| Summary: | LL.D. The growing interdependence of States throughout the twentieth century has doubtlessly been the major cause of the greater impetus to the development of international law as new rules had to be found and devised to meet with the situations which emerged. A clear example is the assertion of environmental law as an essential part of international law, as States began to treat the environment as a matter of international concern, rather than as an issue which pertains solely to the realm of domestic jurisdiction. There are two main reasons for this: in the first instance many forms of environmental harm know no national borders and secondly very often municipal legislation is designed to protect the domestic environment, irrespective of whether adverse effects occur in areas not subject to national authority. Environmental law attempts to achieve an equilibrium between the protection of the environment and development, by creating a system of rights and duties to strike a proper balance of interests and where such balance is improperly disturbed, it attempts to provide the necessary measures to deal with the situation. To fulfill this aim, however, environmental law often contrasts with certain traditional principles of international law, posing a serious challenge to the present system of the doctrine of State sovereignty. It has become evident throughout these last years, that protection of the environment requires an international strategy which transcends over State sovereignty in the interest of present and future generations. International concern for the environment is particularly evident in the case of common areas such as the high seas, shared coastal areas, Antarctica and common water resources. These so called "international commons" have led to the earliest formulation of international rules designed to protect the environment. Throughout the last decade environmental concern has concentrated on the effects of pollution in the atmosphere and whether this would lead to climate change. The atmosphere and climate change are both a matter of international concern in the true sense of the word, the atmosphere envelopes the whole of planet Earth, without it, life as we know it, cannot exist. Furthermore, the most vulnerable aspect of the atmosphere is its climate which knows no frontier - if abused of in one region of the world, the repercussions will not be circumscribed to that region alone. N/A
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