Giorgi Matiashvili - Environmental crimes in a transnational context. Topical issues of international environmental disputes as a risk of threat to the world legal order стр 5.

The listed and many other agreements and declarations, as well as decisions of the UN and its international organizations, customs, recognized as legal norms, and decisions of international judicial bodies, form a general system of international law, within framework of which international relations are carried out today in all spheres of humankind existence.

&4 General provisions and the concept of international law of environmental protection

Surrounding Nature Environment  a complex of natural systems, natural objects and natural resources, including atmospheric air, water, land, subsoil resources, flora and fauna, as well as climate in their interconnection and interaction.

A favorable natural environment  such a state of natural objects that form the environment created by human being, as well as the quality of life and conditions that meets the legally established standards and regulations regarding its cleanliness, resource intensity, ecological sustainability, species diversity and aesthetic richness.

Protection of the natural environment  activities to preserve and restore (if it is violated) a favorable state of the ambient environment, prevent its degradation in the process of social development and maintain ecological balance.

The concept and resources of international environmental law.

International environmental law  a set of international legal principles and norms, regulating international relations regarding the protection of the environment from harmful effects, the rational use of its individual elements in order to ensure optimal conditions for the life and health of individuals, as well as the very existence of mankind as a whole.

Significance of international environmental law

The access to regulating relations of the issues of the international level regarding the environmental protection is conditioned by two main factors: the development of scientific and technological progress, a sharp increase in the human population, which leads to an imbalance in world environmental ties (today, humankind does not possess natural enemies capable of regulating its population).

Principles of international environmental law.

The principles of international legal regulation are generally divided into three groups: General (generally recognized) principles of international law; The principles of international law, having environmentally friendly importance; Special (sectoral) principles of international environmental law.

Special principles, formulated in the Stockholm Declaration of 1972, the World Charter for Nature adopted by the General Assembly on October 28, 1982, the Rio de Janeiro Declaration on Environment and Development of 1992 and other documents. The following basic principles should be highlighted:

1. The principle of rational use of natural resources, which obliges states to manage and use natural resources in such a way as not to damage the integrity of ecological systems, as well as to carry out a series of activities for the reproduction and renewal of natural resources (Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources 1980, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982).

2. The principle of preventing environmental pollution means, that states should not pollute the ambient environment by bringing in various harmful substances into it, which, due to their danger or due to their large amount, exceed the ability of the ambient environment to neutralize and restore themselves. States are obliged by their actions not to transfer damage or hazard from one area to another, directly or indirectly, or to transform one type of pollution into another.

3. The principle of the sovereignty of states over their natural resources means the sovereign right of states to develop their own natural resources in accordance with their policies in the field of nature management, environmental protection and development. But it no longer has an absolute character.

4. The principle of doing no harm to the environment beyond the limits of national jurisdiction designates certain boundaries, but the exercise by the state of sovereignty over natural resources. It entails a requirement for states to ensure that activities carried out under their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the ambient environment of other States or areas. At the same time, even the existence of an armed conflict does not exempt the parties from fulfilling this requirement. If this institution were developed, and there was a sensitive scale for assessing damage to the ambient environment, then this would ensure the implementation of an appropriate environmental policy of each state.

5. The principle of protecting the ambient environment during military conflicts follows directly from the abovementioned. It is most fully formulated in the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques of 1976.

6. The principle of environmental impact assessment. In recent years, the number of universally recognized principles of international environmental law of a preventive nature has increased, i.e. not related to compensation for harm already inflicted, but aimed at some kind of preventive measures. This principle was laid down in the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context of 1991, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982 (Article 206), as well as in numerous regional treaties  the Regional Convention for the Conservation of the Red Sea Region and the Gulf of Aden Environment of 1982, Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region of 1983 and so on.

7. The principle of liability for damage to environmental systems of other states or international spaces.

The subject of international environmental law.

The formation of the branch of international law  the international environmental law was generated on the basis of the principle Use your own so as not to harm another. Issues of protection and use of the ambient environment are regulated by national legislation as long as they do not go beyond the territorial boundaries of the state. International environmental law has an independent subject of legal regulation  international environmental relations, which can be divided into three groups:

 Relationships to prevent and limit harmful effects on the state of the ambient environment, which can only be resolved by the efforts of the entire international community (pollution of the World Ocean, air basin, environmental pollution during military conflicts and so on).

 Ensuring the rational use of international natural resources.

 Protection of unique natural objects by their conservation from human economic impact (environmental immunities).

Subjects of international environmental law.

The subjects of international environmental law include: states, international organizations, international non-governmental organizations.

States are the main subject of law. Several classifications of states-subjects of international environmental law have been specified in the scientific literature:

1) States, that are the most environmentally vulnerable and states, that are most environmentally friendly;

2) Developed and developing states, which are characterized not only by a different degree of independence in solving environmental problems, but also by different substantive interests in this area;

3) States, that are affected by the same natural factors due to their geographical location and states that, due to their geographical location, are affected by various natural factors, which influences on the content of the adopted international legal documents.