Question 3: Why is there often a tension between environmental protection and economic development? Can you think of some examples where this tension is visible? 1. Describe the key environmental principles set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (b) Consider this principle in the light of the need to address global environmental problems such as climate and biodiversity loss. 2. Explain and discuss key legal issues and issues relating to the relationship between environmental protection and international trade law. Give case studies. Orientation: The question requires students to consider the many different approaches to environmental regulation. The book notes that international environmental law is characterized by a plethora of so-called framework conventions, which do not regulate an issue exhaustively, but establish an organizational unit responsible for adopting substantive regulation. The book also refers to contracts that use a “list technique” in which contractual obligations are linked to regularly updated lists in protocols or annexes. Another example of a contractual approach to international environmental law mentioned in the book is that of contracts that contain a differentiation from the substantive obligations imposed on the parties. International environmental law has successfully resolved many serious problems. Many harmful chemicals are now being controlled, the ozone layer is recovering, and populations of important wildlife, including whales and sea turtles, are increasing due to international environmental agreements. But many other indicators of global environmental quality, such as declining fish stocks, rising temperatures, and increased forest loss (how., can you briefly list a few more?) have deteriorated in the decades since the Stockholm conference.
Perhaps most urgently, we now face mounting evidence that human-caused environmental changes will have profound global impacts if left unaddressed. International environmental law is only a (admittedly necessary) instrument to successfully address these new challenges. But Stockholm`s strong track record of international environmental cooperation in Paris gives hope for the future. 1. Provide a brief overview of the main sources of international environmental law. In particular, explain and discuss the emergence of soft law and principles in international environmental law and how this has influenced the development of this area of international law. 2. Explain the concept of “shared natural resources” in international natural resource law. Explain and discuss the principles of conversation and management of a “shared natural resource”. Orientation: The question encourages students to consider the tension between environmental protection and economic development. The book notes that the initial regulation of the environment focused on protecting the environment as an economic resource and only later began to focus on protecting the environment as a whole.
This chapter contains many examples of the tension between environmental protection and economic development. The historical review notes, for example, that the extent to which developing countries can freely exploit their own natural resources has been a central point of contention in law-making. The tension is also reflected in a number of SDGs. Perhaps the best example of this is the principle of sustainable development, which aims to ensure, inter alia, the judicious and sustainable use of resources and the integration of environmental aspects into economic development plans. Another striking example is the debate on how to combat climate change and who bears the greatest responsibility for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. 1. Explain and discuss the main legal issues and problems in the relationship between environmental protection and international trade law. Give case studies. Orientation: The question challenges students to examine the legal status of many instruments of international environmental law and to link the debate to the discussion of the sources of international law in Chapter 2. The book notes that the field is rich in soft law non-binding instruments, and students should note the inherent binary nature of international sources of law. Therefore, these non-binding legal instruments are not legally binding in themselves.
You should also refer to the discussion on soft law in Chapter 2 and note that over time these instruments can contribute to the formation of customary law and thus legally binding instruments. The chapter highlights the main features of climate change as a complex policy challenge. Based on the interactional presentation of international law, the main features of legality and the rule of law in an international context are presented. It focuses mainly on how contract law has evolved to cope with complexity, on the one hand, and to meet the requirements of the rule of law, on the other. The 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted under the auspices of the UNFCCC and using an unprecedented range of legal “modes”, is taken as a key example. It is argued that the distinction between “hard” and “soft” law is not the most informative measure when exploring the evolution of the rule of international law. The analysis focuses on the characteristics of legal norms and practices; Characteristics that go beyond traditional notions of formality and informality. Question 2: Can you think of specific examples where environmental law overlaps with other areas of international law? 1. Describe the main sources of international environmental law.
2. Discuss the following question: What are the strengths and weaknesses of existing international environmental law as a tool for protecting the Earth`s biodiversity? For most of the last century, international environmental law has mainly reflected bilateral or regional disputes over shared resources such as rivers or lakes that cross national borders. These disputes have given rise to diplomatic tensions, which have either given rise to an international legal case or have been settled by relatively narrow regional or bilateral treaties. The most famous and important of these disputes was the Trail smelter arbitration, which blamed Canada for air pollution that entered the United States. In recent years, bilateral disputes such as Slovakia`s plan to build a dam on the Danube near Hungary, Uruguay`s approval of two pulp mills that threatened to pollute Argentina, and Australia`s challenge to Japanese whaling underscore the importance of international law for the peaceful resolution of environmental conflicts between countries. Such disputes are settled before the International Court of Justice, the United Nations Tribunal for the Law of the Sea or other international tribunals. Question 5: Can you give some examples of the techniques used in the conventional regulation of international environmental law? But not all environmental threats trigger international responses (as opposed to purely national or local ones). For countries to sacrifice their autonomy, collective resolution of the problem must be harnessed. Typically, countries turn to international cooperation when (l) environmental impacts are transboundary (e.g. pollution of the Great Lakes) or global (e.g. climate change); 2) Some international activities contribute to environmental damage, such as the international trade in elephant ivory or the killing of whales; or (3) international coordination of financial or technical assistance can act as a catalyst for action (e.g. global biodiversity conservation).
In these circumstances, international cooperation – whether in the form of a binding treaty or a non-binding agreement of non-binding law – is necessary to respond effectively to the environmental challenge. At least since the 1980s, scientists have warned that rising concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will warm Earth`s atmosphere and alter our climate. Today, climate change is the greatest ecological challenge of our time, and we are already seeing its effects: rising global temperatures; melting glaciers; Arctic sea ice reduction; increased tidal waves and storm surges; and increased heat waves and droughts. Avoiding the most dangerous effects of climate change has been at the centre of international environmental law since the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which recognizes climate change as a “common concern of humanity” and establishes a global framework for action to prevent adverse effects. The agreement set an informal target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000, but no country has received binding targets or timetables. As a result, thirty-eight industrialized countries agreed in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to reduce their total emissions by about 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. After agreeing to limit emissions, countries also put in place sophisticated procedures for trading pollution rights under the cap. The cap-and-trade approach of the Kyoto Protocol therefore envisioned a global market for the reduction of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas oases.