International Environmental Law (2019)

Abstract

The evolution of international environmental law has been profoundly affected by a number of disasters. After the Chernobyl accident in 1986, for example, two international conventions were adopted: The Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. Similarly, the Torrey Canyon accident and the subsequent oil spill led to the establishment of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds) and the adoption of the 1969 International Convention on Intervention on the High Seas in Cases of Oil Pollution Casualties. There are many illustrations of this international environmental law adopted in response to disasters. However, international environmental law has not only developed in the aftermath of disasters. Numerous texts of international environmental law have been adopted to prevent such events, such as the Vienna Convention on the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Based on the observation that a disaster risk could occur, States have anticipated their occurrence by concluding an agreement. Certain texts, such as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer adopted following the Vienna Convention, have made it possible to prevent disasters from occurring. On 15 October 2016, the States Parties to the Montreal Protocol had adopted the Kigali Amendment for the phase-down of hydrofluorocarbons. Although hydrofluorocarbons are not ozone-depleting substances, they are gases that can contribute to global warming. The Kigali Amendment entered into force on 1 January 2019, which will contribute to the 2°C objective of the Paris Agreement.1 For other conventions, the results are more contrasted. For example, the two-degree objective set by the Paris Agreement seems completely unrealistic today, given the lack of ambition of the voluntary commitments