Basic issues in international environmental law - Introduction to International Environmental Law - page 15

of reacting effi ciently and quickly to a global environmental problem: the emissions
of ozone-depleting CFC gases (chlorofl uorocarbons) have been successfully
reduced by the Montreal Protocol and its amendments (and adjustments) and, as
a result, the ozone layer is expected to be restored in a couple of decades.
Whether we think that international environmental law is capable of provid-
ing solutions to environmental problems depends on the perspective with
which we approach the question. For a lawyer, the effectiveness of international
environmental law is primarily considered by evaluating whether or not
governments are complying with the rules of international environmental
agreements. For a natural scientist, however, the issue is different: the capacity
of international environmental agreements to solve an environmental problem
carries more weight.
US professor Oran Young expresses it well: we can never know for sure
whether an environmental problem will be solved by a particular agreement,
as the world is full of interrelated environmental problems. We cannot learn
much about the effect of an environmental agreement just by studying how its
rules have been complied with; governments are, after all, able to create agree-
ments that barely bind them to do anything at all. According to Young, the
crucial factor is whether an environmental regime creates around it a body of
enthusiastic actors who are committed to solving the particular environmental
problem. For example, in some cases senior-ranking government offi cials have
become 'ambassadors' in their respective countries for the treaties they have
helped to negotiate. Partly as a result of their support, the rules of the environ-
mental treaty are then gradually incorporated into their respective domestic
environmental policy.
Responsibilities of states and businesses
International environmental law, like all branches of international law, is a
state-centred system. States make the rules of international law, and are in
turn expected to implement them. However, the international community
is moving increasingly towards a global economic system, especially since
the Cold War. Large corporations are no longer seen as the fl agships of any
particular nation as they have shareholders all over the world and their top
management is often recruited globally. It is the duty of the management
to secure maximum profi t for the company's shareholders in a global
market.
The free movement of investments, utilities and services around the world
has fundamentally changed the international order. This freedom of move-
ment has been made possible through multilateral agreements between
governments. Above all, the World Trade Organization (WTO), with its
almost globally binding agreements and very effi cient legal dispute settlement
process, has gradually made most of the world a global market place. The
immense speed at which international trade law has been generated has resulted