This chapter places Engel’s scholarship on the Earth Charter into a historical and biographical context that is vital for understanding his thought. It is also based on the premise that understanding something of Engel’s intellectual history is important for grasping his views on the development of the Earth Charter, the history of environmental social ethics and conservation, and how humanity might progress global ethics into the future.

The ‘common heritage of mankind’ is a controversial and revolutionary legal concept. Its original purpose was to move the law from a competitive system that reflected the national interests of powerful states to one that requires global co-operation for the benefit of all humanity. In fulfilling this purpose it attempts to change traditional international law radically. At the same time it attempts to overcome the territorial obsession that remains at the core of international environmental law. Ecological systems are an integrated but complex whole that transcend legal and political jurisdictions. Accordingly, ecological protection, social equity and peace are central to the concept of the common heritage of mankind. In practice the concept represents a limitation on the exercise by states of their rights of sovereignty – a radical change. Where such rights to not exist, it creates the basis for a commons based governance regime. Notwithstanding its critics, escalating global ecological degradation, ongoing inability to arrest the tragedy of the commons and creeping sovereignty all ensure the continued relevance of this legal concept. This is reflected in continual efforts to apply it to natural and cultural heritage, marine living resources, global ecological systems – such as the atmosphere – and, at the highest level of integration, the entire Earth System. This chapter considers its origins, use in treaty regimes, specific elements and normative foundations. It then considers how the common heritage of mankind is and can be used in practice to progress international environmental law.

This chapter introduces the Earth Trusteeship Initiative as a vehicle for realizing the ethical demands made in this book. The covenantal approach to overcoming our predicament is indispensable. Covenantal ethics must be the guide for global governance. What exactly this entails will manifest itself in many forms and shapes. The book’s chapters are proof of the fact that ethically informed decision making is needed everywhere and at all levels of governance: at community level, at national level and at the global level. Rooted democratic ecological citizenship is a wellspring for an emergent global polis that demands and supports this transformation.