Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of
international law, the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own
environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their juris-
diction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas
beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
And Principle 22 stated that:
States shall cooperate to develop further the international law regarding liability and
compensation for the victims of pollution and other environmental damage caused by
activities within the jurisdiction or control of such States to areas beyond their
jurisdiction.
47
Following the Stockholm conference, pressure began to build for international
political action to be taken to reduce and prevent acid rain.
In 1979, 34 governments and the European Community signed up to the Con-
vention on Long-Range Transboundary Pollution (including the United States and
Canada), which had been drafted by the United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe. Signatories to the Convention set long-term targets to cut sulphur dioxide
emissions, and for the past three decades they have cooperated on various research
and monitoring programmes concerning the movement of pollutants across borders.
The Convention
s initial provisions have been extended eight times since it was
implemented to include the control of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (1988),
volatile organic compounds (1991), heavy metals (1998), and the abatement of
eutrophication and ground level ozone (1999). As a result of this cooperative
approach to pollution control, in Europe the environment is now beginning to
recover from the effects of acid rain.
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In 1980, the National Acid Precipitation
Assessment Program (NAPAP) was authorised in the United States to coordinate
long-term monitoring and research into acid rain. A cooperative federal project, re-
authorised through the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, it also assessed the
effectiveness of an emissions trading system that utilised economic incentives to cut
releases of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. As with Europe, efforts to control
acid rain in the US, especially from coal-
'
red power stations, have resulted in the
of its lakes and forests.
49
In 1993, a
meeting organised by the Environment Agency of Japan at Toyama, attended by
senior of
gradual regeneration of some
—
but not all
—
cials from China, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Russia, saw the establishment of the Acid
Precipitation Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) to assess the ecological
impacts of transboundary air pollution.
50
But despite this cooperative initiative,
which now involves thirteen participating countries, acid rain still remains a serious
47
United Nations Environment Programme (
1972
).
48
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (
2004
) and Colbeck (
2007
).
49
National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (
2005
) and Brimblecombe (
2008
).
50
Acid Precipitation Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) (
2013
) and Brimblecombe
(
2008
).
