EMERGENT ENVIRONMENTAL

LEGAL PRINCIPLES IN
INERNATIONAL LAW
 The Preventive Principle

It is a principle which requires action

protecting the environment should be
taken at an early stage.
 The Precautionary Principle
This principle attempts to codify the
concept of precaution in law.
Precaution is defined as a strategy
for addressing risk. It concerns the
manner in which policy-makers, for
the purposes of protecting the
environment, apply science,
technology and economics.
 Principle No. 15 of the Rio
Declaration.
In order to protect the environment, the
precautionary approach shall be widely
applied by states according to their
capabilities. Where there are threats of
serious or irreversible damage, lack of full
scientific certainty shall not be used as a
reason for postponing cost-effective measures
to prevent environmental degradation.

 The Concept of Sustainable
Development
It is a development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the needs
of future generations to meet their own
needs.
Development is said to be sustainable when it
is achieved by the integration of social,
economic and environmental considerations
in a way that provides for and protects the
long-term well being of populations.
 The Polluter-Pays Principle
Article 16 of the Rio Declaration expresses
the idea in these terms, to wit:
National authorities should endeavour to
promote the internalisation of environmental
costs and the use of economic instruments,
taking into account the approach that the
polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of
pollution, with due regard to the public
interest and without distorting international
trade and investment.
 The Sic Utere Tuo Principle

The general obligations of

states are to ensure that
the activities within their
jurisdiction and control
respect the environment of
other states.
 The Obligation of Environmental
Impact Assesment
This is a technique for integrating
environmental considerations into
decision-making process. In
International Law, the duty to
undertake the environmental impact
assessment is expressed in Principle
No. 17 of the Rio Declaration, to wit:
 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.