New State Responsibility Rules and Compliance with Multilateral Environmental Obligations: Some Case Studies of How the New Rules Might Apply in the International Environmental Context

Abstract

Over the past three decades, international environmental law has experienced an almost meteoric rise in profile within the body of general international law. Multilateral regimes have proliferated, spanning a diverse range of topics from the preservation of biodiversity and the conservation of marine resources, to the prevention of ozone depletion and global climate change. However, despite the intensity of legal activity in the field, the environmental situation is rapidly deteriorating. States continue to disregard not only 'soft-law' declarations to address the global environmental crisis, but also their treaty commitments. The central problem in international environmental law has thus b..