International law evolved to protect human rights. But what are human
rights? Does the term have the same meaning in a world being
transformed by climate change and globalized trade? Are existing laws
sufficient to ensure humanity's survival? Westra argues that
international law privileges individual over collective rights,
permitting multinational corporations to overlook the collective and
the environment in their quest for wealth. Unless policy makers
redefine human rights and reformulate environmental law to protect the
preconditions for life itself -- water, food, clean air, and
biodiversity -- humankind faces the complete loss of the ecological
commons, one of our most basic human rights.

Foreword / William E. Rees

Introduction

Part 1: Basic Collective Rights for Law and Morality -- TheTheory

1 Individual Rights and Collective Rights in Conflict: TheEcocentric Perspective and the Commons

2 The Common Good and the Public Interest: Jus Cogens Norms and ErgaOmnes Obligations in a Lawless World

3 Communities and Collectives: The Interface

Part 2: Collective Rights, Globalization, and Democracy --The Practice

4 Collective Basic Rights Today

5 Globalization, Democracy, and Collective Rights

6 Cosmopolitanism, the Moral Community, and Collective HumanRights

Part 3: Toward a New Cosmopolitanism

7 World Law or International Legal Instruments? Toward theProtection of Basic Collective Human Rights

Conclusion

Notes

Works Cited