INTERNATIONAL LAWS ON

ENVIROMENT

SUBMITTED BY:

Janine Katreen P. Calo

II-Teehankee

SUBMITTED TO:

Atty. Faisal Cali

May 11 2018

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 Rio Declaration

The 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development defines

the rights of the people to be involved in the development of their
economies, and the responsibilities of human beings to safeguard the
common environment. The declaration builds upon the basic ideas
concerning the attitudes of individuals and nations towards the environment
and development, first identified at the United Nations Conference on the
Human Environment (1972).

The Rio Declaration states that long term economic progress is only
ensured if it is linked with the protection of the environment. If this is to be
achieved, then nations must establish a new global partnership involving
governments, their people and the key sectors of society. Together human
society must assemble international agreements that protect the global
environment with responsible development.

There are a number of principles to the Rio Declaration.

- People are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with

nature.
- Development today must not threaten the needs of present and future
generations.
- Nations have the right to exploit their own resources, but without
causing environmental damage beyond their borders.
- Environmental protection shall constitute an integral part of the
development process.
- Eradicating poverty and reducing disparities in living standards in
different parts of the world are essential if we are to achieve
sustainable development whilst meeting the needs of the majority of
the people.
- Environmental issues are best handled with the participation of all
concerned citizens.
- The polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution.

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 - Sustainable development requires better scientific understanding of
the problems. Nations should share knowledge and technologies to
achieve the goal of sustainability.

Cartagena Protocol

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is the first international law to

specifically regulate genetic engineering, and this largely reflects the global
climate of concern about the safety, health and environmental risks of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs), along with the wider political and
socio-economic implications of this technology. For the first time in
international law, there is an implicit recognition that GMOs are inherently
different from naturally occurring organisms, and carry special risks and
hazards, hence the need to have a legally binding international instrument.
The Protocol recognizes that GMOs may have biodiversity, human health
and socio-economic impacts, and that these impacts should be risk assessed
or taken into account when making decisions on GMOs. Precaution is the
basis for the Protocol itself, and is operationalized in decision-making and
risk assessment.

The Protocol’s scope applies to the ‘transboundary movement, transit,

handling, and use of all living modified organisms that may have adverse
effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, taking
also into account risks to human health’ (Article 4). The terms
‘transboundary movement, transit, handling and use’ are wide enough to
include all activities related to LMOs under the scope of the Protocol. The
general scope of the Protocol in Article 4 provides for a comprehensive
scope, covering all LMOs, and does not specifically exclude any category of
LMOs.

The Protocol has a special focus on transboundary movements. The

procedure by which transboundary movements of LMOs are regulated is
known as the advance informed agreement (AIA) procedure which involves

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a few steps. Firstly, the Party of export notifies or requires its exporters to
notify the Party of import if there is an intention to export a LMO. The
notification must include at least the information required in Annex I
(Information Required in Notifications under Articles 8, 10 and 13) of the
Protocol. The notification is then acknowledged by the Party of import. The
Party of import may make a decision on the notification according to its
domestic regulatory framework, which must be consistent with the Protocol
or proceed according to the decision procedure in the Protocol.

The decision by the Party of import is based on risk assessment and

precaution, and the Party of import may take into account socio-economic
considerations when making its decision. A Party is obliged to consult its
public in the decision-making process, and must make the results of such
decisions available to the public. A Party may make the following decisions:
unconditional approval, approval with conditions, prohibition of the import,
request for additional relevant information, or extension of the time period
for making a decision.

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 Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements

of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal was adopted on 22 March 1989 by
the Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Basel, Switzerland, 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.

Awakening environmental awareness and corresponding tightening of

environmental regulations in the industrialized world in the 1970s and 1980s
had led to increasing 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. It was against this background that the Basel Convention was
negotiated in the late 1980s, and its thrust at the time of its adoption was to
combat the “toxic trade”, as it was termed. The Convention entered into
force in 1992.

The overarching objective of the Basel Convention is to protect

human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous
wastes. Its scope of application covers a wide range of wastes defined as
“hazardous wastes” based on their origin and/or composition and their
characteristics, as well as two types of wastes, household waste and
incinerator ash, were defined as “other wastes”.

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The Convention is based on the following principles:

- the reduction of hazardous waste generation and the promotion of

environmentally sound management of hazardous wastes, wherever
the place of disposal;
- the restriction of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes
except where it is perceived to be in accordance with the principles of
environmentally sound management; and
- When such transboundary movements are permissible.

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 Stockholm Convention

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants is a

global treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals
that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely
distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of humans and
wildlife, and have harmful impacts on human health or on the environment.

Exposure to Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) can lead to serious

health effects including certain cancers, birth defects, dysfunctional immune
and reproductive systems, greater susceptibility to disease and damages to
the central and peripheral nervous systems. Given their long range transport,
no one government acting alone can protect its citizens or its environment
from POPs.

In response to this global problem, the Stockholm Convention, which

was adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2004, requires its parties to
take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the
environment. The objective of the Stockholm Convention is to protect
human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants.

The following are a few of the provisions that are found in the Stockholm
Convention:

- Reduce or eliminate releases from unintentionally produced POPs that

are listed in Annex C to the Convention (Article 5)
- The Convention promotes the use of best available techniques and
best environmental practices for preventing releases of POPs into the
environment.
- Ensure that stockpiles and wastes consisting of, containing or
contaminated with POPs are managed safely and in an
environmentally sound manner (Article 6)
- The Convention requires that such stockpiles and wastes be identified
and managed to reduce or eliminate POPs releases from these sources.
The Convention also requires that wastes containing POPs are

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 transported across international boundaries taking into account
relevant international rules, standards and guidelines.
- To target additional POPs (Article 8)
- Other provisions of the Convention relate to the development of
implementation plans (Article 7), information exchange (Article 9),
public information, awareness and education (Article 10), research,
development and monitoring (Article 11), technical assistance (Article
12), financial resources and mechanisms (Article 13), reporting
(Article 15), effectiveness evaluation (Article 16) and non-compliance
(Article 17).

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 Rotterdam Convention

The Convention covers pesticides and industrial chemicals that have

been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasons by
Parties and which have been notified by Parties for inclusion in the PIC
procedure. One notification from each of two specified regions triggers
consideration of addition of a chemical to Annex III of the Convention.
Severely hazardous pesticide formulations that present a risk under
conditions of use in developing countries or countries with economies in
transition may also be proposed for inclusion in Annex III.

Once a chemical is included, a "decision guidance document" (DGD)

containing information concerning the chemical and the regulatory decisions
to ban or severely restrict the chemical for health or environmental reasons,
is circulated to all Parties.

Parties have nine months to prepare a response concerning the future

import of the chemical. The response can consist of either a final decision
(to allow import of the chemical, not to allow import, or to allow import
subject to specified conditions) or an interim response. Decisions by an
importing country must be trade neutral (that is, decisions must apply
equally to domestic production for domestic use as well as to imports from
any source).

The import decisions are circulated and exporting country Parties are
obligated under the Convention to take appropriate measure to ensure that
exporters within its jurisdiction comply with the decisions.

The Convention aims to follow the following objectives:

- to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among

Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in
order to protect human health and the environment from potential
harm;

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 - to contribute to the environmentally sound use of those hazardous
chemicals, by facilitating information exchange about their
characteristics, by providing for a national decision-making process
on their import and export and by disseminating these decisions to
Parties.

The Convention creates legally binding obligations for the

implementation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure. It built on
the voluntary PIC procedure, initiated by UNEP and FAO in 1989 and
ceased on 24 February 2006.

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 Montreal Protocol

The Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer

is a landmark international agreement designed to protect the stratospheric
ozone layer. The treaty was originally signed in 1987 and substantially
amended in 1990 and 1992. The Montreal Protocol stipulates that the
production and consumption of compounds that deplete ozone in the
stratosphere--chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, carbon tetrachloride, and
methyl chloroform--are to be phased out by 2000 (2005 for methyl
chloroform). Scientific theory and evidence suggest that, once emitted to the
atmosphere, these compounds could significantly deplete the stratospheric
ozone layer that shields the planet from damaging UV-B radiation.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has prepared a

Montreal Protocol Handbook that provides additional detail and explanation
of the provisions.

The original Montreal Protocol of 1987 only concerned the phase

down of CFCs production and consumption in developing countries. The
London Amendment (1990) required the complete phaseout of CFCs
between 1996 and 2000 in developed countries, and by 2010 in developing
countries. HCFCs were added to the list of controlled substances to be
phased out by 2030 in the Copenhagen Amendment for developed countries,
and in the Montreal Amendment for developing countries which schedules
the total phase-out by 2040. Finally, the Kigali amendment (2016) added
schedules to phase-down the production and consumption of HFCs in both
developed and developing countries.

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 Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan on the 11th of

December, 1997, but not enacted or enforced until the 16th of February,
2005. The protocol was adopted to help combat the adverse effects of
climate change, or global warming.

The main feature of the Protocol is that it has mandatory targets on

emissions of greenhouse gases for major world economies which have
accepted. These targets range from -8% to +10% of the emission level of the
different countries in 1999 "to reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions at a
lower level in at least 5% below 1990 levels in the period engagement
between 2008 and 2012. " In almost all cases, even where it has set a target
of +10% from 1990 levels, limits require significant reductions in currently
projected emissions.

It provides for mandatory targets for the future "commitment periods"

after 2012. These are negotiated well in advance of the periods concerned. In
short, The essence of the Kyoto Protocol is that it calls for nations to commit
themselves to reducing greenhouse gas emissions

The Kyoto Protocol’s main goal is to reduce the presence of 4 harmful

greenhouse gases (GHG’s):

- Carbon Dioxide
- Methane
- Nitrous Oxide
- Sulphur Hexafluoride

These gases belong into two groups, both of which are being targeted by the
protocol:

- Hydrofluorocarbons
- Perfluorocarbons

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 The goal is to reduce emissions by 5.2%, compared to 1990 levels.
To offset the harsh consequences of "binding targets", the agreement
provides flexibility in how countries may meet their targets. For example, it
can partially compensate for their emissions by increasing "sinks", forests,
which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This can be done well in
the country or other countries. They can also pay foreign projects that result
in a reduction in greenhouse gases. Several mechanisms have been
established for this purpose (see paragraphs on "emission trading", the
"Clean Development Mechanism" and "joint implementation".

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Sources:

https://unfccc.int/resource/docs/publications/rio_20_adaptation_brochure.pd
f

https://www.cbd.int/rio/

https://www.cbd.int/doc/legal/cartagena-protocol-en.pdf

http://www.basel.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/1271/Default.aspx

https://www.unido.org/our-focus/safeguarding-
environment/implementation-multilateral-environmental-
agreements/stockholm-convention

http://www.pic.int/TheConvention/Overview/tabid/1044/language/en-
US/Default.aspx

https://unfccc.int/process/the-kyoto-protocol

https://www.state.gov/e/oes/eqt/chemicalpollution/83007.htm

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