Abstract
The protection of the “environment” as a goal of international law came much later than that of many other goals, which international law set to pursue in the second half of the twentieth century. The two most important attempts at defining the overarching principles of international law guiding the protection of the environment are the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment and, even more importantly, the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. These instruments have been very influential in international law, shaping a wide number of treaty-regimes, prompting an important body of jurisprudence, and changing the way in which apparently unrelated instruments must be interpreted. Several principles stated in these instruments are the expression in general international law of two ideas, prevention and balance, which are further fleshed out by other principles grounded, essentially, in treaty law, such as the precautionary approach, the prior informed consent requirement, the polluter-pays principle, the principle of inter-generational equity, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, the public participation principle, and a number of concepts such as those of sustainable development, common areas, common heritage and common concern of humankind. All these principles have shaped a substantial body of treaties focusing on different environmental problems, but they have also had a wider influence. This is why the international law of environmental protection should not be considered as a mere ‘branch’ of international law that would take its place alongside other “branches”, but as a “perspective” calling for the reconsideration of international law in its entirety in the light of environmental considerations. This is so not only because the “environment” is concerned by all human activities, from trade and investment to transportation and warfare, but also because international environmental law had to compose with the law of development to a degree that they both merged into what came to be called the international law of sustainable development. The current attempts to re-define international law from a sustainability perspective have the advantage of emphasising the importance of environmental protection as a goal but they also have the disadvantage of preserving a smokescreen behind which much has remained the same.
Harold Samuel Chair of Law and Environmental Policy, University of Cambridge.
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Notes
- 1.
Charter of the United Nations, 24 October 1945, 1 UNTS 16.
- 2.
UN General Assembly, Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, Resolution 2625 (XXV), 24 October 1970, Annex.
- 3.
Sand (2001), p. 33.
- 4.
Macekura (2015), chapters 1 and 2.
- 5.
See, particular, the UN General Assembly resolution sponsored by Brazil and entitled Development and Environment, 20 December 1971, UN Doc. 2849 (XXVI). This resolution strongly emphasises the term development as the paramount objective of international cooperation.
- 6.
Statute of the International Court of Justice, 26 June 1945, 33 UNTS 993, Art. 38.
- 7.
Barberis (1994).
- 8.
Trail Smelter (United States of America v. Canada), Decision of 11 March 1941, RIAA 3, p. 1905, noting at p. 1965 that, “under the principles of international law, as well as of the law of the United States, no State has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another or the proper-ties or persons therein, when the case is of serious consequence and the injury is established by clear and convincing evidence” (italics added).
- 9.
See the doctoral dissertation of one of the founding authorities in the field, Professor Alexandre Kiss (1953).
- 10.
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, 16 June 1972, UN Doc. A/CONF 48/14/Rev.1, pp. 2 et seq.
- 11.
Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 13 June 1992, UN Doc. A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1.
- 12.
Viñuales (2015), Preliminary study.
- 13.
Sohn (1973); Sands (1994); United Nations Secretary-General, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. E/CN.17/1997/8, 10 February 1997; Dupuy (1997); Epiney and Scheyli (1998); De Sadeleer (1999); Francioni (2007); Boisson de Chazournes and Maljean-Dubois (2011); Viñuales (2015).
- 14.
The writings on specific principles are very numerous. One must single out, among them, the influential book by Brown Weiss (1989).
- 15.
Munro and Lammers (1987).
- 16.
Commission on Sustainable Development, Report of the Expert Group Meeting on Identification of Principles of International Law for Sustainable Development, Geneva, Switzerland, 26–28 September 1995.
- 17.
Institut de Droit International, Resolution on “Environment” (Rapporteur L. Ferrari Bravo); Resolution on “Responsibility and Liability under International Law for Environmental Damage” (Rapporteur F. Orrego Vicuña); Resolution on “Procedures for the Adoption and Implementation of Rules in the Field of Environment” (Rapporteur F. Paolillo), all adopted at the Strasbourg Session (1997).
- 18.
International Law Commission, Draft articles on the prevention of transboundary harm from hazardous activities (2001), UN Doc. GAOR A/56/10 (ILC Prevention Articles).
- 19.
International Law Association, New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development, 2 April 2002. This declaration was followed by an instrument adopted by the ILA Committee on International Law on Sustainable Development, Resolution no. 7/2012, Annex: 2012 Sofia Guiding Statements on the Judicial Elaboration of the 2002 New Delhi Declaration of Principles of International Law Relating to Sustainable Development.
- 20.
I have developed this point in Viñuales (2013b).
- 21.
ICJ, Certain activities carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua), Construction of a road in Costa Rica along the river San Juan (Nicaragua v. Costa Rica), Judgment of 16 December 2015, ICJ Reports 2015, p. 665, para. 104 (italics added).
- 22.
Viñuales (2017b), p. 71.
- 23.
Dupuy and Viñuales (2018), chapter 3.
- 24.
See, e.g., the French Initiative for a Global Environment Pact. http://www.leclubdesjuristes.com/projet-de-pacte-mondial-lenvironnement/. Accessed 8 Nov 2017.
- 25.
I have developed this point in some detail in Viñuales (2013a).
- 26.
See, among others, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 10 December 1982 (UNCLOS), 1833 UNTS 396; Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 29 December 1972 (London Convention), subsequently modified by the Protocol of 7 November 1996 to the Convention of 1972 on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, 7 November 1996, 1046 UNTS 120 (London Convention); International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 2 November 1973, amended by the Protocol of 17 February 1978 (MARPOL 73/78), 1340 UNTS 184.
- 27.
See, in particular, the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, 18 March 1992 (Helsinki Convention), 1936 UNTS 269 and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, 21 May 1997 (UN Convention on Watercourses), 36 ILM 700.
- 28.
See the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, adopted in Geneva on 13 November 1979, 1302 UNTS 217, subsequently extended by eight protocols, including the Gothenburg Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on the Reduction of Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-Level Ozone, 30 November 1999, Document of the Economic and Social Council EB.AIR/1999/1.
- 29.
See the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, 22 March 1985, 1513 UNTS 293, and its Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, 16 September 1987, 1522 UNTS 28.
- 30.
See the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 9 May 1992 (UNFCCC), 1771 UNTS 107 and its extensions in the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, 11 December 1997 (Kyoto Protocol), 2302 UNTS 148 and the Paris Agreement, Adoption of the Paris Agreement, Decision 1/CP.21, 12 December 2015, FCCC/CP/2015/L.9, Annex.
- 31.
See, among many others, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, 2 December 1946, 161 UNTS 361; the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, 3 March 1973 (CITES), 993 UNTS 243; and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, 23 June 1979, 1651 UNTS 333.
- 32.
See, among many others, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat, 2 February 1971 (Ramsar Convention), 996 UNTS 245, and the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (WHC), 16 November 1972, 1037 UNTS 151.
- 33.
See, in particular, the Convention on Biological Diversity, 5 June 1992 (CBD), 1760 UNTS 79, extended by its Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 29 January 2000 (Biosafety Protocol), 2226 UNTS 208 and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, 29 October 2012. https://www.cbd.int/abs/doc/protocol/nagoya-protocol-en.pdf. Accessed 19 Dec 2017.
- 34.
See, in particular, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, 10 September 1998 (Rotterdam Convention or PIC Convention), 2244 UNTS 337, and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, 22 May 2001 (Stockholm Convention), 2256 UNTS 119.
- 35.
See, in particular, the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, 22 March 1989 (Basel Convention), 1673 UNTS 57, as well as a regional instrument, the Bamako Convention on the Ban on the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa, 30 January 1991 (Bamako Convention), 30 ILM 773.
- 36.
See, in particular, the Convention of the United Nations Commission for Europe on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, 17 March 1992 (Convention on Industrial Accidents), 2105 UNTS 457, as well as the Convention on Nuclear Safety, 17 June 1994, 1963 UNTS 293.
- 37.
See the aforementioned Stockholm and Rio Declarations.
- 38.
See, in particular, the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context, 25 February 1991 (Espoo Convention), 1989 UNTS 309.
- 39.
See the Convention on Civil Liability for Damage Resulting from Activities Dangerous to the Environment, 21 June 1993 (Lugano Convention, not yet in force). https://rm.coe.int/168007c079. Accessed 19 Dec 2017. More specific regimes are in force for oil pollution damage and liability for nuclear accidents.
- 40.
Attempts at developing a world environmental court or even, more modestly, to establish special environmental chambers in existing international courts have been unsuccessful. Although two chambers (within the ICJ and ITLOS) were created, they have not been used.
- 41.
On the transversal/sectorial cartography see Viñuales (2017a).
- 42.
Decision XXVIII/1, Further amendment of the Montreal Protocol, 14 October 2016, Doc. UNEP/OzL.Pro.28/CRP/10; Decision XXVIII/2, Decision related to the amendment phasing down hydrofluorocarbons, 14 October 2016, Doc. UNEP/OzL.Pro.28/CRP/10 (together the Kigali Amendment).
- 43.
See In the matter of the South China Sea Arbitration before and Arbitral Tribunal constituted under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Republic of the Philippines v. People’s Republic of China), PCA Case No. 2013-19, Award of 12 July 2016 (South China Sea Arbitration), para. 941.
- 44.
See Dispute Concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in the Atlantic Ocean (Ghana/Côte d’Ivoire), ITLOS Case no. 23, Order of 25 April 2015, paras. 68–73; Request for an Advisory Opinion Submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission (SRFC), ITLOS Case No 21 (IUU Advisory Opinion), Advisory Opinion of 2 April 2015, paras. 111–112; South China Sea Arbitration, para 941.
- 45.
See UN General Assembly, Resolution 70/1, Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN doc A/RES/70/1, 21 October 2015, including the SDGs.
- 46.
Henckaerts and Doswald-Beck (2009).
- 47.
This point is further developed in Chuffart and Viñuales (2014), pp. 286–307.
- 48.
ECtHR, Tătar v. Romania, Application No. 67021/01, Judgment of 27 January 2009, paras. 69 and 118.
- 49.
ECtHR, Ivan Atanasov v Bulgaria, Application No. 12853/03, Judgment of 12 December 2010, paras. 55–57.
- 50.
ECtHR, Taskin and others v Turkey, Application No. 46117/99, Judgment of 10 November 2004, paras. 98–100.
- 51.
Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, 25 June 1998, 2161 UNTS 447.
- 52.
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, 4 November 1950 (ECHR), 213 UNTS 221.
- 53.
WTO Dispute Settlement Body, European Communities – Measures concerning Meat and Meat Products (Hormones), Report of the Appellate Body, 16 January 1998, Doc. WT/DS26/AB/R, WT/DS48/AB/R, paras. 120–123.
- 54.
WTO Dispute Settlement Body, European Communities – Measures affecting the Approval and Marketing of Biotech Products, Report of the Panel, 29 September 2006, Doc. WT/DS291/R, WT/DS292/R, WT/DS293/R, paras. 7.88–7.90.
- 55.
WTO Dispute Settlement Body, United States – Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products, Report of the Appellate Body, 12 October 1998, Doc. WT/DS58/AB/R, paras. 129–132.
- 56.
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organisation, 15 April 1994, 1867 UNTS 154.
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Viñuales, J.E. (2018). The Influence of Environmental Protection on the Fabric of International Law. In: Pisillo Mazzeschi, R., De Sena, P. (eds) Global Justice, Human Rights and the Modernization of International Law. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90227-2_12
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