“Time is rife for adoption of Global Environment Pact”
Introduction When we think of utility of a branch of law, we judge it on the basis of its adaptability to the changing social dynamics and legitimate aspirations of its subjects. The more conventional branches of law such as penal codes and civil codes developed many centuries ago since the human society has been witnessing crimes and civil infringements since antiquity. However, the need to conserve the environment was realised only when the industrial revolution resulted in mass scale degradation of environment due to human activities.
With the increasing pace of environmental degradation, there is an increasing need to come out with more stringent and effective environmental legislations or treaties to stem the rot. The importance of a legislation especially treaty’s requirement to adapt to changing times is also underlined by the International Court of Justice in its judgement in “Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros case” wherein it observed ,“ A “treaty is not static, and is open to adapt to emerging norms of international law” when it contains “evolving provisions”.
This urge to create legally binding and practically effective frameworks to meet the needs of contemporary environmental scenario lays the foundation for drafting a Global Environment Pact; a framework intended to be more stringent and effective than its preceding global frameworks....