Prof. Dr. Henri de Waele

1. An introduction to international environmental law‘Food for thought’ lecture, Friday 15 January 2016 • Prof. Dr. Henri de Waele

2. Outline • The development of international environmental law over time • The leading treaties and declarations that have been adopted • The core principles of international enviromental law • Going to court to ensure a vital, green and healthy society

3. The development of international environmental law over time • Emerged as a separate field of international law in the 1970s • Landmark conferences: Stockholm (1972), Johannesburg (2002), Rio de Janeiro (1992 and 2012), Paris (2015) • A specialised international organisation concerned with global environmental protection has never been created (compare for example the WTO, WHO and ILO)

4. The leading treaties and declarations that have been adopted • Rio Declarationon Environment and Development • UN FrameworkConventiononClimateChange • Kyoto Protocol • The Treaty of Paris • Treatiesonspecific topics such as CITES and the Montréal Protocol • Regionaltreatiessuch as the OSPAR- and the Espoo-convention

5. The core principles of international environmental law • Prohibition for states to cause environmental damage to / in other states(‘No harm principle’) • Principle of sustainable development • Precautionary principle (‘Prevention is better than the cure’) • Polluter pays principle

6. Going to court to ensure a vital, green and healthy society • Litigation at the International Court of Justice (famous examples: the Pulp Mills and theGabcíkovo-Nagymaroscases) • Litigation at the European Court of Human Rights (famous examples: . Hatton v. United Kingdom and Oneryildiz v. Turkey) • Litigation at national courts? • - UNFCCC and Kyoto-Protocol: no ‘self-executing’ provisions • - Other international treaties: some provisions considered self-executing • - Rules of EU environmental law: generally ‘directly effective’ • - National rules of international environmental law: most easily invocable