International Environmental Law Research Guide

Once you find the UN document number using this index, you can locate the full-text online, in print, or on microfiche. Most UN documents from 1981-present are available in the Readex UN Law Library Microfiche Collection filed at JZ5010 .U57 (ask a Reference Librarian for assistance, items must be paged for you).

As Patricia Birnie cautiously and prophetically put it in the inaugural issue of this journal (INEA 1, January 2001, p. 74), “we do not know whether States and the tentative regimes they have so far established can withstand the pressures of globalization of trade and degradation and over-exploitation generated by advances in technologies for locating, fertilizing, harvesting, processing and modifying natural resources and biodiversity. This is truly terra incognita in which such seeds of destruction may already be implanted.” Among the 600 or so papers and reviews published in INEA from 2001 to 2020, more than 70 deal wholly or partly with legal aspects of environmental problems and the international dimensions of environmental justice. While the main focus of INEA has been on issues of public international (inter-state) law , there have also been important inputs drawn from comparative legal analysis (of national legislation and judicial decisions) and from “transnational administrative law” that influence the effectiveness of multilateral treaties and their associated international institutions. Novel concepts and practices emerging from the environmental field (such as recourse to a range of “soft law” principles; flexible delegated standard-setting in the face of global change; and equitable differentiation of compliance duties) have inspired developments in related areas of contemporary international law-making and law-applying. At the same time, the very proliferation of multilateral and bilateral environmental instruments raised new questions and expressions of alarm over “treaty congestion” and “fragmentation” within the international law system. It is not the intention of this paper to explore the general interaction of international environmental law with neighboring disciplines such as international economic law or human rights law, but simply to record the “seismographic” impact of INEA on legal-intellectual discourse over these past two decades. To some extent, the role of the Journal in identifying both new prospects and new risks in this field could indeed be likened to that of a “canary in the coal-mine.” The lessons so learnt may thus offer new insights to help in averting the destruction which Birnie visualized, and to advance inter-generationally and intra- generationally shared values of environmental justice.

This paper identifies the theoretical advantages of using hard and soft law in the realm of international relations. In addition, it outlines empirical insights from research on the effectiveness of legally binding agreements compared with flexible action programs in cases of transboundary river pollution. Since the early 1970s, transboundary environmental problems have gained the attention of researchers, politicians, and activists. When states decide to solve transboundary environmental problems through cooperation, they can choose from a wide variety of forms. Currently, hard law, i.e., legally binding treaties such as the Kyoto Protocol, seems to be the preferred approach for solving transboundary environmental problems. Some evidence points to soft law as a possible answer to this question. Soft law could be almost as effective as hard law in addressing these issues. The existing literature on the effectiveness of hard law versus soft law offers contradictory empirical results.

The article explores the transition from regulation to governance in the climate change context. It argues that the study of regulation, and particularly that of climate change regulation, should go beyond traditional state and transnational regulation to encompass hybrid regulatory forms which blur the distinction between the public and the private, the mandatory and the voluntary and destabilize the boundaries between the global, the national and the sub-national. The article analyzes the particular problematics of climate change which make regulating it particularly difficult and explores creative forms of soft regulation that environmental groups, NGOs and international NGOs have developed in order to bypass the obstacles posed by traditional state regulation. Such novel regulatory mechanisms include certification programs, voluntary cap and trade initiatives and corporate codes of conduct. It concludes by reflecting on the crucial question whether the plethora of new governance mechanisms is at all apt to address the problem of climate change.

One of the most controversial issues about transnational corporations is their environmental performance, sometimes leading to irreparable damages. This issue has been the concern for many developing countries, as the capital importing countries, and the developed world as well. Transnational corporations' environmental violations raise questions as to their probable Human rights and environmental obligations, if any. A great challenge for imposing binding obligations on these non-state actors is their legal character, let alone their extraordinary power and reluctance. Hence, most of the norms and principles in this context are considered to be part of soft law. Meanwhile, international environmental law, as one of the branches of international law, has some emerging standards. In this study we have examined the most prominent international environmental standards and guidelines, which can be followed by corporations for a sound environmental performance. However, it is expected that these emerging standards will change to hard law.

The international legal system, the basis of every international law are specific guidelines to the industry. As a ‘support structure’ of each industry are the basic principles of international law, but each branch of international law, and has its branch principles. The need for comprehensive application of the rules of international environmental and international economic law specifies the relationship and interaction of the special principles of these two branches of international law, which are considered in this section of the dissertation research.The appearance of the principles of international law ‘gave international law a completely new quality -right forces has given way to the force of law.’ In the science of international law, there are several approaches to the classification of the principles of international law. Russian science has traditionally allocates the basic (common) principles of international law and the specific principles of international law. Today, the development of the principles of international law affect global problems, most of which have economic and environmental dimension.Nature is not a free application to the economy; it has its own value. Final Act of the CSCE in 1975, provides that States Parties undertake to promote the progressive development, codification and implementation of international law as a means of preservation and improvement of the human environment, including principles and practices that have been adopted by them with regard to combating pollution and other damage to the the environment, arising from activities undertaken within their jurisdiction or control and influence other countries and areas. The principles complement each other, and the application of the principle of due to the use of others. The content of the universally recognized principles of international law is specified in the specific principles of the relevant branches of international law. Since general international law, in addition to the principles underlying its entire system of norms, includes such principles are based on the first, form the basis of the relevant international law sector. It should be noted that the system of special principles of international environmental law is in the making. International instruments contain various lists of principles of international environmental law, the same can be said about the international legal doctrine. In particular, many States have recognized principles of international environmental law legally binding. The principles of international environmental law are reflected in international treaties, acts of international organizations, State practice and rules of soft law ... is potentially applicable to all members of the international community.Keywords: ecology, management, law, structure, development, determination, the ability, cooperation.