JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA

FACULTY OF LAW

INTERNATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

WITH REFERENCE TO SUSTSINABLE DEVELOPMENT

ENVIRONMENTAL LAw
Contents

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................4
Principles in international environmental law.......................................................................................5
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT..............................................................................................................7
Intergenerational Equity:.......................................................................................................................9
Principle of Sustainable Use:...............................................................................................................10
Principle of Equitable Use or Intra-Generational Equity:.....................................................................10
Principle of Integration:.......................................................................................................................10
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT............................................................................................11
RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................................................13

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INTRODUCTION
I am writing this project on the topic of sustainable development, in which first
of all I will briefly discuss about the subject, then its various approaches and
then will discuss in detail about the Sustainable development. Immense
enhancement of scientific knowledge, developmental and economic pursuit by
human beings has resulted in radical and irrevocable changes in the
environment, coupled with the augmentation of demographic statistics as well
as the consistent decrease in non-renewable natural resources. Human activities
have consistently degraded the quality of the land, air as well as water, which
form the primary constituents of our environment. Such environmental issues
led to the various conventions by the United Nations (UN) and other
conventional bodies which further resulted in certain treaties, declarations etc.
laying down methods to protect and preserve the environment for present as

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well as the future generations. A by-product of these conventional declarations
& treaties are principles of international environmental law that have come to
play an ever-increasing role in international as well as national environmental
law and policy making. As a matter of fact, the protection and preservation of
the environment is more and more seen as a “question of principle”. Therefore,
in current times, the principles of international environmental law have gained
much more importance. In this background, an in-depth study to assess the
efficacy of these international environmental principles and their shortcomings
is desirable in order to facilitate the growth of international environmental law.
The research study encompasses a critical analysis of the existing international
environmental law principles. The emphasis would be laid on the inadequacies
of the principles with a view to assess their efficacy in dealing with
environmental issues. This would be done by analysing the nature and origin of
these principles and the extent to which they function in the protection of the
international environment. Their role as sources of environmental laws for the
protection as well as preservation of the environment would also be dealt with.
The overall idea is to make suggestions which enhance the growth of
international environmental law in this regard and help in creation of new
frontiers for the application of these principles of international environmental

“Environment and Law” 

 Initially describes and explains law and legal systems, the concept of the
environment, sources of environmental law and some of the techniques used in
environmental law. It then examines some of the major
connections between law and the disciplines of economics, science, ethics,
and politics. Some of the issues discussed are: How economic instruments can
offer alternatives and supplements to traditional ‘command and control’ forms
of environmental regulation; the role of science in the resolution of
environmental law disputes; the response of environmental law to the rise in

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theories of environmental ethics; and the kinds of political entities that are most
conducive to high standards of environmental protection.

Principles in international environmental law

The principles in international environmental law basically derive their

existence from different international conventions and the declaration that are
made under them. A very good illustration of the same can be found in
Stockholm Declaration of 1972 which was adopted by the signatory countries at
the United Nations conference on human environment. It is the principle
contained within the declarations which have come be known as principles of
international environmental law. While the adoption of these principles has
been associated with the progressive road ahead for the international law, it has
been said that such principles cannot stand alone but need transformation into
binding obligations in order to play the role in international life. As a matter of
fact, the principles of international environmental law are often regarded to be
“soft laws”. This is because these principles possess noteworthy persuasive
force but lack the colour of binding obligations. Their true importance lies in
being indicator of the shape which formally binding treaty obligation might take
in the time to come. Therefore, by way of setting accepted norms, these
principles have guided political thinking in favour of the environment.

Principles thus go even beyond concrete rules or policy goals, they say
something about group of rules or policies, they denote what a collection of
rules has in common, or what the common goal is of collection of rules. A
further distinction is sometimes drawn between binding and non-binding
principles. Non-Binding principles are those which propose solutions for
identified issues, whereas the binding terms has been used to connote principles

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that have been established in view of the customary law and which also in one
or the other argument.

International environmental law has given birth to a set of principles, which

form the bottom-line of its application. This is because international law is
formed by a “consensus of ideas and behaviour between states”. A look at the
conventions and declarations reveal the following major recognized principles
of international environmental law.

[I.] THE PREVENTATIVE PRINCIPLE (NO-HARM RULE)

[II.] THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE

[III.] THE POLLUTER PAYS PRICIPLE

[IV.] SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainable development is the most forward looking principle to emerge from
international activities on the environment. The concept of sustainable
development originated in the realization that the world’s environment, its
economies and the ways in which it treats its humans and animals are all
interlinked. The concept has been defined in numerous ways, but the most
widely accepted definition of sustainable development is that given in the
Brundtland Report i.e., development It has also been said that the principle
overreaches a broad range of discipline. The achievement of sustainable
development is supported by three pillars: International environmental law,
International human rights law, and International economic law. Thus, the right
to a sustainable environment is fundamental and equates with the right to life.
Quality of human and ecological life can only be sustained where there is

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corresponding sustenance of the quality of the environment. Therefore,
sustainable development is about more than quality of life and achieving
balance among the social, economic and environmental price of a community.
Furthermore, principle 5 of the Rio Declaration also integrated environmental,
economic and human rights issues as a pre requisite for attaining sustainable
development. The principle exhorts all states and all peoples to co-operate in
eradicating poverty and to decrease international disparities in standards of
living in order to meet the needs of majority of the world’s population.
Sustainable development also extends to issues of production and consumption
vis-a-vis the need to have specific population data. Sustainable development can
only be achieved when there is accurate information on the population relying
on the environmental resources for either economic, production or consumption
purposes. Principle 8 of the Rio Declaration, 1992 further extends this point
thus: “To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all
people, states should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production
and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies.” The greatest
problem of the documents of sustainable development is that they are in essence
non-legal documents. Generally, the term sustainable development has been
criticized as being too vague and too flexible as it allows for various
interpretations and applications of it to be made in different context.
Organizations making use of the concept have been able to interpret it in terms
of their own activities and needs. Despite intense media interest in the principle,
it has 
been said that it is unclear, the extent to which sustainable development is a prin
ciple ofinternational law or merely one of policy. However widespread
international endorsement of sustainable development as a central concept of
international environmental policy has been seen as sufficient support for the
status of the principle as a principle of international environmental law.

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Distilled from the principle of sustainable Development are four elements/
principles:

1. The need to preserve natural resources for the benefit of future

generations (known as the principle of inter-generational equity);
2. The need to exploit natural resources in a manner which is sustainable or
prudent (known as the principle of sustainable use).
3. The equitable use of natural resources that urges states in using resources,
to take into account the needs of other states (known as the principle of
equitable use or intra-generational equity).
4. The need to ensure that the environmental considerations are integrated
into the economics of development plans, and that development need are
taken into account in applying environmental objectives (known as the
principle of integration).

 Intergenerational Equity:
 The concept of intergenerational equity is concerned with considering the
needs of future generations of mankind when making decision about the
present. An important aspect of this concept is the reference to the present
generation as of trustees of the earth’s resources for the future generations.
However, two schools of thought have emerged from the principle of
intergenerational equity. The first school holds the view that the true meaning of
the principle is that “the next generation of mankind must inherit a stock of
environmental assets; no less than the stock inherited by the present generation.
The second and wider view suggest that true intergenerational equity means
leaving to the next generation a stock of assets which comprises environmental
assets, technology and ‘know how’. The school holds the view that technology
can be substituted or traded off for environmental assets, while still securing an
appropriate standard of living for the next generation for example, the present
generation providing safe and abundant alternative sources of energy (i.e. wind,
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water, fossil fuel etc.), for the future generation at the expense of
non- renewable energy resources, (i.e. crude oil).The first view is at best a
utopian idea. To do that will be to deny the present generation of their right to
reasonably use the earth’s resources. It is suggested that in addition to such
reasonable use, creation of alternative sources of energy based on technological
advancement will reduce the risk of early dissipation of the earth’s resources
and extend the expire date, if any, for the dissipation of the earth’s non-
renewable energy resources. A culture of replacement for some of the resources
used can also be a way of passing a substantial bulk of resources to the future
generation, i.e. tree planting. While not agreeing totally with the second school,
we do not know the extent to which technological assets can substitute for
environmental resources, i.e. to sacrifice environmental concerns at the altar of
technological development is in fact not sustainable. Rather, it is suggested that,
the present generation must devise high standard procedure for technological
advancement which in turn will reduce the effect of irrational use of the earth’s
resources. Thus, the future generation can in her it new means of technological
abilities and a share of natural resources.

 Principle of Sustainable Use:

This is the notion that states have a general obligation to ensure the sustainable
us of both living and non-living natural resources. This obligation is evidenced
by the adoption of standards in treaties governing the rate at which resources
may be exploited. An example of this obligation is entrenched in the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and
Flora (CITES) which limits the rate of poaching and trading on endangered
species of Flora and Fauna. Nigeria was suspended in 2005 for non–compliance
with the provisions of the convention on preservation of endangered species. It
has however been said that there is no general obligation of States not to
exhaust non-renewable energy resources.

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 Principle of Equitable Use or Intra-Generational Equity:
This principle implies that the use of resources by one state must take into
account the needs of other states. It is an equitable concept of fairness that is
fast becoming the focus of conflict resolution in negotiation and implementation
of international environmental instruments. This appears to be an extension of
the preventative principle that traditionally recognizes the powers of states to
exploits its own resources.

 Principle of Integration:
The means that environmental consideration must be taken into account in
economic decisions and development, and that in turn, environmental decisions
must take account of economic and social development. This is backed by
principle 4 of the Rio Declaration which states that 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.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Environmental impact assessment has been said to refer to “the process by
which changes in the environment as a result of development are assessed to
measure how beneficial or deleterious these changes might be”. This is
provided for in principle 17 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development: “Environmental impact assessment, as a national instrument,
shall be undertaken for proposed activities that are likely to have a significant
adverse impact on the environment and are subject to a decision of a competent
national authority.”  Principle 17 of Rio Declaration empowers States to enact
Statutes regulating environmental impacts of proposed developmental activities
either industrially or economically that are likely to impact negatively on the
internal environment of States. An important aspect of the aforementioned
Principle 17 is that it places the duty of certifying projects as less likely to cause

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environmental damage on the hand of competent national authorities who act
for the State and not the proposed promoters of the Projects. Even where States
are embarking on public projects, Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration give
States the procedural obligation of giving the citizens access to information,
opportunity to participate in decision making process and make available to the
citizens the report of the impacts of proposed projects and citizens may enforce
their rights in Court where this failure to report is breached or there is outright
failure to carry out the assessment. The primary aim of an environmental
impacts assessment therefore is to ensure that as far
as possible, negative impacts of developmental projects are predicted and addre
ssed before the projects are commenced. It should however be noted that it
is not all developmental projects that environmental impacts assessment are
required, Such Projects must either be one that can significantly affect the
environment and require substantial planning, time, resources or expenditure.
The Environmental Impact Assessment principle gives credence to the fact
that precaution should be based on scientific assessment rather
than withdrawing from embarking on development projects over fear of the
unknown and without clear proof of ‘substantial’ environmental damage. The
EIA further supports and acts as a mechanism for enforcing the sustainable
development’s view that tends to balance economic development and
environmental protection. 

The EIA remains the only principle of international  environmental law 
that has transited in different nations of the world from mere soft law to legally
binding laws that forms the basis for seeking redress in Court.

RECOMMENDATIONS
 The ICJ must engage in Judicial Activism to give life to these principles
and to accord them the status of Customary International Law.

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  In order to circumvent the weakness of the principles as soft laws, it is
suggested that legislative bodies should make these principles the
underlying factors in enacting environmental laws.
 There is need to redefine the preventative principle to restrain the power
to states to apart from not causing damage to other territories, not to cause
damage to their internal environment.
 The frontiers of the precautionary principle should be extended to place
reliance on either scientific proof or clear empirical knowledge before it
is applied. This will give it a ‘look before you leap’ character and not
otherwise.
 Developed nations must wake up to the responsibility of assisting
developing nations with standard technology for efficient utilization of
natural resources for sustainable development.
 The principles of international environmental law should be made express
in International Treaties so they can be clothed with an aura of legality
and enforceability.

CONCLUSION
The nature of principles of international environmental law and its role as mere
policy statements rather than laws in themselves is not in doubt. They however,
act as sources of Customary International Law upon which states can legislate
upon to protect the environment. What is important is the will to translate the
principles into concrete enforceable norms as endorsement of the principles
without clear evidence of action and will to enforce them on the part of states
cannot establish these principles as rules of Customary International Law. The

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International Court of Justice must engage in judicial activism while relying on
these principles to give valid decisions that transcend the limitations of the
principles as the aspect of Customary Law usually relied upon is case law. The
continued existence of these principles as “soft laws” or guiding
principles renders them ineffective. This is in addition to the need for states to g
ive life to thewordings of these principles as enforceable laws in their territories.
There is the need to rethink the principles of international environmental law to
take cognizance of the technological advancements. The need to also stabilize
the economic and developmental interest of developing nations before the issue
of conservation is imposed should be the focus of future deliberations on
principles of international environmental law. The conservation of natural
resources cannot be addressed without addressing and alleviating the problems
of poverty which must include universal access to education, access to safe
drinking water, proper sanitation, proper health care, improved employment
Opportunities and transfer of technologies to the developing nations which can
only be achieved through committed international cooperation. Unless the
observed principles are rebranded to address this imbalance between developing
and developed nations, conservation of natural resources and addressing of
climate change problems would remain a wild goose chase. Mere Principles of
International environmental Law will not save the environment from the
hazards of human activity unless they are rebranded and translated into concrete
enforceable customary international laws and the time to act starts now.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 

 Ahteensuu, M., “Defending the precautionary principle against Three

criticisms”,
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Akpotaire, V., and Dimowo, F., “Environmental Law in Nigeria:
Theoryand Practice” (Benin: Ambik press, 2010). 

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 Burge,H.C., “The principles of Polluter pays in economic Law”, in Law
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1996).Commentaries on the New Delhi Declaration of Principles of
 International law Relatingto Sustainable Development, available
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