Basic issues in international environmental law - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 2

As with all environmental regulation, international environmental law can
only strive to control and minimize pollution damage 1 we have caused.
It cannot control natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions or earthquakes
and the environmental damage they cause. International environmental
regulation 2 seeks to control and minimize the harmful results of humankind's
impact on the environment, such as the use of harmful substances that
deteriorate air quality or interfere with the functioning of ecosystems.
The line between international and national environmental law becomes
blurred as the amount of environmental regulation increases. The central issues in
international environmental regulation - what gives it international character -
are environmental problems that no government can control independently:
issues such as air pollution drifting to other national or international territories,
for example. Yet, increasingly, international environmental law harmonizes
the way national environmental protection systems function, and impacts on
our everyday lives, even if we are not aware of it.
When you fi ll up your car, the climate change regime has already infl uenced
your fuel options as well as its price. Just by opening your refrigerator, you
would never realize that the refrigerants used now are different from the ones
used before the regime to restore the ozone layer commenced. The energy
consumption options of European one-family houses are today largely defi ned
by EU environmental regulation. 3 When you travel abroad, you are personally
responsible for ensuring that any exotic objects that you may wish to bring
home (coral jewellery, for example) are not prohibited or subject to a licensing
system under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The need for international regulation
The best way to recognize the importance of international environmental law is
to consider why international law in general is necessary. The legal system of
each country functions within certain geographical boundaries. Each govern-
ment can only pass and enforce its laws within its sovereign territory - which
extends to the outer limit of its territorial waters. It also has jurisdiction over
matters in its airspace or in outer space, but only within the limits of international
law. A country's parliament can regulate its citizens or companies both domesti-
cally and when they operate abroad. However, when a problem is not limited to
the jurisdiction of a single country, intergovernmental cooperation is required.
Environmental problems have no respect for territorial borders. If the bound-
ary waters of two countries are contaminated, those countries will need to
cooperate, as neither one can manage the problem alone. If prevailing airfl ows
carry heavy metals from one area to another, those in the polluted area are
motivated to infl uence the policies of the countries in the offending jurisdiction.
If an environmental problem is caused by multiple countries and affects them
all, global solutions should be sought.