Some challenges of treaty regulation of international relations in the field of environmental protection

Abstract

International agreements and treaties in the field of environmental protection concluded in the 19th — first half of the 20th century, were, as a rule, the result of forced compromises, they were intended to solve urgent problems that had appeared or, at least, drew attention to limited areas (for example, the threat to a certain species, pollution of a marine area). In such cases, a convention was adopted to protect an endangered species or to limit emissions into the sea. As a result of this fragmented approach to environmental protection, an impressive but very heterogeneous system of conventions has emerged. Understanding of the unity of ecosystems implemented in the development of principles enshrined in the Stockholm Declaration of 1972 and the Rio Declaration of 1992 took place largely due to the rapid progress of science and technology. As a result, there has been a transition from “spontaneous” formation of international environmental standards to their consolidation around special principles of international environmental law. Also, a notable feature of many international treaties in the field of environmental protection — their “framework” character — is further analyzed. The adoption of framework agreements leads to the formation of complex sets of conventional documents consisting of several different, but in a certain way related to each other agreements. Considering the question of the effectiveness of such a legal instrument as a framework agreement, the author concludes that the origins of the problem of insufficient effectiveness of agreements in the field of environmental protection lie in the foundations of the existing economic system.