Environmental Management: Principles and practice

BOX 3.4 A selection of treaties, agreements, etc., relating to
environmental management
Internationally shared resources
In 1972 the USA and Canada signed the Great Lakes Transboundary Agreement
for the comprehensive management of the water quality of the Great Lakes.
Protection of endangered species
1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling. 1973 Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 1979 Bern Convention
on the Conservation of European Wildlife.
Protection of environmentally important areas
There are many areas agreed by scientists, social scientists and other specialists
to be in need of formal protection. Protection may be supported by a state;
privately funded by a group or individual; or by an international body or bodies.
For example, there is a worldwide scatter of Biosphere Reserves; the UK has
state-protected Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs); many countries have
reserves and national parks. Some conservation areas are established and
watched over by international treaty—the 1971 Ramsar Convention
(Convention on Wetlands of International Importance) provides a framework
for protection of wetland habitats, especially those used by migrating birds.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) supports
and oversees many sites of special cultural value.
The Antarctic
In Antarctica territorial claims have been put aside (but not eliminated) under
the Antarctic Treaty which came into force in 1960 (signed 1959)
(Theutenberg, 1984) (see Figure 3.3). Basically this is an international treaty
by which signatories have agreed to keep Antarctica and its surrounding seas
open for scientific research by all nations deemed to be pursuing scientific
exploration south of 60°S. The treaty requires demilitarization, no nuclear
weapons and a commitment to conservation (Triggs, 1988; Holdgate, 1990).
(For a review of Antarctic law see Auburn, 1982; Beck, 1986.)
While it has been quite a flexible treaty, modified as need arose, it has
been put under some pressure as interest in resource development (notably oil,
minerals, krill, squid and fish) comes into conflict with its conservation
requirements. There are also demands from non-treaty nations (basically those
which have not maintained a significant research presence there) and some
NGOs for there to be changes to give the whole world (probably through the
UN), not just signatory nations, control of Antarctica (a coalition of over 200
NGOs and non-treaty nations—the Atlantic and Southern Ocean Coalition—
has been seeking such a goal). There have been some moves which in theory
could allow mineral resources to be used—the 1988 Convention on the

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FIGURE 3.3 The Antarctic: (a) territorial claims; (b) possible economic zones to 200 nautical
miles, and limit of Antarctic Treaty (60°S lat)
continued . . .

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CHAPTER THREE
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Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities allows exploitation only
if very stringent environmental assessments are made and accepted by treaty
nations. The Falklands conflict is a warning that if potentially attractive mineral
resources are identified territorial claims may reappear in Antarctica.
Transboundary pollution
In 1965 Canada and the USA became involved in the Trail Smelter pollution
case. The outcome was acceptance that no state has the right to permit use of
its territory in such a way as to injure another territory. The 1972 UN
Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm was in part called for
by Sweden, because of concern about acid deposition generated by other
countries. In 1979 the Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary
Air Pollution addressed the problem of transboundary sulphur dioxide
atmospheric emissions, but did not lay down firm rules. By the late 1980s
the resolution of transboundary impacts had become an increasingly active
field of diplomacy (Carroll, 1988). The 1991 UN Economic Commission for
Europe Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary
Context obliged signatory states to act to control transboundary environmental
impacts from proposed activities.
Controls on global warming
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (signed at UNCED
1992) obliged signatories to stabilize CO
2
emissions at 1990 levels by AD
2000. The 1997 Kyoto Conference was intended to settle details of CO
2
reduction and to see that targets were enforced by international law.
However, a coalition of USA industries was opposed to any limit on
greenhouse gas emissions, and lobbied to hinder agreements. Finally
agreements were made by the EU to make an 8 per cent cut in emissions by
AD 2010 and arrangements for Tradeable Emissions Quotas (TEQs) were
approved (with Russia able to sell its unused quotas to the USA) (see chapter
12 for discussion of TEQs).
Ozone damage controls
Efforts to phase out and if possible ban the use of CFCs were made at the 1985
Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. The 1987 Montreal
Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer—revised 1990—derives
from the Vienna Convention. The protocol aimed for a 50 per cent cut in CFCs
over a short period (24, mainly developed nations signed—by 1994 this had
increased to 74, including some developing countries) and was signed in the
face of considerable uncertainty about ozone damage. The protocol is a
landmark, in that for the first time nations agreed to impose significant costs
on their economies in order to protect the global environment. India and China
held out, seeking agreement for funding to assist with ozone controls. 

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The Law of the Sea
In 1954 the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships
was undertaken to try to reduce the discharge of waste oil from oil-tankers and
other ship-related discharges (with limited success). For ocean pollution control
to be effective, agreements that cover rivers, effluent outfalls, air pollution,
etc. are required, because pollutants arrive in the sea from such sources (Boyle,
1992). In 1958 the First Conference on Law of the Sea took place (the second
was in 1960), and in 1959 the UN established the International Maritime
Organization to deal with marine safety, law, pollution control, etc.
From the early 1970s some of the nations with coastlines began to
declare extensions of their territorial waters from the accepted 3 to 12, or
even 200 nautical miles. The 1950 Continental Shelf Convention was largely
behind this trend towards extension of exclusive sovereign rights to
continental shelf or seabed resources. To try to formalize these trends the
Third Conference on Law of the Sea was held in 1974.
The UNEP’s Regional Seas Programme has brought together coastal
states of a number of marine regions, resulting in several Regional Seas
Treaties, covering: the Mediterranean; the Gulf; West Africa; Southeast
Pacific; Red Sea; Caribbean; East Africa; and the South Pacific. These treaties
led to the development of Environmental Action Plans and then co-ordination
to fight pollution, etc. In 1977 the North Sea ceased to be ‘high seas’ as far
as fish and mineral exploitation were concerned, when the EC established
zones laying claim to the continental shelf. A number of the regional seas,
e.g. the North Sea, Japan’s Inland Sea, the Baltic and the Mediterranean
have been the subject of convention or treaty agreements in addition to the
efforts of the UNEP to try to control pollution more effectively.
Meeting in Jamaica in 1982, the UN launched the Convention on the
Law of the Sea (with agreements effective to 2500 m depth from the shore).
Some developing countries are keen to see the oceans, like Antarctica, declared
common heritage, rather than becoming de facto possessions of those countries
with the wealth and technology to exploit the resources.
extended state sovereignty over natural resources (especially apparent in respect to
ocean territorial limits). There has been some progress, e.g.: the EU is developing a
form of supranational legislation, and the UNEP argues that international law should
deal with protecting the world’s life support systems.