Principles of international environmental protection - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 82

the land mass of our planet, with the exception of Antarctica. Increasingly,
indigenous peoples - and their emerging rights - are beginning to challenge
the authority of states in their native areas. We also look at deviating arrange-
ments in terms of sovereignty and above all the authority to implement
measures for environmental protection: namely, the Spitsbergen treaty system
created in 1920 and the impact of EU law on member states' rights and
responsibilities pertaining to environmental protection. Areas beyond national
jurisdiction - like the high seas or the deep seabed - have their own rules
about who can pursue economic activity and under what rules and whose
supervision. A unique regime was developed for Antarctica and the Southern
Ocean, which should be examined in the context of the international political
history of the area.
The second part of this chapter discusses the international environmental
legal principles that have developed strictly under the state-centric principles
of general international law. These principles frequently set the limitations on
how international environmental protection can be promoted. A state's territo-
rial sovereignty can have a signifi cant effect on the promotion of international
environmental protection in the current international community. Those
principles of international environmental law that are based on widely recog-
nized principles of international law are more likely to gain acceptance as they
are framed in a language that states can recognize and understand. Our goal of
solving global environmental problems is guided by the 'common concern
of humankind' principle. This principle implies only that every state must
contribute to the common effort for the environment, although not necessarily
by participating in international treaty systems. We discuss the most developed
regulation, concerning transboundary pollution between states, and then
move on to principles that govern the management of regional and global
environmental problems. Next, we review the principles that guide the activ-
ities of states where actions within their authority and control have caused
harm to the international environment.
Our third focus will be on international environmental legal principles of
disputed status but with signifi cant infl uence on both regional and global envi-
ronmental protection. We consider the difference between a rule and a principle,
the difference between material and procedural principles, and the functions a
principle performs in international environmental protection. New approaches to
environmental protection will also be introduced as well as methods of infl uencing
environmental protection, many of which have evolved in a national context.
Ownership of land, sea and space
It seems slightly odd to talk about ownership of land, sea or space. How can
one 'own' what cannot be tangibly 'possessed'? Our day-to-day life, however,
tells us that land can be owned: one can purchase real estate and offi cially own
part of our planet - in domestic legal terms, anyway. Companies exist that sell
properties on the Moon or on the other closest planets in our solar system,