Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
clear that the West is unwilling to accept the jurisdiction of the ISA. The new
Nagoya Protocol to the Biodiversity Convention is based on the idea that
should a foreign company seek to utilize genetic material within the territory
of a state, that state would agree and would negotiate the terms of utilization.
However, if the West is unwilling to accept the ISA in this role, who would
grant permission when the activity takes place in areas outside the jurisdiction
of states?
An added challenge to the negotiations for a new agreement is that many
states consider the Convention on the Law of the Sea as a 'package deal'.
Marine political issues were negotiated wholesale in the lengthy negotiation
process and no exceptions were allowed. Many states fear that even the smallest
amendments will open to question the entire compromise package; they are
therefore reluctant to question the 'integrity' of the whole agreement and keen
to maintain the status quo.
Principles, approaches and regulatory instruments in
Unlike most of the principles of international law, many of the international
environmental legal principles have not been given a clear legal status in inter-
national law. Only the principle of no-harm is unambiguously accepted
because it emanates from general international law. Some principles of inter-
national environmental law - such as the precautionary principle - are slowly
beginning to be recognized as customary international law (crystallizing) but
most are in fact not yet widely considered to have crystallized, which is to say
that they are not (yet) binding on all states. On the other hand, the principles
of international environmental law serve a number of functions beyond simply
mandating state conduct in given situations.
Principles of international environmental law are often considered to be
generalizations of a large number of individual rules. Sustainable development,
or the precautionary principle, can be defi ned in general terms but lawyers
tend to prefer a pragmatic rather than a theoretical approach, asking how the
precautionary principle can be interpreted by the application of more detailed
rules, such as the requirement of a risk analysis of planned commercial activi-
ties, or even by requiring proof that a proposed project will not result in
irrevocable or serious damage.
Principles operate below the surface or between the lines of international
environmental agreements. If a particular international environmental prob-
lem is resolved through the application of certain fundamental principles in
negotiations, it is clear that both legal scholarship and any future environ-
mental negotiators will give due consideration to the guiding effects of the
principles.
A number of principles could be seen as offering potential solutions to
environmental protection problems. Instead of concerning ourselves with
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