Part IV Normative Development, Ch.24 Multilateral Environmental Treaty Making

Normative Development ◽

Regulatory Processes ◽

Environmental Regimes ◽

Environmental Treaty ◽

New Knowledge ◽

International Instruments

This chapter reflects on multilateral environmental treaty making. From its inception, international environmental law has consisted primarily of treaties and other forms of negotiated instruments, which offer several advantages over more informal mechanisms of international cooperation. Traditionally, treaties were comparatively static arrangements, memorializing the rights and duties of the parties as agreed at a particular point in time. Today, environmental agreements are usually dynamic arrangements, establishing ongoing regulatory processes. The result is that, in most environmental regimes, the treaty text itself represents just the tip of the normative iceberg. Most norms are adopted through more flexible techniques, which allow international environmental law to respond quickly to the emergence of new problems and new knowledge. The chapter then introduces the basic types of international instruments, analysing why states negotiate and accept them. It describes the process by which agreements are created, from the inception of negotiations to the adoption and entry into force of the resulting instrument. The chapter also explores various design issues in developing international 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 ◽

Multilateral 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.

Compliance Theory

The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552153.013.0039 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ronald B. Mitchell

Keyword(s):

International Relations ◽

Environmental Changes ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Good Faith ◽

Behavioural Changes ◽

Induced Compliance ◽

The Difference

International lawyers and legal scholars often assess the effects of international environmental agreements (IEAs) in terms of the extent to which states comply with their commitments. International relations scholars tend to examine IEA effects through a broader set of questions. They are concerned with any behavioural or environmental changes that can be attributed to an IEA – whether these changes involve compliance or not and regardless of whether these changes were desired, unintended, or even perverse. International relations scholars also focus on the reasons why states change their behaviour and what aspects, if any, of an IEA explain those behavioural changes. To see the difference between these approaches, consider four categories of behaviour: treaty-induced compliance, coincidental compliance, good faith non-compliance, and intentional non-compliance. This article reviews the theoretical terrain and shows that nominally ‘competing’ perspectives have different insights to offer those seeking to improve the practice of international environmental law.

Treaty-Making and Treaty Evolution

The Oxford Handbook of International Environmental Law ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199552153.013.0020 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Thomas Gehring

Keyword(s):

Environmental Governance ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Normative Development ◽

Single Output ◽

Environmental Treaty ◽

Different Types ◽

The Law ◽

Law Making ◽

Institutional Fragmentation

This article examines how the establishment and operation of environmental treaty systems helps to create and develop international environmental law. It inquires into the emergence of environmental treaty systems and identifies two characteristics of the evolving law-making structure: first, the ‘constitutionalisation’ of treaty systems through the creation of new structures for the making of international environmental law, and, second, the institutional fragmentation of international environmental governance. The article then considers the policy-making dimension of environmental treaty systems and identifies three areas of intra-institutional activity relevant to the law-making process: broadening and tightening commitments over time; elaborating upon, and in some cases redefining, existing obligations through an administrative process; and undertaking scientific and technical assessments to reinforce and accelerate normative development. It also explores the output of the law-making process, arguing that different types of law emerge. Whereas regular treaty law is still the most important single output of environmental law-making, it is supplemented by law emerging from simplified amendment procedures and secondary decisions of competent treaty bodies.

What We Know (and Could Know) About International Environmental Agreements

Global Environmental Politics ◽

10.1162/glep_a_00544 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 103-121

Author(s):

Ronald B. Mitchell ◽

Liliana B. Andonova ◽

Mark Axelrod ◽

Jörg Balsiger ◽

Thomas Bernauer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Governance ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Teaching Tool ◽

Design Features ◽

International Environmental Governance ◽

Graduate Teaching ◽

Research Questions

Initiated in 2002, the International Environmental Agreements Data Base (IEADB) catalogs the texts, memberships, and design features of over 3,000 multilateral and bilateral environmental agreements. Using IEADB data, we create a comprehensive review of the evolution of international environmental law, including how the number, subjects, and state memberships in IEAs have changed over time. By providing IEA texts, the IEADB helps scholars identify and systematically code IEA design features. We review scholarship derived from the IEADB on international environmental governance, including insights into IEA membership, formation, and design as well as the deeper structure of international environmental law. We note the IEADB’s value as a teaching tool to promote undergraduate and graduate teaching and research. The IEADB’s structure and content opens up both broad research realms and specific research questions, and facilitates the ability of scholars to use the IEADB to answer those questions of greatest interest to them.

The status of sea turtles under International environmental law and International environmental agreements

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy ◽

10.1080/13880290209353997 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 5 (1-2) ◽

pp. 11-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Chris Wold

Keyword(s):

Sea Turtles ◽

Environmental Law ◽

The Status

The 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution: Assessing its Effectiveness as a Multilateral Environmental Regime after 35 Years

Transnational Environmental Law ◽

10.1017/s2047102514000296 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 37-67 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Adam Byrne

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

International Law ◽

Long Range ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Geneva Convention ◽

Transboundary Air Pollution ◽

Environmental Regimes ◽

Effectiveness Assessment

AbstractThere is no definitive approach to assessing the effectiveness of international environmental regimes. In order to explore the regime established by the 1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution this article broadly integrates the approach to effectiveness taken by Peter H. Sand inThe Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements,and Daniel Bodansky inThe Art and Craft of International Environmental Law. The article finds that compliance, institutional, and normative effectiveness can be evaluated relatively confidently. An effectiveness assessment of the long-range transboundary air pollution (LRTAP) regime indicates that, on the whole, it has helped states to reach agreement on contentious issues and achieve results in air pollution reduction. However, it faces significant challenges with regard to participation, implementation procedures, empowerment of domestic stakeholders, and funding. The article provides an in-depth and up-to-date look at the LRTAP regime, including the most recent amendments and its relationship with European Union and international law.

Edith Brown Weiss, Daniel B. Magraw, & Paul C. Szasz, International Environmental Law: Basic Instruments and References , Harald Hohmann (ed.), Basic Documents of International Environmental Law , Nicholas A. Robinson (ed.), Agenda 21 and the UNCED Proceedings and Peter H. Sand (ed.), The Effectiveness of International Environmental Agreements

Yearbook of International Environmental Law ◽

10.1093/yiel/3.1.622 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 622-628

Author(s):

A.O. Adede

Keyword(s):

Environmental Law ◽

Agenda 21 ◽

International Environmental Law

FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ECOSYSTEM APPROACH IN INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW BEFORE THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

10.33002/jelp001.03 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 001 (001) ◽

pp. 47-85

Author(s):

Yevhenii Suietnov

Keyword(s):

Biological Diversity ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Ecosystem Approach ◽

Convention On Biological Diversity ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Holistic Concept ◽

General Aspects

The article analyses general aspects of the formation and development of the ecosystem approach in international environmental law before the adoption and entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity. On the grounds of thorough and complex research encompassing the main international environmental agreements and scientists’ views, it is concluded that the issues of protection and conservation of natural ecosystems and implementation of the ecosystem approach had already received wide support at the international level by that time, whereas adopted agreements created the necessary base for the further formation and development of the ecosystem approach as a holistic concept under the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Part IV Normative Development, Ch.23 Customary International Law and the Environment

10.1093/law/9780198849155.003.0023 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dupuy Pierre-Marie ◽

Le Moli Ginevra ◽

Viñuales Jorge E

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Environmental Law ◽

Case Law ◽

Customary International Law ◽

Normative Development ◽

Environmental Norms ◽

Environmental Interests

This chapter highlights how, despite the large number of environmental agreements at all levels, the role of customary international law remains key in practice. First, many treaties in force remain largely unimplemented. Secondly, treaties only bind those states parties to them, and that introduces sometimes important variations in the scope of environmental agreements. Thirdly, there is at present no treaty formulating binding overarching principles interweaving sectorial environmental agreements. As a result, it is often necessary to revert to customary norms when difficulties of interpretation or implementation arise. Fourthly, custom is important to mediate between a range of environmental and non-environmental interests governed by different treaties. Finally, custom plays an important role in disputes concerning a disputed area or where there is no applicable treaty. The chapter then analyses the process of custom formation with reference to environmental norms in order to show both the ‘banality’ and the peculiarities of this process. It also looks at the content of customary international environmental law as recognized in the case law.

International Environmental Law

10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.229 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Chenaz B. Seelarbokus

Keyword(s):

Environmental Law ◽

First Century ◽

International Treaties ◽

Environmental Cooperation ◽

The Subject ◽

International Laws ◽

The Common

Over the course of the twenty-first century, international environmental cooperation has been spurred through various new international environmental institutions and programs, and a dramatic strengthening of international environmental law-making. With the burst of environmental treaty-making the corpus of international environmental law (IEL) has expanded to include significant international environmental agreements (IEAs) in the sphere of climate change, ozone layer depletion, biodiversity, and so on; as well as the recognition of important principles such as good neighborliness and the common heritage. IEAs function similarly to international treaties—indeed, the only difference between an IEA and other international treaties lies in the subject matter. IEAs function as the instrument for laying down the principles of international laws binding upon states was established by the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Over the years, IEAs have not simply increased in number, but have also undergone an evolution in their structural design. In the early 1930s, IEAs tended to be simple in terms of their requirements, vague in terms of their objectives, and utilitarian in their ethos for protecting the environment. With time, however, as environmental sciences evolved to incorporate new principles and concepts, the structure of IEAs has followed in tandem to incorporate the new understandings and the new concerns.