or organizations. This simple and at the first glance convincing
statement is actually wrong—at least in its generality. The following should quickly
underline that in the last years several international treaties were substantially amended
or even newly adopted. In 2013, for example, the Contracting Parties of the 1996
Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Wastes and other Matter,
59 adopted a major—legally binding—amendment to the
London Protocol concerning marine geo-engineering.
60 The Minamata- Convention
on Mercury
61 and the Paris Agreement were adopted in 2013 and in 2015. Both of them
are therefore newly adopted international treaties.
There have been also several proposals for proposals for additional instruments
on soil governance which have been submitted by experts. First the IUCN draft
Protocol on security and sustainable use of soils has to be mentioned.
62 Second: an
expert group which was established after the first Global Soil Week in Berlin 2013
provided the idea of a “thematic annex” to UNCCD on soil protection.
63 However,
no negotiation process concerning an international regime has been set up so far.
Even the UNCCD although establishing itself as the international lead organization
57 See Fee (2018).
58 Hannam and Boer (2002), p. 62.
59 Further information under http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/LCLP/Pages/default.
aspx.
60 Section 4 and Annex 4 of the Report of the 35th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to
the London Convention and 8th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol, LC 35/15,
21 October 2013.
For an assessment of the amendment see Ginzky and Frost (2014).
61 Further information under: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Convention/Text/tabid/3426/lan
guage/en-US/Default.aspx.
62 IUCN Draft Protocol on security and sustainable use of soils, Sept 2009, by IUCN Commission
on Environmental Law Specialist Group on Sustainable Use of Soils and Desertification.
63 A discussion paper is available under: http://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/files/gsw_
leg_discussion_paper_options_unccd_endg_0.pdf.
46
H. Ginzky
land management.
57
To sum up, soil related provisions could be found in various treaties such as the
UNCCD, the CBD and the UNFCCC. There is no overarching soil treaty which sets
a general framework or coordinate the various actions.
58 Neither the UNCCD, nor
the CBD or the UNFCCC foresee soil specific provisions. The factual level of
regulatory effects on soil conservation is thus very limited.
4.2 General Concepts
Any time the need of additional international rules for soils is mentioned, the usual
reaction for the time being is that there is no appetite within the international community for new treaties or organizations. This simple and at the first glance convincing
statement is actually wrong—at least in its generality. The following should quickly
underline that in the last years several international treaties were substantially amended
or even newly adopted. In 2013, for example, the Contracting Parties of the 1996
Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of
Wastes and other Matter,
59 adopted a major—legally binding—amendment to the
London Protocol concerning marine geo-engineering.
60 The Minamata- Convention
on Mercury
61 and the Paris Agreement were adopted in 2013 and in 2015. Both of them
are therefore newly adopted international treaties.
There have been also several proposals for proposals for additional instruments
on soil governance which have been submitted by experts. First the IUCN draft
Protocol on security and sustainable use of soils has to be mentioned.
62 Second: an
expert group which was established after the first Global Soil Week in Berlin 2013
provided the idea of a “thematic annex” to UNCCD on soil protection.
63 However,
no negotiation process concerning an international regime has been set up so far.
Even the UNCCD although establishing itself as the international lead organization
57 See Fee (2018).
58 Hannam and Boer (2002), p. 62.
59 Further information under http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Environment/LCLP/Pages/default.
aspx.
60 Section 4 and Annex 4 of the Report of the 35th Consultative Meeting of Contracting Parties to
the London Convention and 8th Meeting of Contracting Parties to the London Protocol, LC 35/15,
21 October 2013.
For an assessment of the amendment see Ginzky and Frost (2014).
61 Further information under: http://www.mercuryconvention.org/Convention/Text/tabid/3426/lan
guage/en-US/Default.aspx.
62 IUCN Draft Protocol on security and sustainable use of soils, Sept 2009, by IUCN Commission
on Environmental Law Specialist Group on Sustainable Use of Soils and Desertification.
63 A discussion paper is available under: http://www.iass-potsdam.de/sites/default/files/files/gsw_
leg_discussion_paper_options_unccd_endg_0.pdf.
46
H. Ginzky