Principles of international environmental protection - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 130

4 How useful do you think the principle of common but differenti-
ated responsibilities is in resolving global environmental problems?
Are China and India still countries that should be granted differenti-
ated responsibilities along with heavily indebted African countries? Do
you think the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities
could be more closely specifi ed for a heterogeneous group of southern
countries? How might China, India or Brazil be likely to react? Find
environmental agreements that contain the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities. Read the Durban 2011 Climate Change
Conference end result (Durban Platform) and consider how it discusses
this principle.
5 Comment on the debate going on in the IMO about regulation of green-
house gas emissions in shipping and whether the common but
differentiated responsibilities principle should apply to the regulation of
these emissions or whether all shipping should be treated in the same way
under the principle of non-discrimination.
Notes
1 Marie Byrd Land in Antarctica has not been included in any state's sovereignty
claims. There are also many areas which several states are contesting, such as the
small Hans Island between Canadian Ellesmere Island and Danish Greenland. Can-
ada and Denmark have taken turns planting their fl ags on this tiny island.
2 A state's territorial sea is divided into internal and external territorial waters. For-
eign vessels are allowed innocent passage through the territorial sea. Internal ter-
ritorial waters are defi ned in Article 8 of the Convention on the Law of the Sea:
'Except as provided in Part IV, waters on the landward side of the baseline of the
territorial sea form part of the internal waters of the State.' It is therefore signifi cant
how the baseline is defi ned, because on the landward side, foreign ships are not
even entitled to innocent passage. See the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea,
Articles 5 and 7.
3 Innocent passage means passage that is not prejudicial to the peace, good order or
security of the coastal state.
4 A state's sea areas are primarily measured from the baseline. The main rule is that
the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and in some
cases the continental shelf are measured from the so-called normal baseline - that
is, 'the low-water line along the coast as marked on large-scale charts offi cially rec-
ognized by the coastal State' (Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 5). A state
can also apply straight baselines in cases where 'the coastline is deeply indented and
cut into, or if there is a fringe of islands along the coast in its immediate vicinity'
(Article 7). The method of straight baselines joining appropriate points can then be
employed in drawing the baseline from which the width of the territorial sea and
other zones is measured.
5 See the 1992 Rio Declaration, Principle 2.
6 Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua ( Nicaragua
v. United States of America ), at the ICJ's website at http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/
fi les/70/6503.pdf
7 See the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, at http://
www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfi i/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf. See also the only modern
international treaty regulating the rights of indigenous peoples: International Labour