Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Another way of accelerating and simplifying amendments is by taking
important decisions at the meetings of the parties. This is an interesting
procedure because the decisions are generally made by consensus.
Although these decisions are not in themselves considered legally binding,
they can sometimes have distinct legal consequences. The implementation
rules of the Kyoto Protocol (the Marrakesh Accords), for instance, were
internally implemented in Finland by the President's decree in the same
way as many other treaties, although in real terms they represent decisions
taken by the treaty parties (and specifi cations of the general rules in the
Kyoto Protocol).
It seems clear that international environmental regimes must fi nd ways of react-
ing to rapidly changing environmental problems. With decisions being made in
the meetings of the parties and parties' representatives sitting in the compliance
committee, this decision process - although formally non-binding - seems
increasingly frequently to be the mode by which parties develop their regimes.
The trend in the implementation committees is also interesting. These
committees seem to have imitated the monitoring committees of human
rights treaties, at least to some extent. An increasing number of compliance
committees work in a manner analogous to courts of justice to the extent that
they consistently continue to observe their own earlier interpretations of the
treaty. The bodies monitoring human rights treaties give, on the basis of indi-
vidual country reports, general statements of how a certain treaty provision
should be interpreted. The implementation committees of environmental
treaties do not give offi cial general statements but some of them have started
to publish synthesis reports of the most important fi ndings in their earlier
decisions as a guideline for how the treaty should be interpreted.
The decisions of these compliance committees are generally submitted to
the meetings of parties for acceptance, which gives them a high legitimacy for
the parties since they have themselves contributed to the decision. Irrespective
of how their legal status is assessed - whether they are legally or politically
binding in any way - the parties generally comply with their conditions. These
meetings of the parties are the only way of making quick decisions in the
international community, as the agreement system will in every case have to
react to updated information about the environmental threat on the basis of
scientifi c research.
Questions to be considered at the various stages of an environmental
treaty (based on the biodiversity regime as the main example)
1
Do the negotiators from the individual states start with a blank sheet, or has
a particular body already prepared a draft for a new treaty?
In the example of the Biodiversity Convention, the fi rst draft was prepared by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) .
2
Are the offi cial negotiations in a regime connected to an existing interna-
tional organization?
 
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