History of Environmental Law History Four Periods International

History of Environmental Law

History: Four Periods • International environmental law has evolved over at least four distinct periods, reflecting developments in scientific knowledge, the application of new, changes in political consciousness and the changing structure of the international legal order and institutions: – From early fisheries conventions to the creation of the United Nations: 1867 --1945 – From the creation of the United Nations to Stockholm: 1945– 1972 – From Stockholm to Rio: 1972– 1992 – Post Rio: > 1992 2

From early fisheries conventions to the creation of the United Nations • Started from bilateral fisheries treaties in the nineteenth century, and concluded with the creation of the new international organizations in 1945 • Early attempts to develop international environmental rules focused on the conservation of wildlife (fisheries, birds and seals) and, to a limited extent, on the protection of rivers and seas • During this period, peoples and nations began to understand that the process of industrialization and development required limitations on the exploitation of certain natural resources (flora and fauna) and the adoption of appropriate legal instruments • The adoption of treaties was sporadic and limited in scope

From the creation of the United Nations to Stockholm: 1945– 1972 • Commenced with the creation of the UN and culminated with the UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in June 1972 • Over this period, a range of international organizations with competence in environmental matters was created, and legal instruments were adopted, at both the regional and global level, which addressed particular sources of pollution and the conservation of general and particular environmental resources, such as oil pollution, nuclear testing, wetlands, the marine environment and its living resources, the quality of freshwaters, and the dumping of waste at sea 4

From Stockholm to Rio: 1972– 1992 • From the 1972 Stockholm Conference and concluded with the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in June 1992 • During this period, the UN tried to put in place a system for coordinating responses to international environmental issues, regional and global conventions were adopted, and for the first time the production, consumption and international trade in certain products was banned at the global level 5

Post Rio (>1992) • The fourth period was set in motion by UNCED, and may be characterized as the period of integration: when environmental concerns should, as a matter of international law and policy, be integrated into all activities. This has also been the period in which increased attention has been paid to compliance with international environmental obligations, with the result that there has been a marked increase in international law. 6

History of the International law • 1867, Convention Between France and Great Britain Relative to Fisheries (Paris) • 1900, Convention Between the River Rhine States Respecting Regulations Governing the Transport of Corrosive and Poisonous Substances • 1902, Convention for the Protection of Birds Useful to Agriculture (Paris). • 1907, Convention Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (The Hague) 7

History of the International law • 1949, Geneva Convention IV for the Protection of War Victims, Concerning Protection of Civilians in Time of War. 8

History of the International law • 1949 United Nations Conference on the Conservation and Utilization of Resources (UNCCUR). • 1954, the General Assembly convened a major Conference on the Conservation of the Living Resources of the Sea, which led to the conservation rules adopted in the 1958 Geneva Conventions. 9

History of the International law • 1954, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the first global convention for the prevention of oil pollution was adopted • 1955, the General Assembly adopted the first of a number of resolutions on the use of atomic energy and the effects of atomic radiation. International Court of Justice (ICJ) calling on France to stop all atmospheric nuclear tests 10

History of the International law • 1958 Convention on the High Seas which committed contracting parties to preventing oil pollution and the dumping of radioactive wastes • 1971 Ramsar Convention was the first environment treaty to establish rules addressing the conservation of a particular type of ecosystem 11

History of the International law • 1972, shortly before the Stockholm Conference, the Oslo Dumping Convention became the first treaty to prohibit the dumping of a wide range of hazardous substances at sea. 12

History of the International law 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm attended by 114 states • Establishing UNEP • The Conference considered the impact of human activities on the biosphere, including the effects of air and water pollution, overgrazing, deforestation and the drainage of wetlands, • a Declaration containing twenty six Principles, and an Action Plan containing 109 recommendations. 13

History of the International law • Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration Remains the cornerstone of international environmental law • The rules of international environmental law have developed within the context of two fundamental objectives pulling in opposing directions: – states have sovereign rights over their natural resources; and – states must not cause damage to the environment 14

History of the International law • 1980 World Conservation Strategy was prepared by IUCN, UNEP, WWF, UNESCO and FAO. • 1982 World Charter for Nature “Ten years after the Stockholm Conference”, the UN General Assembly adopted the World Charter for Nature, which set forth ‘principles of conservation by which all human conduct affecting nature is to be guided and judged 15

History of the International law 1987 The Brundtland Report and the Report of the Legal Experts Group the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, was established in 1983 by the UN General Assembly, and its report (the Brundtland Report) was published in 1987. The commission was created to address growing concern "about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development 16

History of the International law • 1991, the World Bank, UNEP and the UNDP established the Global Environmental Fund to provide financial resources to support Environmental projects. 17

History of the International law 1992 Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro- Brazil attended by 176 states. • The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. • Agenda 21: • action plan of the United Nations (UN) related to sustainable development • Framework Convention on Climate Change (INC/FCCC) • The Rio Declaration develops general principles of the international law of sustainable development. 18

Agenda 21 • 2. International cooperation to accelerate sustainable development in developing countries and related domestic policies • 3. Combating poverty • 4. Changing consumption patterns • 5. Demographic dynamics and sustainability • 6. Protecting and promoting human health conditions • 7. Promoting sustainable human settlement development • 8. Integrating environment and development in decisionmaking • 9. Protection of the atmosphere • 14. Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development 19 • 15. Conservation of biological diversity

History of the International law • 2002 (Rio +10) World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) was held in Johannesburg 20