Principles of international environmental protection - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 112

International environmental law, then, can be seen to have extended its
reach in order to protect areas that are beyond the jurisdiction of states. The
following situations would all be covered by international environmental law:

1 Activities within the territory of a state that harm or have the potential to

harm the environment beyond its jurisdiction.

Example 1: A state permits oil drilling in its outer continental shelf; an accident
occurs, causing damage to the superjacent water column, surface and their contents:
that is, the high seas .

Example 2: A state permits a large smelter in its territory; its high chimneys trans-
mit sulphur emissions into international airspace. Rain fl ushes these emissions out
to the sea, reducing its acidity, and harming the biota of the high seas .

2 A ship registered in one particular state causes environmental damage to

the marine area beyond that state's jurisdiction. Example: A ship carrying
hazardous substances capsizes in a storm on the high seas . 32

In recent military testing, China destroyed an unused weather satellite, thereby
increasing the amount of space debris 32 already in orbit around the Earth. Space
debris can damage other satellites or spacecraft, endangering human life as well;
it could eventually even end up on the Earth, causing environmental harm.

On 24 January 1978, The USSR nuclear-powered Kosmos 954 satellite fell
onto northern Canada. Fortunately, the satellite fell on an uninhabited area.
However, it did cause severe environmental damage and the USSR was required
to compensate Canada in fi nancial damages. A similar disaster could as easily
have occurred over the high seas or Antarctica.

If a state causes environmental damage in seeking to exploit non-living
resources in the deep seabed such as oil, gas and especially minerals, such as
polymetallic nodules containing manganese, cobalt, copper or nickel, it is a
different situation. This is because the deep seabed is recognized as the
common heritage of humanity and it is administered by the International
Seabed Authority (ISA).
Exploration licences for these resources have been granted to states, and also
recently to private enterprises with state sponsorship, primarily for the Clarion-
Clipperton zone (in the seabed of the Central Pacifi c Ocean, southeast of
Hawaii) and the Indian Ocean. The ISA has adopted precise rules for environ-
mental impact assessment in such circumstances. Although the circumstances are
different from those we considered earlier, the fundamental question remains
the same: what are the no-harm obligations for a state, if it sponsors deep seabed
activities detrimental to the deep sea marine environment? The ISA is responsible