The Legal Protection of Forests: Ethiopian Green Legacy vs. International Environmental Regimes

Abstract

An international forest sustainability treaty is essential to encourage states to work for restoration and minimize the loss of existing forests. However, such a treaty is unlikely despite the many efforts of different actors, including UN organizations. Due to these barriers, this article analyzes the interconnection and integration among some International Environmental Law instruments including, but not limited to: The Rio-Conventions along with their associated protocols and soft laws. It employed combinations of evaluative and comparative approaches to identify forest issues clearly in definitions, objectives, and existence of target specific goals, integration of laws and practices, and improvements made on forest quality and quantity. As a result, the instruments have minimum legal bases for state parties’ cooperation to enhance forest gain and minimize forest loss. However, they face paradox of convergence and divergence, added to their incompleteness and fragmentation.