Unravelling the legal labyrinth: Investigating barriers to effective adoption and enforcement of international environmental law in domestic jurisdictions

It is widely recognised that mitigating anthropogenic impacts on the environment depends on the cooperation between stakeholders in the policy-making sector. However, challenges to the implementation of environmental policies continue to be identified. It has been suggested that the reason for the failure of environmental legislation lies in the Homo economicus model, which is based on self-interest and the prioritisation of the economy over the well-being of the environment. This paper proposes that other factors such as non-compliance, gaps in research and information as well as regime type also influence the implementation success of environmental laws. A semi-systematic literature review was conducted to critically examine the reasons for non-implementation of water law in Global North and Global South countries. The results show that non-compliance stems from the ambiguity in key concepts. This leads to misinterpretation, lack of legal enforcement and misinformation from educational differences between the Global North and Global South. This suggests that the underlying foundational principle of environmental laws, which are formed in treaties, are a significant reason for the failure of environmental laws. Furthermore, insights into the regime type and economically dependent countries can contribute to the level of policy implementation. The findings of this paper can help to understand the fragmented perspectives on the reason for environmental failure. Further, it opens topics for discussion on how to improve international environmental laws to allow for appropriate adoption into national legislation.