ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 analyses the role of treaty institutions in creating international environmental law and policy. A legal analysis finds that COPs have characteristics similar to international organisations and can act somewhat independently from their parties to further the purpose and effectiveness of environmental treaties. That said, outputs from treaty institutions have only been minimally recognised under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties ‘rules of interpretation’. Interactive law offers an alternative explanation of the normative output of COPs: the source of law is not necessarily the predominant fact influencing the creation of interactive legal obligations; instead, emphasis is placed on fulfilling the criteria of interactive law during decision-making by treaty institutional bodies, such as COPs. A socio-legal analysis uncovers how far the CBD COP goes towards the requirement of ‘just, fair, and inclusive’ decision-making that prioritises environmental issues and exposes shortcomings due to the dynamics revealed within consensus decision-making.
