Shishir Reza :
Principles of international environmental law established at two important United Nations conferences, the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment (“Stockholm Conference”) and the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (“UNCED”) in Rio de Janeiro. Both of these conferences produced declarations of principles (the “1972 Stockholm Declaration” and the “1992 Rio Declaration”, respectively), which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Together with the hundreds of international agreements that exist relating to protecting the environment (including human health), the principles in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and 1992 Rio Declaration are widely regarded as the underpinnings of international environmental law. The Rio Declaration contains a preamble and twenty-seven international environmental law principles that guide the international community in its efforts to achieve sustainable development. Since the adoption of the Rio Declaration, major developments in international environmental law have taken place that affect the definition, status and impact of principles and concepts in international environmental law. These developments include the negotiation and entry into force of several major multilateral agreements.
Main Principles and Concepts in International Environmental Law
The main principles and concepts of international environmental law are, Sustainable Development, Integration and Interdependence; Inter-Generational and Intra-Generational Equity; Responsibility for Trans-boundary Harm; Transparency, Public Participation and Access to Information and Remedies; Cooperation, and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities; Precaution; Prevention; Polluter Pays Principle; Access and Benefit Sharing regarding Natural Resources; Common Heritage and Common Concern of Humankind and Good Governance.
Sustainable Development
According to the Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development, which stated in its 1987 Report, Our Common Future, that sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The parameters of sustainable development are clarified in Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, both adopted at UNCED and in subsequent international regional and national instruments. Principle 4 of the Rio Declaration provides: “In order to achieve sustainable development environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.” Principle 25 states that “Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.” Principles 4 and 25 make clear that policies and activities in various spheres, including environmental protection, must be integrated in order to achieve sustainable development. They also make clear that the efforts to improve society including those to protect the environment achieve peace, and accomplish economic development, are interdependent. Principles 4 and 25 thus embody the concepts of integration and interdependence. The concepts of integration and interdependence are stated even more clearly in paragraph 6 of the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development. Paragraph 5 of the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development confirms this. Integration was one of the main themes discussed at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, with particular emphasis on eradicating poverty. The concepts of integration and interdependence in international environmental law are wholly consistent with the nature of the biosphere, i.e. the concentric layers of air, water and land on which life on earth depends.
Inter-Generational and Intra-Generational Equity
Equity thus includes both “inter-generational equity” (i.e. the right of future generations to enjoy fair level of the common patrimony) and “intra- generational equity” (i.e. the right of all people within the current generation to fair access to the current generation’s entitlement to the Earth’s natural resources). Equity is central to the attainment of sustainable development. This is evident from many international instruments. For example, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCC”) refers in article 3.(1) to intergenerational equity, as do the last preamble paragraph of the 1992 CBD, the 1992 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, the 1994 Desertification Convention and the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”), among others. Principle 3 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states that “The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations”; and Rio Principle 5 provides that “All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world.” Paragraph 6 of the Copenhagen Declaration, the first sentence of which is reproduced above, refers in subsequent sentences to “Equitable social development” and “social justice”.
Responsibility for Trans-boundary Harm
Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration recognizes the sovereign right of each state upon its natural resources, emphasizing that it is limited by the responsibility for tranboundary harm. 1972 Stockholm Declaration, Principle 21 “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 jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” Twenty years later, Principle 21 was reiterated in Principle 2 of the Rio Declaration, with the sole change of adding the adjective “developmental” between the words “environmental” and “policies.” Principle 21 also appears in article 3 of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, to which virtually all the states of the world are parties, and, as restated in the 1992 Rio Declaration, in the preamble of the 1992 UNFCCC, the 1999 Protocol on Water and Health to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, and the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”). [Second part of the article will be published tomorrow]
(Shishir Reza, an Environmental Analyst & Associate Member, Bangladesh Economic Association)
Principles of international environmental law established at two important United Nations conferences, the 1972 Conference on the Human Environment (“Stockholm Conference”) and the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (“UNCED”) in Rio de Janeiro. Both of these conferences produced declarations of principles (the “1972 Stockholm Declaration” and the “1992 Rio Declaration”, respectively), which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Together with the hundreds of international agreements that exist relating to protecting the environment (including human health), the principles in the 1972 Stockholm Declaration and 1992 Rio Declaration are widely regarded as the underpinnings of international environmental law. The Rio Declaration contains a preamble and twenty-seven international environmental law principles that guide the international community in its efforts to achieve sustainable development. Since the adoption of the Rio Declaration, major developments in international environmental law have taken place that affect the definition, status and impact of principles and concepts in international environmental law. These developments include the negotiation and entry into force of several major multilateral agreements.
Main Principles and Concepts in International Environmental Law
The main principles and concepts of international environmental law are, Sustainable Development, Integration and Interdependence; Inter-Generational and Intra-Generational Equity; Responsibility for Trans-boundary Harm; Transparency, Public Participation and Access to Information and Remedies; Cooperation, and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities; Precaution; Prevention; Polluter Pays Principle; Access and Benefit Sharing regarding Natural Resources; Common Heritage and Common Concern of Humankind and Good Governance.
Sustainable Development
According to the Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development, which stated in its 1987 Report, Our Common Future, that sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The parameters of sustainable development are clarified in Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration, both adopted at UNCED and in subsequent international regional and national instruments. Principle 4 of the Rio Declaration provides: “In order to achieve sustainable development environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.” Principle 25 states that “Peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible.” Principles 4 and 25 make clear that policies and activities in various spheres, including environmental protection, must be integrated in order to achieve sustainable development. They also make clear that the efforts to improve society including those to protect the environment achieve peace, and accomplish economic development, are interdependent. Principles 4 and 25 thus embody the concepts of integration and interdependence. The concepts of integration and interdependence are stated even more clearly in paragraph 6 of the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development. Paragraph 5 of the 2002 Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development confirms this. Integration was one of the main themes discussed at the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, with particular emphasis on eradicating poverty. The concepts of integration and interdependence in international environmental law are wholly consistent with the nature of the biosphere, i.e. the concentric layers of air, water and land on which life on earth depends.
Inter-Generational and Intra-Generational Equity
Equity thus includes both “inter-generational equity” (i.e. the right of future generations to enjoy fair level of the common patrimony) and “intra- generational equity” (i.e. the right of all people within the current generation to fair access to the current generation’s entitlement to the Earth’s natural resources). Equity is central to the attainment of sustainable development. This is evident from many international instruments. For example, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCC”) refers in article 3.(1) to intergenerational equity, as do the last preamble paragraph of the 1992 CBD, the 1992 United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, the 1994 Desertification Convention and the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”), among others. Principle 3 of the 1992 Rio Declaration states that “The right to development must be fulfilled so as to equitably meet developmental and environmental needs of present and future generations”; and Rio Principle 5 provides that “All States and all people shall cooperate in the essential task of eradicating poverty as an indispensable requirement for sustainable development, in order to decrease the disparities in standards of living and better meet the needs of the majority of the people of the world.” Paragraph 6 of the Copenhagen Declaration, the first sentence of which is reproduced above, refers in subsequent sentences to “Equitable social development” and “social justice”.
Responsibility for Trans-boundary Harm
Principle 21 of the Stockholm Declaration recognizes the sovereign right of each state upon its natural resources, emphasizing that it is limited by the responsibility for tranboundary harm. 1972 Stockholm Declaration, Principle 21 “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 jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.” Twenty years later, Principle 21 was reiterated in Principle 2 of the Rio Declaration, with the sole change of adding the adjective “developmental” between the words “environmental” and “policies.” Principle 21 also appears in article 3 of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, to which virtually all the states of the world are parties, and, as restated in the 1992 Rio Declaration, in the preamble of the 1992 UNFCCC, the 1999 Protocol on Water and Health to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes, and the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (“POPs”). [Second part of the article will be published tomorrow]
(Shishir Reza, an Environmental Analyst & Associate Member, Bangladesh Economic Association)
