Part I Context, Ch.3 Origin and History

Human Environment ◽

History Of ◽

In Trans ◽

Legal Concepts ◽

Modern Era

This chapter traces the origin and history of international environmental law. The focus of historical research on the emergence of environment-related legal concepts, principles, and institutions has primarily been on the study and comparison of developments at the level of national law. Even so, the interface with international law is easily documented; the emergence of a body of rules of environmental ‘neighbourliness’ has long been observed in trans-frontier relations between states. Most narratives of the historical evolution of international environmental law distinguish three major ‘periods’, ‘epochs’, or ‘phases’: the ‘traditional era’ until about 1970 (that is, preceding the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm); the ‘modern era’ from Stockholm to the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro (UNCED); and the ‘post-modern era’ from Rio onwards. Ultimately, a striking feature of traditional international environmental law was its territoriality. One much-neglected aspect in this context has been the extraterritorial application of multilateral environmental agreements.

Implementation of International Environmental Law

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197515037.013.28 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Maria Ivanova ◽

Natalia Escobar-Pemberthy ◽

Anna Dubrova ◽

Candace Famiglietti

Keyword(s):

Environmental Law ◽

International Environmental Agreements ◽

National Characteristics ◽

University Of Massachusetts ◽

The University ◽

The Impact ◽

Technical Measures

International environmental law is a key governance instrument for the protection of the environment. Countries take on a range of obligations when they join multilateral environmental agreements. This chapter presents a comparative assessment of the implementation of international environmental law in 13 countries for four agreements dealing with pollution and conservation. It offers an empirical assessment based on the Environmental Conventions Index (ECI) developed at the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and compares performance across four key categories: regulation, management, information, and technical measures. The analysis establishes a baseline for assessing the implementation of international environmental law and explaining the impact of national characteristics, policies, and actions on the fulfillment and effectiveness of international environmental agreements.

Equity

The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552153.013.0027 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shelton Dinah

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Generational Equity ◽

Perceptions Of Fairness ◽

Sovereign Equality ◽

Potential Impact

If perceptions of fairness or equity affect the level of participation and positive action among heterogeneous states, then they are likely to factor in the long-term success of an environmental regime or agreement. This article assesses the potential impact of equity on international environmental law. First, it examines the various meanings attributed to the term ‘equity’ in international law in general, and in international environmental law in particular; the roles equity has played in multilateral environmental agreements; and how different equitable principles are, or may be, implemented in practice. The article then discusses intra-generational equity and inter-generational equity, sovereign equality and equity, distributive justice in international law, principles for determining equitable allocation, and different ways of implementing principles of equity (substantive rules of equity, procedural rules).

Part VIII Compliance, Implementation, and Effectiveness, Ch.52 Transparency Procedures

10.1093/law/9780198849155.003.0052 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sparks Tom ◽

Peters Anne

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Multilateral Environmental Agreements

This chapter explores how information obligations on states—to collect, report, or publish—are an important aspect of most modern multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). These have developed both alongside and as part of a wider ‘turn to transparency’ in international law, resulting in traditional forms of reporting, monitoring, and verification being incorporated into a more extensive set of transparency relationships. The chapter examines transparency as an increasingly important aspect of international environmental law, both as an end in itself and as a means of achieving other substantive goals. It frames transparency in international environmental law within the wider transparency turn. The chapter then looks at the techniques that are employed in customary and conventional environmental law to realize transparency, focusing on the compliance-centred, emancipatory, and advocative functions it performs.

The Evolution of International Environmental Law

The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552153.013.0002 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Peter H. Sand

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

Dispute Settlement ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Human Environment ◽

Environmental Regimes ◽

Environment And Development ◽

Laws And Policies ◽

Stockholm Conference ◽

Modern Era

Close interaction with national laws and policies has been the major driving force for innovation in international environmental law to the point where economists have noted with some perplexity the ‘non-ergodic world’ of environmental regimes, which is subject not only to unforeseeable natural and technological changes, but also teeming with regulatory approaches that are new, often divergent, and competing. Most descriptions of the historical evolution of international environmental law distinguish three or four major ‘periods’ or ‘phases’: the ‘traditional era’ until about 1970 (preceding the 1972 United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment), which is sometimes sub-divided into a pre-1945 and a post-1945 period; the ‘modern era’ from Stockholm to the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro; and the ‘post-modern era’ after Rio. This article discusses developments in treaties during the modern era, along with developments in dispute settlement and national law, and the development of international environmental law as a discipline.

International Environmental Law in the Anthropocene: Towards a Purposive System of Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Transnational Environmental Law ◽

10.1017/s2047102513000149 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 285-309 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Rakhyun E. Kim ◽

Klaus Bosselmann

Keyword(s):

Life Support ◽

Environmental Problem ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Legal Reasoning ◽

Common Denominator ◽

Law System ◽

Strong Candidate

AbstractOur point of analytical departure is that the state of the global environment is deteriorating despite the accumulating body of international environmental law. By drawing on the recent Earth system science concept of interlinked planetary boundaries, this article makes a case for a goal-oriented, purposive system of multilateral environmental agreements. The notion of ‘goal’ is used here to mean a single, legally binding, superior norm – agrundnorm– that gives all international regimes and organizations a shared purpose to which their specific objectives must contribute. A bird’s eye view of the international environmental law system reveals how the absence of a unifying goal has created a condition that is conducive to environmental problemshiftingrather than problemsolving. We argue that a clearly agreed goal would provide the legal system with a point of reference for legal reasoning and interpretation, thereby enhancing institutional coherence across Earth’s subsystems. To this end, this article concludes by observing that the protection of the integrity of Earth’s life-support system has emerged as a common denominator among international environmental law instruments. Accordingly, we suggest that this notion is a strong candidate for the overarching goal of international environmental law.

Enforcement Mechanisms in International Law and International Environmental Law

elni Review ◽

10.46850/elni.2005.001 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 1-12

Author(s):

Jutta Brunnée

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Theoretical Assumptions ◽

Legal Sanctions ◽

Key Features ◽

Enforcement Mechanisms ◽

Common Misconceptions

This essay aims to launch the proceedings of international law on a high note, and to suggest that many common impressions of it are wrong in general, and particularly wrong in the context of international environmental law. Even more particularly, multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) illustrate the maturation and sophistication of international environmental law. If anything, the diversity and flexibility of compliance approaches under MEAs highlight the limited purchase of simple dichotomies such as “binding vs. non-binding” or “enforcement vs. ineffectiveness”. The essay begins by exploring the concept of “enforcement” in international law in general. It suggests that a concept of enforcement as imposition of legal sanctions, or penalties, is unduly narrow. The essay then canvasses some of the main theoretical assumptions about international law and compliance. An exploration of this theoretical context illuminates the reasons underlying common misconceptions about international law and its enforcement, and helps put in perspective the evolution of approaches to compliance in international environmental law. Finally, against the backdrop of these general considerations, the author examines key features of the approaches to compliance and enforcement in international environmental law and MEAs. The aim is to provide a ‘bigger picture’, a context for the detailed discussions of compliance mechanisms that make up the bulk of the conference proceedings.

Part IX International Environmental Law in National/Regional Courts, Ch.62 China

10.1093/law/9780198849155.003.0062 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lin Jolene S

Keyword(s):

Environmental Protection ◽

Public Interest ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Human Environment ◽

Public Interest Litigation ◽

Republic Of China ◽

Global Environmental ◽

Environmental Diplomacy

This chapter investigates international environmental law (IEL) in the courts of China. It is noteworthy that the first international conference that the People's Republic of China (PRC) participated in after it was formally recognized by the United Nations (UN) in 1971, was the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm). It is widely recognized that this conference brought environmental protection onto the Chinese government's radar and led to the promulgation of the Environmental Protection Law in 1979. Since then, China has signed or ratified nearly all multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and is an active participant in global environmental diplomacy. However, Chinese courts do not play a significant role in interpreting or developing IEL. Even if environmental litigation were to flourish due to the steps taken to encourage environmental public interest litigation (EPIL), it is unlikely that IEL will feature prominently in the jurisprudence.

The Dynamic Evolution of International Environmental Law

Victoria University of Wellington Law Review ◽

10.26686/vuwlr.v49i4.5343 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (4) ◽

pp. 607

Author(s):

Karen N Scott

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

21St Century ◽

International Institutions ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Dynamic Evolution ◽

State Responsibility ◽

International Legal System

This article will explore selected innovations within multilateral environmental agreements that have contributed to the dynamic evolution of international environmental law within the context of the traditional rules relating to treaties, international institutions and state responsibility. It will argue that whilst these innovations undoubtedly push and develop the boundaries of these areas of law, they do not represent a significant departure from the traditional principle of consent that underpins international law more generally. But should they? The period of modern international environmental law (from 1972 to date), which from a lawyer's perspective might be described as dynamic and innovative, has simultaneously witnessed significant and persistent environmental change and degradation across the biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere. The question for 21st century environmental lawyers is whether international environmental law is fit for the Anthropocene and whether there is sufficient scope for future dynamic evolution within the constraints and structures of the existing international legal system.

The ‘Global Pact for the Environment’ – A New Instrument to Protect the Planet?

Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law ◽

10.1163/18760104-01501002 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jasmin Raith

Keyword(s):

Environmental Law ◽

Legal Questions ◽

New Instrument ◽

Sound Environment ◽

The Right ◽

Global Agenda ◽

The Relationship

This article aims to shed light on the newly proposed initiative to negotiate a ‘Global Pact for the Environment’. After an overview of the Pact, the article discusses the main provisions of the current draft of the Pact, such as the right to live in an ecologically sound environment, the codification of existing environmental principles and the introduction of new principles. The article examines the relationship between the Pact and existing multilateral environmental agreements and institutions and comes to the conclusion that the stated intention for the Pact to serve as a ‘legal umbrella’ for the existing multilateral environmental treaties raises both political as well as legal questions. Furthermore, the Pact possesses only limited potential to strengthen international environmental law. Nonetheless, the initiative has the potential to trigger reforms in international environmental law by putting the protection of the environment at the top of the global agenda.

Environmentalization of the Law Applicable to Fresh Water

10.1093/oso/9780198863427.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136-186

Author(s):

Laurence Boisson de Chazournes

Keyword(s):

Water Resources ◽

Fresh Water ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Effective Management ◽

Transboundary Water ◽

Transboundary Water Resources ◽

Over Time

This chapter examines how international environmental law contributes to the protection and effective management of fresh water. There has been, over time, a growing awareness of the linkages between water and the environment. Principles and norms of international environmental law have emerged and are incorporated in many treaties dealing with transboundary water resources. Moreover, a number of multilateral environmental agreements are concerned with the protection of these water resources and their institutional mechanisms assist with implementation. International environmental law instruments and those instruments dealing with fresh water complement each other in enhancing the protection and management of fresh water overall.