Mining and the World Heritage Convention: Democratic Legitimacy and Treaty Compliance

Abstract

Critical role of enforcement and compliance on implementing environmental legislation is discussed. Measuring compliance requires assessing the conformity between a state's behavior and a treaty's explicit rules. One of the greatest challenges for assessing compliance with the World Heritage Convention remains the vagueness surrounding expressed obligations in the treaty. The vagueness reflects the unresolved balancing of precision to secure universal acceptance. Increasing population, demand for natural resources, and other development pressures will create inevitable conflict with a regime to conserve areas of outstanding natural and cultural heritage. Accusations of democratic illegitimacy pose less obvious-but nonetheless significant- threats to the future effectiveness of the Convention. To foster compliance with the World Heritage Convention, it is needed to boldly engage with and address the democratic critiques.