Natureza jurídica do desenvolvimento sustentável no direito internacional

Abstract

The article aims to verify the legal status of sustainable development in order to determine its normative quality. It will be applied, in that sense, hypothetical-deductive method developed through bibliographical and documentary research, involving extensive review of the literature combined with the analysis of international jurisprudence and legal instruments on the subject. The establishment of parameters for the determination of the legal status of a concept will allow the verification of the proposal advocated by some internationalists that sustainable development has the quality of a rule of international law, imposing a binding commitment to all States. The article is intended thus to establish the existence of an obligation under the notion of sustainable development. Although there are still uncertainties that make it difficult to determine a duty to develop in a sustainable way, it is enshrined in the international society a commitment to devote determined efforts to achieve this goal. The precept originated from the concept of sustainable development, therefore, refers to an obligation of means. The study shows its relevance, therefore, because underlies and supports an avant-garde and consistent positioning for coping with eminent global dilemmas. Indeed, the validation of the legal enforceability of behaviors related to sustainable development entails the use of the institutional framework of international law in the pursuit of achieving that preciput global goal.