July 2011: The International Development Law Organisation (IDLO) launched an online research tool on “Sustainable Development in the Decisions of International Courts and Tribunals 1992-2012.”

Launched at an international experts panel in Rome, Italy, in June 2011, the tool was developed in cooperation with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law (CISDL), the International Law Association (ILA) International Law on Sustainable Development Committee, and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (LCIL) at Cambridge University. The tool is organized into eight sections: sustainable development, sustainable use of natural resources, equity and poverty eradication, integration, precaution, openness, common but differentiated responsibilities, and good governance.

The online tool allows users to research how international courts and tribunals have referred to or used the concept of sustainable development, in the period from 1992 to 2012, as well as to research related international legal principles, including the seven principles of sustainable development found in the ILA New Delhi Declaration of 2002.

At the experts panel, IDLO also released a publication commenting on the three objectives for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), from the international sustainable development law perspective of IDLO and its partners. CISDL and IDLO completed this document on behalf of the International Law for Sustainable Development Partnership. [Rio+20 News] [OnLine Tool] [Publication: IDLO Questionnaire]