ABSTRACT
In 1969, Thor Heyerdahl of Kon-Tiki fame undertook another perilous expedi-tion. He had noted a design similarity between boats on Lake Titicaca (Peru and Bolivia) and those depicted on tomb walls in Egypt. Theorizing that ancient Egyptians might have had some contact with the Americas, Heyerdahl attempted to sail from North Africa to South America in a papyrus reed boat. 1 During the voyage of Ra I, the crew encountered areas of the ocean littered by lumps of “tar” large enough to pose a hazard to a small reed boat. The lumps had resulted from the then current practice of supertankers washing out their empty tanks in the open sea. The practice had seemed harmless because few believed that, given the breadth and depth of the oceans, such minor and sporadic episodes would cause permanent harm. This incident formed part of a global “wake-up call” that directed attention to the conservation of the global environment as an important issue. Almost forty-five years later, a simple list of concerns commands attention because of the breadth, interrelated nature, and complexity of the problems. Deforestation and desertification, biodiversity (extinction of species), global warming, air and ocean pollution, and disposal of hazardous wastes constitute areas of immediate and growing concern. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report, completed in March 2005, concluded that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth-such as fresh water, capture fisheries, air and water regulation, and the regulation of regional climate, natural hazards, and pests-are being degraded or used unsustainably. 2
THE ENVIRONMENT AND TRADITIONAL INTERNATIONAL LAW During the past 40 years, international environmental law has emerged as a distinct and separable concern from state responsibility. We emphasize “distinct and separable” because some environmental concerns have long formed part of general international law. For example, states have always had a duty to control activities that might have adverse effects within the territories of their neighbors. 3 The heightened interest and proliferation of effort has come from the realization that transboundary problems form only one aspect of environmental concerns. Atmospheric pollution, global warming, marine pollution, ozone depletion, disposal of radioactive and other hazardous wastes, and questions of conservation and management of wildlife and fish stocks are problems that states may have in common, but no one state, no matter how powerful, can solve these questions by itself. Over the past 40 years, a concern for damage to the environment itself apart from damage to the environment of a particular state has slowly become part of the international agenda. Modern concerns embody not only potential transboundary problems but also more general threats to the atmosphere and global commons.
