Environmental Harm in Developing Countries: An Interface of Public and Private International Law

Abstract

The developing nations and developed nations often have very different priorities in terms of environmental problems. The environmental problems of developing nations are often related directly to poverty, whilst environmental concerns in developed nations are often related to excessive industrialization and high-consumption lifestyles. Developing nations are faced with more pressing environmental concerns.The paper discusses the private international law principles of forum shopping and jurisdiction, relevant choice of law to deal with the infringement of transboundary environmental right and individual responsibility of environmental harm under national laws vis-a-vis the public international law to deal with such transboundary environmental disputes viz. the lack of a forum with universal compulsory jurisdiction, the complexity and uncertainty of the law of state responsibility as regards environmental damage, and the absence of clarity concerning the remedies available to states and their scope and spans out reasons to prefer remedies under private international law over public international law when dealing with the issues of transboundary environmental rights. The paper seeks to establish that private international law begins reinforcing transboundary environmental rights where the public international law fails.The paper also suggests some measures by which developing countries can better enforce their transboundary environmental rights caused by other states and international entities to aim towards global sustainable development.