Milestones:

1987 Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depletion (a protocol to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer) is centred around groups of halogenated carbons, which have been shown to play a role in ozone depletion. It provides a timetable on which the production of these substances must be phased out and eventually eliminated. It is said to be the most successful international agreement to date. It established the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol, which exists to assist developing countries to comply with the control measures of the Protocol.

IMPLEMENTATION & ENFORCEMENT OF IEL

See Birnie & Boyle Chapter 4.

Enforcement:
In the past, the focus was on reparation for injury; since the Rio treaties, however, the emphasis has been on control and prevention of harm, conservation and sustainable use of resources.

Enforcement:
Enforcement has three broad goals or purposes 1. to ensure compliance with obligations (respecting, for example, pollution control, resource conservation, transboundary risk management and cooperation); 2. to facilitate appropriate community responses to matters of enforcement and compliance to ensure the implementation of regional and global standards, or for the protection of common interests; and 3. to provide equitable and preventive remedies.

1. State Responsibility
A state violates international law when it commits an internationally wrongful act which breaches an international obligation by which the state was bound by at the time the act took place. Environmental cases will arise where states breach either customary obligations or treaties.

1. State Responsibility
According to the International Law Commission, in its Draft Articles on the Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, where the responsibility of a state is established, an obligation arises to discontinue the wrongful conduct (Article 30(a)); to offer guarantees of non-repetition (Article 30(b)); and to make full reparation for the injury caused (Article 31.1).

2. International supervisory institutions

International supervisory institutions are usually inter-governmental and autonomous. They are responsible for data collection; receiving reports on treaty implementation by states; facilitating independent monitoring and inspection; and reviewing the performance of states or the negotiation of further measures and regulations. See examples of institutions in Birnie & Boyle p.202205.

3. Judicial Settlement & Arbitration

4. Diplomatic Methods of Settlement

IMPACT OF IEL ON SA ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

International environmental law has had a considerable influence on South African environmental law. The former is usually incorporated into the latter in one of three ways: 1. by incorporation of the provisions of the treaty into an Act of Parliament; 2. including the treaty as a schedule to a statute; and 3. by proclamation by the executive in the Government Gazette, under the authorisation of a particular Act, giving the executive the power to bring the treaty into effect.

INTERNATIONAL LAW & THE CONSTITUTION

See Chapter 14 of the Constitution and Chapter 6 of NEMA.