David Aven y Otros v. Costa Rica: Reflections on the Environmental (Global) Interest in Investment Arbitration Disputes

Abstract

This analysis addresses the international investment arbitration case of David Aven y Otros v. Costa Rica. After describing as a way of introduction the most relevant aspects of the dispute, it is emphasized that the legal issue of the case embodies the tension between the Host State’s duty to protect the invertor’s interest against the duty to protect the (global) public interest of the environment. Subsequently, it is evaluated the position of the Tribunal that gives preference to the (global) public interest of the environment by means of adopting the police-power doctrine and the application of international environmental law; in order to conclude that the Decision answers to the call from the academia to re-balance the equilibrium between the protection to the investments and the protection to the environment.