International environmental law can be located in both environmental law and international law. It is transboundary, multi-disciplinary, cross-sectoral and based on natural science and a systems approach to sustainable development, as will be described in the following chapters. International environmental law is one of the fastest-growing areas of law and one which will affect governments, business and industry, nongovernmental organizations, and local communities in many areas of decision-making in the future. Principles of international environmental law are emerging which reflect interrelationships between nature and human activity. New law is found in multilateral environmental treaties and in “soft law” declarations from meetings and conferences. Soft law and treaties are affected by the participation of many stakeholders in the underlying economic, social, and political issues. Principles of international environmental law include “common but differentiated responsibilities”, “the polluter pays”, “the precautionary principle”, “intergenerational equity”, and “sustainable development”.
The two decades since the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment have seen extraordinary change. In 1972, there were only about three dozen multilateral treaties concerned with environment. Today over 900 legal instruments are fully concerned with environmental protection or contain important environmental provisions. The agreements have expanded in scope and become increasingly detailed. In 1972 environment was a new subject in international law. Today it is mainstream. Moreover, it is integrally linked with international economic law through the concept of sustainable development.
How we make, implement, and comply with international environmental law has been changing. The traditional model centers on states, relies on legal instruments to provide fixed solutions to clearly defined problems in a world that changes slowly, and assumes that states comply with most of their obligations most of the time. The line between international and national law is sharply drawn, and there is a strong preference for binding agreements. But the world is moving to a dynamic, more open, and complex system. In this system, states are still key actors but other actors are also important; international and national law are dynamically joined: and non-binding legal instruments are attractive.
The new model is a network of states, intergovernmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, transnational corporations and industry associations, national and subnational nongovernmental organizations, transnational expert communities and ad hoc associations that are intricately connected through binding and non-binding or incompletely binding international legal instruments and associated institutions. While this development can be seen in international environmental law, it is also apparent in other areas of international law. It has important implications for the transformation of sovereignty.
Several global developments contribute to this transition in international environmental law: the linkage of environmental protection with economic competitiveness, the blurring of the clear distinction between international and local occurrences, the rise of non-state actors, such as environmental organizations and industry associations, advances in information technology, and the increasingly rapid rate of change in many aspects of society, especially in our scientific understanding of environmental issues.
The two decades since the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment have seen extraordinary change. In 1972, there were only about three dozen multilateral treaties concerned with environment. Today over 900 legal instruments are fully concerned with environmental protection or contain important environmental provisions. The agreements have expanded in scope and become increasingly detailed. In 1972 environment was a new subject in international law. Today it is mainstream. Moreover, it is integrally linked with international economic law through the concept of sustainable development.
How we make, implement, and comply with international environmental law has been changing. The traditional model centers on states, relies on legal instruments to provide fixed solutions to clearly defined problems in a world that changes slowly, and assumes that states comply with most of their obligations most of the time. The line between international and national law is sharply drawn, and there is a strong preference for binding agreements. But the world is moving to a dynamic, more open, and complex system. In this system, states are still key actors but other actors are also important; international and national law are dynamically joined: and non-binding legal instruments are attractive.
The new model is a network of states, intergovernmental organizations, international nongovernmental organizations, transnational corporations and industry associations, national and subnational nongovernmental organizations, transnational expert communities and ad hoc associations that are intricately connected through binding and non-binding or incompletely binding international legal instruments and associated institutions. While this development can be seen in international environmental law, it is also apparent in other areas of international law. It has important implications for the transformation of sovereignty.
Several global developments contribute to this transition in international environmental law: the linkage of environmental protection with economic competitiveness, the blurring of the clear distinction between international and local occurrences, the rise of non-state actors, such as environmental organizations and industry associations, advances in information technology, and the increasingly rapid rate of change in many aspects of society, especially in our scientific understanding of environmental issues.