Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Today, we are aware that international environmental problems concern us
all. Anyone following current affairs knows that climate change is altering the
world we know irrevocably and that biological diversity is reducing at an accel-
erating rate. Many governments are aware that the best national environmental
policy can be to try to infl uence a neighbouring country's environmental
protection measures or its industrial policy, especially if this country is focused
intensely on economic growth. We know that pollution does not respect
boundaries and that solutions to our own environmental problems can often
only be found internationally.
It is not just a question of how we protect our own national environment.
Life on our planet is in actual danger. The scientifi c community tells us that
our world is changing at an alarming rate. Although it is still possible for us to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and manage to get climate change under
control, in the long term, there is still a signifi cant risk that human impact will
exceed the point of rapid climate change acceleration and natural feedback
mechanisms will become a vicious cycle (for instance, global warming could
increase the amount of water vapour - a signifi cant greenhouse gas - in the
atmosphere, which would then lead to further warming, and so on).
If we asked what kind of a political community the world should have in
order to resolve global problems effectively, many people would answer that
it should be a global government or at least an international administrative
system with the power to enjoin governments to observe the obligations of
international law. No such system exists now or in the foreseeable future.
There is only a defi cient community of governments with a regulatory system
called international law. Many international environmental problems are the
kind of global problems that call for joint and effi cient actions by all
humankind: for instance, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the
atmosphere. A world government would be a good idea for meeting climate
change challenges, but as it does not exist, the only way to solve global and
regional environmental problems is to purposefully develop international
environmental law.
The nature of international law and environmental law
national environmental law is enacted depends on the rules defi ned in general
international law. The rules on state responsibility in general international law
also apply to all branches of international law, including international environ-
mental law.
Economic, military and environmental changes create a pressure to review
and develop international law. International law could be said to register the
minimum consensus reached in the international community, stabilizing the inter-
national operating environment; international law can only rarely be referred
to as a changing force in the operation of the international community.
Search WWH ::
Custom Search