International Environmental Law and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Some environmental issues are purely national in scope. Many others, however, have an international dimension. Thus, to the extent that law has a role to play in dealing with environmental issues, international law as well as national law is required. The aim of this paper to look at the development and implementation of a number of selected areas of international environmental law in relation to the United Kingdom (UK). The UK's international legal obligations are an important factor, although only one of several factors, in shaping the domestic environmental policy and legislation of the UK. At the same time domestic policy considerations also affect the degree to which the UK is prepared to assume international legal obligations and, as we shall see, the assumption of such obligations is almost entirely voluntary. The paper thus has a double focus looking both at the contribution the UK has made and is making to the development of international environmental law and at the impact of international environmental law on domestic environmental policy and law in the UK. The remainder of this introductory section will explain, particularly for the benefit of readers without any knowledge of international law, how international environmental law (a branch of international law) is developed, and then list the areas of international environmental law which have been chosen for examination and explain the reasons for this choice. The rest of this paper will then examine the areas chosen from the point of view of the double focus just referred to.