Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
pulled out of the agreement. The Antarctic Environmental Protocol was then
negotiated in 1991, prohibiting mining in Antarctica for 50 years.
Economic interest groups have fi nanced various climate research projects in
order to cast doubt on the contribution of human activities to climate change.
Their aims are to protect entrenched economic systems depending on
resources such as oil. One of the arguments of such interest groups is that
environmental protection can undermine economic development and result in
job losses in some areas.
International environmental regulation develops in line with changing
prevailing values and opinions . When the whaling regime started in 1946,
the objective was to secure sustainable whaling. When science proved that
whaling was putting whales at risk of extinction, a ban on all commercial
whaling was enacted in 1982. Although many whale populations have now
recovered so much so that commercial whaling could start again without
posing any threat to the sustainability of whale stocks, the values of many
human communities have altered to the extent that it would be politically
diffi cult to lift the ban. Television documentaries and fi lms have instilled a
sense of familiarity and affection for such animals and, as a result, large sections
of the public employ more energy and resources to protect them than other
less familiar species. Large mammals generally arouse the public's emotions in
the West, and although ecologists say that all species are equally important
parts of the ecological system, it is easier to mobilize public support to protect
these so-called charismatic megafaunas.
The development of international law itself has changed people's atti-
tudes. Individuals and civic organizations are no longer reluctant to participate
in decisions affecting their environment, but increasingly perceive that it is
their human right to do so. International human rights systems both globally
and regionally urge decision-makers and industry to engage with the public in
decisions concerning the state of the environment. It is no longer an interest
restricted to industry and the authorities, but a human right guaranteed by
international conventions.
Another motivation for states to pursue a policy of international environ-
mental protection relates to security policy . During the Cold War
especially, any cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union
(international environmental protection included) helped increase trust
between the superpower blocs.
The establishment of the 1959 Antarctic Treaty is a good example:
Antarctica was demilitarized and existing sovereignty claims were suspended.
The United States and the Soviet Union were in the same position: they were
both conducting a lot of scientifi c research in the area; neither one had
claimed sovereignty in the continent; and both of them objected to the earlier
sovereignty claims of other states (see Chapter 4 , 'State jurisdiction', p. 90). As
a result, while diplomacy in almost every other matter was suspended, they
were in agreement on Antarctica and pursued a common solution to reserve
Antarctica as a haven of science, peace and environmental protection. 9
 
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