Emergence - Development - Actors of International Environmental Law (IEL)

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Emergence - Development - Actors
of
International Environmental Law (IEL)
Az.-Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt

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International environmental law (IEL)
• IEL consists of rules relevant to the environment.
• IEL aims at protection of environment +
attainment of sustainable development.
• IEL = the newest / youngest branch of International Law;
• IEL = Part of public international law (PIL) and
• IEL = Lex Specialis in relation to PIL
• IEL = largely treaty based.
– treaties tend to follow a general framework format with
– detailed protocols specifying the implementation of the treaties and
– annexes containing rapidly changing, complex technical information.
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It is important to examine these protocols and annexes carefully in order to
determine what actions are prohibited or required.
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt
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3.

Emergence + Characteristics
IEL emerged in the mid-1960s
although
Precedents for IEL in 19th + early 20th century.
From the late 19th century to the beginning of 1970s, the regulation of environmental
problems moved from a:
– Resource-oriented Logic to a more conservative one
– Conservation/Preservation/Safeguarding of the resource +
–
Protection of the environment was valued beyond immediate economic benefits, i.e. Protection of
the environment per se (not only as a useful resource)
–
Sophistication of legal techniques
Since 1970s the need to protect environment became a pressing policy issue in the
international legal agenda.
but
Newly Independent + Developing States struggled to ensure that environmental
regulation/protection does not impose a straitjacket on developmental policies.
From Economic growth to Environmental protection
Developmental Considerations became stronger after 2002 Johannesburg + after 2012 Rio
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Precedents
• Governing the exploitation of resources
– Bering Sea Fur Seals Arbitration (US v. UK) 1867
• Transboundary damage
– Trail Smelter Arbitration (US v. Canada) 1935-1941
• No State has the right to use or permit the use of its
territory in such a manner as to cause injury … in or to the
territory of another state or the properties or persons
therein, when the case is of serious consequence and the
injury is established by a clear and convincing evidence.
– Corfu Channel Case (UK v. Albania) 1949
• Use of watercourses
– Lake Lanoux Arbitration (Spain v. France)1957
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt
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Permanent Sovereignty over natural resources
• UN GA Res. 1803 (1962) on „Permanent
Sovereignity over Natural Resoucres“
„The right of peoples and nations to permanent
soverignty over their natural wealth and
rousources must be exercised in the interst of
their national development and of the wellbeing of the people of the State concerned.“
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt
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6.

Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment
(5-16 June 1972)
• 1st UN-world conference on the subject of environment
– first major step in a process of codifying + developing IEL as a separate
but integral part of PIL
– considered as the beginning of the international environmental policy
– Participation of more than 1.200 representatives of 112 states + 400 NGOs
• focused mainly on protecting “the human environment”
• adoption of major initiatives concerning the normative, institutional,
programmatic + financial aspects of the environment at internat. level.
– first initiative was the adoption of Stockholm Declaration 1972 which
intended to inspire and guide the peoples of the world in the
preservation and enhancement of the human environment.
– second initiative was the agreement to establish a new institution
within UN , i.e. the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
– The third initiative was the adoption of “the Action Plan” for the
development of environmental policy administered by the UNEP.
See U.N. Doc. A/CONF. 48/14/Rev. 1; 11 I.L.M. (1972) 1416.
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt
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7.

Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment
(5-16 June 1972)
• After 1972 Stockholm Conference, the UN GA established
• “the United Nations Environmental Programme” (UNEP)
– as a subsidiary organ to deal with environmental issues.
• Since 1972: remarkable proliferation of internat. instruments
involving
air pollution, marine pollution,
global warming + ozone depletion,
dangers of nuclear and other extra-hazardous substances,
Antarctica, and threatened wildlife species
• Moreover, after the 1972, the UN GA has adopted a number
of resolutions concerning the environment – e.g.:
G.A. Res. 2398(XXII); G.A. Res. 2997(XXII); G.A. Res. 188(34); G.A. Res. 250(37);
G.A. Res. 187(42); G.A. Res. 228(44); G.A. Res. 212(45) ; and G.A. Res. 188(47).
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Milestones
from Stockholm (1972) to Rio (1992)
1979 Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP)
1989 Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
were concluded.
1987 Brundtland-Report „Our Common Future“ was issued by a commission
Definition of sustainable development:
„development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs“.
1991 Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Contest
1992 Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and
International Lakes (of Helsinki; also known as the „ Water Convention“)
1992 Convention on the Transboundary Effect of Industrial Accidents
were concluded.
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9.

The process of development of IEL
• culminated in “UN Conference on Environmental and Development”
(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992
• The Conference was held to reconcile worldwide economic development
with protection of the environment.
• The Earth Summit, as this Conference is known, was the largest gathering
of world leaders in history, with Participation of over 10.000 delegates:
• 117 heads of state and representatives of 178 nations in all attending.
• By means of treaties and other documents signed at the conference, most
of the world's nations nominally committed themselves to the pursuit of
economic development in ways that would protect the Earth's
environment and non-renewable resources.
• This Conference adopted five instruments
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10.

United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
in Rio de Janeiro (3.-14. June .1992)
(UNCED) / Earth Summit
Resulting in five documents:
– Framework Convention on Climate Change
– Convention on Biological Diversity
– Forest Principles
– Agenda 21
– Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
and
Establishment of the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD)
in order to improve co-operation between the various UN organs + agencies
concerned with this issue.
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UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro
(3.-14. June .1992) (UNCED) / Earth Summit
(1) The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development:
A universal statement of general rights + obligations of States affecting the environments formulated in 27 non-binding principles.
(2) The Agenda 21:
A programme of action consisting of forty chapters covering many issues, ranging from alleviation of poverty to
strengthening national and international society’s ability to protect the atmosphere, oceans, and other waters, mountains,
and areas vulnerable to desertification. This Programme recognizes more explicitly than “the Stockholm Action Plan” the
interrelations between economic, environment, poverty and development issues. Agenda 21 outlines global strategies for
cleaning up the environment and encouraging environmentally sound development.
(3) The Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC - known as “Global
Warming Convention”):
An international treaty creating a regulatory regime to deal with the effects of energy use at the Climate. It aims to
stabilize the greenhouse gas emissions at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (chiefly of pollution,
originating from human activities) interference with the climate system. It requires States to reduce their emission of
carbon dioxide, methane, and other “greenhouse” gases thought to be responsible for global warming. It contains a set of
principles that the parties shall be guided by in their efforts to achieve the objective of the Convention, and a set of
principles constituting commitments to be undertaken by the parties under the Convention.
(4) The Convention on Biological Diversity:
An international treaty creating a regulatory regime to deal with the large-scale natural resources depletion. It aims at the
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits from its use, and the
regulation of biotechnology. It requires States to take inventories of their plants and wild animals and protect their
endangered species.
(5) The Forest Principles:
Non-legally Binding Authoritative Statement of Principles for a Global Consensus on the Management, Conservation and
Sustainable Development of all Types of Forests: a statement of principles with no binding force + aims at preserving the
world's rapidly vanishing tropical rainforests. It recommends that nations monitor and assess the impact of development
on their forest resources and take steps to limit the damage done to them
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt

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Milestones after Rio (1992)
1992, “the Commission on Sustainable Development” (CSD) was established by GA
+ ECOSOC to follow up the 1992 Rio Conference+ to review the implementation of
its instruments.
Since 1992 Rio Conference, several international instruments, whether universal or
regional, dealing with various environmental issues have been adopted.
–
–
The instruments deal with issues such as trans-boundary pollution, marine environment and
pollution, nuclear safety and damage, desertification, Hazardous wastes, and watercourses, rivers
and lakes.
Among these instruments, there is “the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change”.[29]
In 1994 the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), which was established earlier, was
transformed into a permanent financial mechanism to award grants and funds to
developing countries for global environmental protection projects.
–
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The Facility focuses upon climate change, the destruction of biological diversity, the pollution of
international waters and ozone depletion.
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Prof. Dr. Yvonne Karimi-Schmidt
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Developments until Johannesburg
(2002)
1997 Earth summit+5 five years after Rio in New York (Special Session
of the UN General Assembly)
1998 Aarhus-Convention (Access to Information, Public Participation
in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters)
2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
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Johannesburg (2002)
2002: World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg
• passage of a „Plan of Implementation“ and a common declaration
- „Substantial“ augmentation of renewable energy
- Promotion of sustainable consumption and patterns of production
- Strengthening of trade with organic and “development promoting“ products
(but rejection of the term “Fair Trade” demanded by the EU)
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Rio + 20 (2012)
20-22 June 2012: UN- Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio
de Janeiro (UNCSD) (Short: Rio 2012 od. Rio+20 genannt)
Three objectives of the UNCSD:
•Securing renewed political commitment for sustainable development
•Assessing the progress and implementation gaps in meeting previous
commitments
•Addressing new and emerging challenges
Two thematic focus of the UNCSD:
•How to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development
and lift people out of poverty, including support for developing
countries that will allow them to find a green path for development
•How to improve international coordination for sustainable
development by building an institutional framework
UNCSD 2012 – Official website : http://www.uncsd2012.org/
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Actors
States
International organisations
– United Nations (UN) – UNEP – CSD – ECE – IAEA – WMO...
– European Union (EU)
– Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
– Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
– Council of the Baltic Sea States (Baltic sea states and Norway, Iceland
and the EU-Commission)
Non-state actors: NGOs, civil society, individuals
and groups, multinational corporations, industrial
associations, business entities
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Actors:
International Organisations (Ios)
UNEP
• The UNEP is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and consists of a Governing Council
of fifty-eight members elected by the G.A.
• This organ has contributed extensively to the development of
International Environmental Law.
• It has been behind the conclusion of a number of conventions, such as
“the 1985 Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer”
which imposes on States a few concrete obligations related to the
protection of human health and the environment, and
• “the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone
Layer”[which aims at reducing and eventually eliminating consumption
and production of a range of ozone-depleting substances.
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