Relationship Between International Environmental Law and Other Branches of International Law

Author(s):  
Alan Boyle

International environmental law is neither a separate nor a self-contained system or sub-system of law. Rather, it is simply part of international law as a whole. It is true that many ‘environmental’ treaties and other legal instruments have been negotiated over the past half-century, and that the study of international environmental law is to a significant extent a study of these treaties and other instruments. Nevertheless, unlike World Trade Organisation (WTO) law, the law of the sea, or human rights law, international environmental law has never been systematically codified into a single treaty or group of treaties. There is neither a dedicated international environmental organisation nor an international dispute settlement process with the ability to give it coherence. This article provides the link between international environmental law and WTO law, the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, environment and human rights, and dispute settlement and applicable law.

2019 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 211-215
Author(s):  
Davina Oktivana

Yoshifumi Tanaka is a Professor of International Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. He has published widely in the fields of the law of the sea and international environmental law. I had a profound admiration for Tanaka’s writings, particularly in law of the sea subjects. He has a compelling method in deliberating issues comprehensively but still convenient to digest, especially for academicians, practitioners, and law students (postgraduate). Settlement of International Dispute is considered as a foundation of the establishment and the development of International Law. Accordingly, there are plenty of books and writings had published addressing similar topic, however, Tanaka’s book is distinctive. Tanaka successfully gives the reader an exhaustive and extensive analysis of the procedures for dispute settlement both in traditional means and newly development. In addition, He complemented figures and tables to give the reader a comprehensive understanding.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 384-388

This case concerns a claim for damages by the State of Rosmarus following an accidental explosion and leak at an offshore oil rig operated by the State of Urusus and the seizure of an Urusus-flagged fishing vessel by the State of Rosmarus. It involves issues of public international law, including the law of the sea, the law of treaties, and international environmental law.


2017 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 245-247
Author(s):  
Angel Horna

If we look at the development of international law of the sea, an evolution that can be traced back to the emergence of the traditional law of the sea and its transition into its modern version (enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—UNCLOS), I would argue that we are now in the midst of another major moment in the codification and progressive development of international law of the sea, which—on this occasion—also includes the interrelationship between that legal regime and international environmental law, in particular the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the CBD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Silja Vöneky

This article examines current challenges for a normative framework regulating biomedicine, including those arising from the use of big data and machine learning tools, and from the use of the CRISPR/Cas-9 technology, as for instance gene drives. The article focusses on the question of legitimate standard setting and takes into account both “hard” and “soft” law as well as private rule making. This includes international treaties and declarations in the area of human rights law and environmental law, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, and, more specifically, the UNESCO Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights. The author argues that, as instruments of biotechnology and biomedicine merge, international environmental law has to be interpreted in the light of human rights law. In order to adapt to new challenges, the article calls for a humanisation of international environmental law and, because of the ongoing disruptive technological development, argues that further legitimate standard setting is required. Keywords: Biomedicine, Biotechnology, Gene Drives, Standard Setting, CRISPR/Cas-9, Artificial Intelligence


Author(s):  
Kittichaisaree Kriangsak

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) plays a central role as a dispute settlement mechanism for the international law of the sea. This book provides a unique insight into its inner workings exploring both its limitations and its unutilized potentials. New fields such as sea-level rise and the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction play important roles in the ever-expanding scope of the law of the sea. The book charts the evolution of ITLOS and the role it continues to play in international law. It introduces the reader to the historical and legal context for the discussion of ITLOS’s place within this dispute settlement regime, as well as its relationship and interaction with the other choices of dispute settlement mechanisms. It is an invaluable resource for law students, practising lawyers, judges, government and international officials, academics, and those interested in law of the sea.


Author(s):  
Affolder Natasha

This chapter assesses international environmental law in the courts of North America. In particular, it explores the minimal engagement of US, Canadian, and Mexican courts with international environmental law. Environmental law cases in Canada, Mexico, and the United States are not immune to international law and international norms. However, international environmental lawyers may be forced to look to some unlikely and unusual places to find international environmental law's normative influence. Environmental law cases in North America seem poised to engage most significantly with international law not in the ‘bright lights’ but rather on the side-lines, where environmental law norms interface with climate law, private international law, Indigenous law, and human rights law.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
KISHAN KHODAY ◽  
VANESSA LAMB ◽  
TYLER MCCREARY ◽  
KARIN MICKELSON ◽  
USHA NATARAJAN ◽  
...  

Environmental harm is of increasing concern to peoples and states all over the world, whether in relation to ensuring access to healthy air, water, food, and sustainable livelihoods, or coping with the diversity of challenges posed by changing climates and ecologies. While international lawyers have focused on crafting solutions to environmental problems, less attention is paid to the disciplinary role in fostering harmful and unsustainable behavioural patterns. Environmental issues are usually relegated to the specialized field of international environmental law. This project explores instead the role of nature in the general discipline, arguing that the natural environment is a determinative factor in shaping international law, and that assumptions about nature lie at the heart of disciplinary concepts such as sovereignty, development, economy, property, and human rights.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle

AbstractThis presentation starts out with an overview of the environmental jurisprudence of international tribunals and courts in the last decade. The author then examines the jurisprudence of the ITLOS and considers four issues that have arisen: the precautionary principle; environmental impact assessment; environmental co-operation; and jurisdiction over marine environmental disputes. Concluding, he asks what the jurisprudence tells us about the Tribunal's role in the LOSC dispute settlement system. First, the Tribunal's provisional measures cases have established the utility of the Article 290 procedure as a means of protecting the rights of other States but also the marine environment in general. Second, there is evidence in the case law of a desire to settle disputes between the parties in a way that contributes to the development of a consistent jurisprudence and of a willingness to interpret and apply Part XII of the Convention in accordance with the contemporary state of international environmental law. The Tribunal's record on marine environmental disputes is a positive one.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document