ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) consideration of the principles relevant to sustainable development in Pulp Mills case and, in particular, assesses the contribution of the case to the evolution of sustainable development. The ICJ found that Uruguay failed to comply with the procedural obligations to inform CARU and Argentina of the planned activities along the river. That Uruguay had breached its procedural obligations was never in doubt. Indeed it appears that even Uruguay expected the ICJ to find that it was in breach of the procedural obligations. The most significant contribution of judgment to sustainable development is the Court's statement on environmental impact assessments. The Court appears to conceptualize sustainable development as a tool to balance 'economic development and environmental protection'. This understanding ignores the evolution of sustainable development, away from the binary approach of balancing economic development and environment, to one which recognizes that sustainable development aspires to integrate environmental, economic and social concerns.
