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Chapter 2. Complexity and interrelatedness in environmental law
natural scenery of international importance. Finally, global environmental
problems are not the result of pollution by a single state but of the
international community as a whole, with all members contributing to
the current situation. It is, therefore, the responsibility of each stakeholder
to play its part in implementing the commitments it has accepted to
preserve the environment and reverse negative changes. The principle of
common but differentiated responsibilities arises in this context.
According to this principle, since states have contributed to environmental
problems to different degrees, they bear different burdens in undertaking
the obligations set out to reverse them, particularly in view of the unique
situation and needs of developing states.
At the heart of international environmental law are the customary
international law principles and international agreements adopted by
states. Environmental law has specific features as regulations that appear
in the overlapping of different objectives and the paramount importance
of the decisions of treaty bodies." The specific characteristics of legislation
in the field of international environmental law are the “constitution” of
international treaty regimes and the fragmentation of the organisation.
The essence of international environmental law can thus be captured in
the recognition that global environmental problems require global solutions.
The international community is seeking to establish common standards
through extensive treaty-making to reverse the negative impacts we are
currently experiencing.
The catalogue of legal sources in internal legal systems is relatively easy
to identify, and legislative orders can be learned from relevant legislation
and constitutional norms. In contrast, international law has its specific
features, including its unique system of sources of law. International law
is decentralised in nature so that neither law-making nor enforcement,
nor sanctioning and justice can be tied to a single institution. According
to the positivist conception of international law theory, it is the will of
the state that establishes a norm of international law. Therefore, only
international treaties and state practice were accepted as a source of law.
Positivist theory was a typical view of the 19th century. However, the
§ Epstein, Charlotte: Common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR). Britannica.
Available at: https: //www.britannica.com/topic/common-but-differentiated-respon¬
sibilities.
van Asselt, Harro: Managing the Fragmentation of International Environmental Law:
Forests at the Intersection of the Climate and Biodiversity Regimes. New York University
Journal of International Law and Politics, Vol. 44. No. 4. 2011, pp. 1205-1278.
% Bodansky, Daniel - Bunneé, Jutta — Hey, Ellen: The Oxford Handbook of International
Environmental Law. Oxford University Press, 2007. pp. 473-476.
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