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New Ways to Make International Environmental Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Geoffrey Palmer
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Extract

The purpose of this article is to suggest new ways to make international law for the environment. The existing methods are slow, cumbersome, expensive, uncoordinated and uncertain. Something better must be found if the environmental challenges the world faces are to be dealt with successfully. Nearly twenty years after the Stockholm Declaration, we still lack the institutional and legal mechanisms to deal effectively with transboundary and biospheric environmental degradation. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development presents an opportunity to make progress. Unfortunately, my reading of the situation in late 1991 suggests that there is no political will to take decisions that will give us the tools to do the job.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 259 - 283
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1992

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References

1 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, adopted by the UN Conference on the Hu man Environment at Stockholm, June 16, 1972, Section I of Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, UN Doc. A/CONF.48/14 and Corr.l (1972), reprinted in 11 ILM 1416 (1972) (adopted with no roll-call vote recorded) [hereinafter Stockholm Declaration]. See alsoBASIC DOCUMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AND WORLD ORDER 691, 943 (B. Weston, R. Falk & A. D'Amato2ded. 1990).

2 See United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, GA Res. 44/228, 44 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 49) at 151, UN Doc. A/44/49 (1989) [hereinafter UNCED resolution].

3 See id.

4 P. Sand, International Law on the Agenda of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 15 (unpublished paper on file, Victoria University of Wellington). The paper is based on a background report prepared for the Aspen Institute International Environmental Policy Meeting, July 1991.

5 WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, OUR COMMON FUTURE 320 (1987).

6 Institutional and Financial Arrangements for International Environmental Co-operation, GA Res. 2997, 27 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 30) at 43, UN Doc. A/8730 (1972), reprinted inINTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION AND INTEGRATION 460 (L. Sohn ed. 1986). For a detailed account of the formation of UNEP, see L. CALDWELL, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY 19-34 (1984). For a com plete collection of official documents relating to UNEP, see UNEP, COMPENDIUM OF LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY (1978).

7 Gray, The United Nations Environment Programme: An Assessment, 20 ENVTL. L. 291 (1990).

8 WORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, supra note 5.

9 GA Res. 32/197, 32 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 45) at 121, UN Doc. A/32/45 (1977); UNEP, THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM-WIDE MEDIUM-TERM ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME, 1990-1995, UN Doc. UNEP/GC/DEC/SS.1/3 (1988).

10 The Declaration of Environmental Policies and Procedures relating to Economic Development was made in 1980 by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the Arab Bank for Economic Development, the Carribean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Commission of the European Com munities, the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Environment Pro gramme. From this beginning, they formed the Committee of International Development Institutions on the Environment (CIDIE). See CIDIE SECRETARIAT, ACTION AND INTERACTION: THE ROLE AND POTENTIAL OF CIDIE (1988).

11 UNEP's Regional Seas Programme—now known as the Ocean and Coastal Affairs Programme— which extends to 10 regions, is perhaps the best example. See further note 13 infra.

12 Register of International Treaties and other Agreements on the Environment, UN Doc. UNEP/ GC.16/Inf.4 (1991). See alsoINTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW—PRIMARY MATERIALS (M. Molitored. 1991).

13 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, opened for signature Dec. 10, 1982, UN Doc. A/CONF.62/122, reprinted inUNITED NATIONS, OFFICIAL TEXT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CON VENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA WITH ANNEXES AND INDEX, UN Sales No. E.83.V.5 (1983), 21 ILM 1261 (1982). The Convention will replace the 1958 Geneva Law of the Sea Conventions upon entry into force (12 months after the 60th acceptance) for the parties. For details of the Regional Seas Programme, see P. SAND, MARINE ENVIRONMENT LAW (1988). See also Barcelona Convention for the Protection ofthe Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, Feb. 16, 1976, reprinted in 15 ILM 285 (1976).

14 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, Nov. 13, 1979, reprinted in 18 ILM 1442 (1979).

15 Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, Sept. 26, 1986, reprinted in 25 ILM 1370 (1986); Convention on Assistance in Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, Sept. 26, 1986, reprinted in id. at 1377.

16 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Mar. 6, 1973, 27 UST 1087, TIAS No. 8249, 993 UNTS 243, reprinted in 12 ILM 1085 (1973).

17 Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Dis posal, with Annexes, Mar. 22, 1989, reprinted in 28 ILM 649 (1989).

18 Vienna Convention for the Protection ofthe Ozone Layer, Mar. 22, 1985, UN Doc. UNEP/ 1G.53/Rev.l, S. TREATY DOC. NO. 9, 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985), reprinted in 26 ILM 1529 (1987) (entered into force Sept. 22, 1988) [hereinafter Vienna Convention]; Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, with Annex A, Sept. 19, 1987, reprinted in 26 ILM at 1550 (entered into force Jan. 1, 1989) [hereinafter Montreal Protocol]; Helsinki Declaration on the Protection of the Ozone Layer, May 2, 1989, reprinted in 28 ILM 1335 (1989) (see Conference Report: UN Doc. UNEP/Ozl.Conv.1/5 (1989)) [hereinafter Helsinki Declaration]; and Adjustments to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, June 29, 1990, reprinted in 30 ILM 537 (1991) [hereinafter London Amendments]. See also].BRUNNEE, ACID RAIN AND OZONE LAYER DEPLETION (1988); A. MILLER & I. MINTZER, THE SKY Is THE LIMIT: STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING THE OZONE LAYER (1986); Nanda, Stratospheric Ozone Depletion: A Challenge for International Environmental Law and Policy, 10 MICH. J. INT'LL. 482 (1989).

19 UNEP, Montevideo Programme for the Development and Periodic Review of Environmental Law, ad hoc meeting of senior government officials expert in environmental law (Nov. 6, 1981); UNEP Governing Council Decision 10/21 (May 31, 1982).

20 Montreal Protocol, supra note 18, Art. 6.

21 A. MCNAIR, THE LAW OF TREATIES 162 (1961).

22 Id. at 534.

23 Rt. Hon. Geoffrey Palmer, General Debate Statement of New Zealand Government, UN Doc. A/44/PV.15, at 61, 76 (1989) [hereinafter Palmer Statement].

24 Brownlie, A Survey of International Customary Rules of Environmental Protection, 13 NAT. RESOURCES J. 179(1973).

25 Statute of the International Court of Justice, Art. 38(b), 59 Stat. 1031, TS No. 993, 1976 U.N.Y.B. 1052.

26 Corfu Channel (UK v. Alb.), 1949 ICJ REP. 4 (Judgment of Apr. 9). One would have supposed that the principle applied to the Chernobyl accident, but the timidity of nations with nuclear installa tions of their own appears to have made them leery of bringing claims.

27 See note 18 supra.

28 Trail Smelter (U.S. v. Can.), 3 R. Int'l Arb. Awards 1905 (1938 & 1941).

29 Id. at 1965.

30 See Kirgis, Technological Challenge to the Shared Environment: United States Practice, 66 AJIL 290, 290-94 (1972).

31 Lake Lanoux Arbitration, 12 R. Int'l Arb. Awards 281, 315-16 (1957) (citing the Treaty of Bayonne.Dec. 1,1856; Apr. 14, 1862; and May 26,1866; Additional Act, May 26, 1866, Arts. 8-19).

32 Nuclear Tests (Austl. v. Fr.; NZ v. Fr.), Interim Protection, 1973 ICJ REP. 99 and 135 (Orders of June 22); 1974 ICJ REP. 253 and 257 (Judgments of Dec. 20).

33 1974 ICJ REP. at 474.

34 Brownlie, supra note 24, at 180.

35 Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, supra note 1, at 3.

36 Stockholm Declaration, supra note 1. SeeBASIC DOCUMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL LAW AND WORLD ORDER, supra note 1, at 943. Ambassador George Bush led the United States delegation.

37 See Stockholm Declaration, supra note 1, Principle 1.

38 See Stockholm Declaration, supra note 1, passim. A number of issues were underemphasized in the Stockholm Declaration, including chemical and biological weapons, carbon dioxide production and global warming, ozone depletion (which was unknown at the time), and biological diversity. For a recent account of the overall crisis, see P. RAVEN, WE'RE KILLING OUR WORLD—THE GLOBAL ECO SYSTEM CRISIS (1987).

39 See GA Res. 2997 (XXVII), supra note 6.

40 Nairobi Declaration, 37 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 25) at 49, UN Doc. A/37/25 (1982).

41 Ten Years After Stockholm—International Environmental Law, 77 ASILPROC. 411,413 (1983) (intro ductory remarks by Ved Nanda to panel discussion).

42 Stockholm Declaration, supra note 1, Principle 2.

43 Id., Principle 21. See also World Charter for Nature, Oct. 28, 1982, GA Res. 37/7, 37 UN GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 21, UN Doc. A/37/51 (1982).

44 The ILC established the Working Group on International Liability for Injurious Consequences Arising out of Acts Not Prohibited by International Law at its 1502d meeting on June 16, 1978, and Robert Q. Quentin-Baxter was appointed special rapporteur. [1978] 1 Y.B. INT'L L. COMM'N at 150, UN Doc. A/CN.4/SER.A/1978. The tortuous history of the Commission's efforts can be traced in the Yearbooks of the ILC. After Professor Quentin-Baxter's death, Ambassador Julio Barboza took over as special rapporteur.

45 Boyle, State Responsibility and International Liability for Injurious Consequences of Acts Not Prohibited by International Law: A Necessary Distinction?, 39 INT'L & COMP. L.Q. 1, 1 (1990).

46 SeeWORLD COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, EXPERTS GROUP ON ENVIRON MENTAL LAW, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (1987).

47 Id. at 32.

48 See generally Chinkin, The Challenge of Soft Law: Development and Change in International Law, 38 INT'L & COMP. L.Q. 850 (1989); Wellens & Borchardt, Soft Law in European Community Law, 14 EUR. L. REV. 267 (1989); A Hard Look at Soft Law, 82 ASILPROC. 371 (1988); Riphagen, From Soft Law to Jus Cogens and Bach, 17 VICTORIA U. WELLINGTON L. REV. 81 (1987); Gamble, The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea as Soft Law, 8 HOUSTON J. INT'L L. 37 (1985); Carlson, Hunger, Agricultural Trade Liberalization, and Soft International Law: Addressing the Legal Dimensions of a Political Problem, 70 IOWA L. REV. 1187 (1985); Gruchalla-Wesierski, A Framework for Understanding “Soft Law,” 30 MCGILLL.J. 37 (1984); Gold, Strengthening the Soft International Law of Exchange Agreements, 77 AJIL 443 (1983).

49 Gruchalla-Wesierski, supra note 48, at 44-45.

50 Id. at 52-55.

51 See A Hard Look at Soft Law, Wellens & Borchardt, Carlson, and Gold, all supra note 48.

52 Helsinki Declaration, supra note 18.

53 London Amendments, supra note 18.

54 The Nuclear Tests cases make this a more powerful argument. See text at note 33 supra.

55 Commonwealth Heads of Government, Langkawi Declaration on the Environment, Oct. 29, 1989, reprinted in Selected Legal Materials, 5 AM. U.J. INT'L L. & POL'Y 589, 590, para. 8 (1990). The declaration was drafted to address environmental problems that transcend national boundaries, such as global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, acid rain, marine pollution, land degradation and the extinction of plant and animal species. The declaration stressed that environmental protection measures must take account of the need to promote “economic growth and sustainable development, including the eradication of poverty.” The heads of the Commonwealth, representing a quarter of the world's population, agreed to develop policies to help achieve sustainable development, strengthen funding of environmental protection, back ways to improve energy conservation and efficiency, phase out substances depleting the ozone layer, promote afforestation, help protect low-lying countries from sea-level rise, discourage and restrict driftnet fishing, and curb marine pollution and ocean dumping of toxic wastes. See Commonwealth Concerned about Deterioration in Environment(Oct. 21, 1989) (NEXIS, Reuters library, Omni file).

56 Large-scale Pelagic Driftnet Fishing and Its Impact on the Living Marine Resources of the World's Oceans and Seas, GA Res. 44/225 (Mar. 15, 1990), reprinted in 29 ILM 1556 (1990). "J. BRIERLY, THE LAW OF NATIONS 47 (6th ed. 1963).

57 J. Brierly, The Law of Nations 47 (6th ed. 1963).

58 I. Brownlie, Principles of Public International Law 287 (4th ed. 1990).

59 Id. at 287-88.

60 Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities, June 2, 1988, reprinted in 27 ILM 860 (1988).

61 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, June 21, 1991, reprinted in 30 ILM 1461 (1991). See the Current Developments Note by Blay, infra p. 377.

62 The 12 original members of the Treaty were Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. The 8 recent entries are Poland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Brazil, India, the People's Republic of China, Uruguay, the former German Democratic Republic and Italy.

63 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, May 23, 1969, 1155 UNTS 331, reprinted in 8 iLM 679 (1969).

64 Id., Art. 11.

65 A. MCNAIR, supra note 21, at 162.

66 Id. at 534.

67 McNair, International Legislation, 19 IOWA L. REV. 177 (1934).

68 Kirgis, The Promulgation of International Norms in the UN System by Nontraditional Methods 13 (unpublished manuscript, on file at the University of Iowa College of Law) [hereinafter Nontradi tional Methods]; see also Kirgis, Aviation, and Kirgis, Shipping (unpublished manuscripts, both on file at University of Iowa College of Law). All of the preceding manuscripts will appear in the forthcoming book THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER (C. Joyner & O. Schachter eds.).

69 Kirgis, Nontraditional Methods, supra note 68.

70 Kindt & Minifee, The Vexing Problem of Ozone Depletion in International Environmental Law and Policy, 24 TEX. INT'L L. REV. 261, 271 (1989).

71 Vienna Convention, supra note 18, Arts. 2, 3, 4.

72 Id., Arts. 6,7.

73 Id., Art. 11.

74 See note 18 supra.

75 See Helsinki Declaration, supra note 18.

76 Montreal Protocol, supra note 18, Art. 6.

77 Id., Art. 2(9)(a)(ii).

78 Id., Art. 2(9)(c) (emphasis added).

79 R. BENEDICK, OZONE DIPLOMACY—NEW DIRECTIONS IN SAFEGUARDING THE PLANET 178 (1991).

80 London Amendments, supra note 18, Ann. II, sec. H.

81 Vienna Convention, supra note 18, Art. 19.

82 London Amendments, supra note 18, Ann. II, sec. X.

83 Montreal Protocol, supra note 18, Art. 4.

84 See I. BROWNLIE, supra note 58, at 512-15.

85 For a complete list of signatories to the Vienna Convention and the Montreal Protocol as of January 22, 1991, see UN Doc. UNEP/Ozl.Pro./WG.l/5/Inf.l (1991). Later information is con tained in a letter from the Policy Adviser to the Executive Director of UNEP to the author (Sept. 9, 1991) (on file, Victoria University of Wellington).

86 See INT'L ENV'T REP. (BNA).July 1990, at 275.

87 Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-549, §617, 104 Stat. 2399, 2670 (1990).

88 Hague Declaration on the Environment, Mar. 11, 1989, reprinted in 28 ILM 1308 (1989).

89 The signatories to the Hague Declaration were the Federal Republic of Germany, the Ivory Coast, Australia, Egypt, Brazil, Spain, Canada, France, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jor dan, Kenya, Malta, Norway, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Senegal, Sweden, Tunisia, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.

90 Hague Declaration, supra note 88, 28 ILM at 1309.

91 Id., para, (a), 28 ILM at 1310.

92 Id., para, (b), 28 ILM at 1310.

93 Toronto Conference Statement, The Changing Atmosphere: Implications for Global Security (July 5, 1988), reprinted in Selected Legal Materials, supra note 55, at 515, 520, paras. 16-17.

94 Zaelke & Cameron, Global Warming and Climate Change—An Overview of the International Legal Process, 5 AM. U.J. INT'L L. & POL'Y 249, 280 (1990). Among the suggestions made have been the creation of an Environmental Authority; the creation of an Environmental Security Council within the United Nations; modifying the Trusteeship Council to deal with environmental issues; and the estab lishment of a committee of the General Assembly to deal with environmental questions.

95 Palmer Statement, supra note 23, at 76-77.

96 For material on the International Labour Organisation and international legislation, see F. KlR- GIS, JR., INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 212-26, 290-338 (1977); D. BOWETT, THE LAW OF INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 127-39 (1975). See also Y. GHEBALI, THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION: A CASE STUDY ON THE EVOLUTION or U.N. SPECIALISED AGENCIES (1989); E. LUARD, INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES: THE EMERGING FRAMEWORK OF INTERDEPENDENCE 133-52 (1977); E. YEMIN, LEGISLATIVE POWERS IN THE UNITED NATIONS AND SPECIALIZED AGENCIES (1969); I. DETTER, LAW MAKING BY INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 207-28 (1965).

97 See G. PALMER, ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS—A GREEN PRINT FOR NEW ZEALAND 56 (1990). See also Resource Management Act 1991, 1 N.Z. Stat., No. 69. The Act, which is 382 pages long, sets up a system of sustainable management of natural and physical resources in New Zealand.

98 All the features summarized in the next piece of text can be found in the CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION AND STANDING ORDERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LA BOUR CONFERENCE (International Labour Office, Geneva, 1955).

99 Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons, 162 SCIENCE 142(1968), reprinted in ECONOMICS, ECOLOGY, AND ETHICS 100, 104 (H. Daly ed. 1973).

100 The idea of a duty to future generations is fully developed in E. BROWN WEISS, IN FAIRNESS TO FUTURE GENERATIONS (1989). * Regents Professor of Political Science, University of Georgia. For their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this essay, the author expresses his appreciation to Alberto Coll, Roy Godson, Donald E. Milner, B. Hugh Tovar, Gregory F. Treverton and H. Bradford Westerfield (though they are in no way responsible for the conclusions reached here).