THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

International environmental law is a branch of public international law created by States for
States to govern problems that arise between States. It is concerned with the attempt to control
pollution and the depletion of natural resources within a framework of sustainable development.

1. Protection against ozone layer depletion .

2. Management of hazardous waste.
3. Protection of biodiversity .
4. Taking measures to reduce global warming which is a result of climate change.
5. Combating desertification in areas experiencing serious drought.
6. Governing shared natural resources.

PROTECTION AGAINST OZONE LAYER DEPLETION

The Vienna Convention, concluded in 1985, is a framework agreement in which States
agree to cooperate in relevant research and scientific assessments of the ozone problem,
to exchange information and to adopt appropriate measures to prevent activities that harm
the ozone layer. The obligations are general and contain no specific limits on chemicals
that deplete the ozone layer.
The ozone layer protects the earth against excessive ultraviolet radiation, which could
cause damage and mutations in human, plant, and animal cells. Chlorofluorocarbon gases
(CFCs), which are widely used and viewed as posing no harm, could migrate to the
stratosphere, remain intact for decades to centuries and by releasing chlorine, break down
the ozone layer.
No single country or group of countries could address the problem of ozone depletion
alone, so maximum international cooperation is needed.
MANAGEMENT OF HARZADOUS WASTE
Management of hazardous wastes has been on the international environmental agenda
from the early 1980s, when it was included as one of three priority areas in the United
Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) first Montevideo Programme on
Environmental Law in 1981.
During the mid-1980s, the political discussion of the issue of international transport of
hazardous wastes and that of illegal trans boundary traffic in such wastes in particular,
had gathered momentum, reaching its culmination in 1988 in widely publicized media
reports on incidents involving the illegal dumping of toxic wastes from industrialized
nations in Third World countries.
This awakened environmental awareness and corresponding tightening of environmental
regulations in the industrialized world, this increased public resistance to the disposal of
hazardous wastes in accordance with what became known as the NIMBY (Not In My
Back Yard) syndrome and to an escalation of disposal costs. This in turn led some
operators to seek cheap disposal options for hazardous wastes in Eastern Europe and the
developing world, where environmental awareness was much less developed and
regulations and enforcement mechanisms were lacking.
The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans boundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes and their Disposal was adopted in 1989, in response to a public outcry following
the discovery in the 1980s in Africa and other parts of the developing world of deposits
of toxic wastes imported from abroad.
PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY
Biodiversity refers to the infinite variety of life forms, variation of genes within
individual species. This biological diversity is the reason for the resilience of ecosystems
and life forms and their ability to prevent and to recover from disasters and adverse
conditions. Activities of microbial and animal species lead to soil creation, the
maintenance of its quality and detoxification and decomposition of wastes. Appropriate
plant cover can prevent landslides ,mitigates soil erosion and contributes to air and water
quality, as well as to climate stabilization. The maintenance of species diversity facilitates
natural pest control, pollination, crop production and food security. Furthermore,
biological diversity plays an important role in the spiritual and cultural life of human
societies.
The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was developed to promote Bio
diversity.
REDUCING GLOBAL WARMING
Global warming, which is the increase in global average temperature is mostly due to the
increase of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations caused by human activity.
The greenhouse gas effect in the atmosphere regulates overall temperature on the Earth’s
surface. It is a naturally occurring phenomenon by which certain gases present in the
atmosphere re-radiate heat back to the Earth’s surface, without it our planet would be
considerably colder and most likely uninhabitable.
International consensus developed that States should also consider the elaboration of a
legally-binding convention on climate change, which would address emissions of
greenhouse gases not covered under the Ozone Layer protection regime. The united
nations framework convention on climate change 1992 (UNFCCC) came into force to
address this issue.
COMBATING DESERTIFICATION
23 December 1994, the General Assembly welcomed the adoption of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought
Particularly in Africa. Desertification is identified as one of the greatest challenges to
sustainable development. Desertification as land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry
sub-humid areas result from many factors, including climatic variations and human
activities. It leads to reduction in crop yields and weakens the resilience of agricultural
and pastoral systems.
GOVERNING SHARED NATURAL RESOURCES

The 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of
International Watercourses is the only treaty governing shared freshwater resources that
is of universal applicability. It is a framework convention, in the sense that it provides a
framework of principles and rules that may be applied and adjusted to suit the
characteristics of particular international watercourses.
This helps in solving disputes arising out shared natural resources for example we have
had conflicts along lake Victoria involving fishermen from Kenya and Uganda.