You Can't Eat Biodiversity: Agency and Irrational Norms in European Aquatic Environmental Law
Journal Title: UNKNOWN - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
Policies of the European Union cover a range of social, environmental and economic aspirations and the current environmental directives and laws have evolved from a suite of norms which have changed over time. These may be characterised loosely according to 'Three Ps': Practical, those taking an anthropocentric approach; Pure, those taking an ecocentric approach and Popular, those appealing to the general public. In this paper I use these three perspectives as a tool to analyse the complexity and identify contradictions in European aquatic environmental legislation. Some trade-offs between development and conservation are identified and used to characterise the potential qualities of more successful agency to achieve environmental goals in the governance of European aquatic environments.
Authors and Affiliations
Tim O'Higgins
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