User:Jose Edmundo Dayot/PIL Module 12

The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment in Stockholm was the first world conference to make the environment a major issue. The participants adopted a series of principles for sound management of the environment including the Stockholm Declaration and Action Plan for the Human Environment and several resolutions. The Stockholm Declaration, which contained 26 principles, placed environmental issues at the forefront of international concerns and marked the start of a dialogue between industrialized and developing countries on the link between economic growth, the pollution of the air, water, and oceans and the well-being of people around the world. The Action Plan includes the Global Environmental Assessment Program (watch plan), Environmental management activities, and international measures to support assessment and management activities carried out at the national and international levels. One of the major results of the Stockholm conference was the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme, the global champion for the environment with programs focusing on sustainable development, climate, and biodiversity.

Principle 21 of Stockholm Declaration
"States have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources pursuant to their own environmental policies, and the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction."

Right to permanent sovereignty over natural resources

 * 1) The right of peoples and nations to permanent sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources must be exercised in the interest of their national development and of the well-being of the people of the State concerned.
 * 2) The exploration, development and disposition of such resources, as well as the import of the foreign capital required for these purposes, should be in conformity with the rules and conditions which the peoples and nations freely consider to be necessary or desirable with regard to the authorization, restriction or prohibition of such activities.
 * 3) In cases where authorization is granted, the capital imported and the earnings on that capital shall be governed by the terms thereof, by the national legislation in force, and by international law. The profits derived must be shared in the proportions freely agreed upon, in each case, between the investors and the recipient State, due care being taken to ensure that there is no impairment, for any reason, of that State's sovereignty over its natural wealth and resources.
 * 4) Nationalization, expropriation or requisitioning shall be based on grounds or reasons of public utility, security or the national interest which are recognized as overriding purely individual or private interests, both domestic and foreign. In such cases the owner shall be paid appropriate compensation, in accordance with the rules in force in the State taking such measures in the exercise of its sovereignty and in accordance with international law. In any case where the question of compensation gives rise to a controversy, the national jurisdiction of the State taking such measures shall be exhausted. However, upon agreement by sovereign States and other parties concerned, settlement of the dispute should be made through arbitration or international adjudication.
 * 5) The free and beneficial exercise of the sovereignty of peoples and nations over their natural resources must be furthered by the mutual respect of States based on their sovereign equality.
 * 6) International co-operation for the economic development of developing countries, whether in the form of public or private capital investments, exchange of goods and services, technical assistance, or exchange of scientific information, shall be such as to further their independent national development and shall be based upon respect for their sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources.
 * 7) Violation of the rights of peoples and nations to sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources is contrary to the spirit and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and hinders the development of international co-operation and the maintenance of peace.
 * 8) Foreign investment agreements freely entered into by or between sovereign States shall be observed in good faith; States and international organizations shall strictly and conscientiously respect the sovereignty of peoples and nations over their natural wealth and resources in accordance with the Charter and the principles set forth in the present resolution.

Sic utere tuo principle
The principle of sic utere tuo, ut alienum non laedas (so use your own as not to injure another's property) in international law prohibits states from conducting or permitting activities within their territory that harm other states. This principle, also known as the principle of good neighborliness, is the foundation of environmental law. This principle itself is premised on principles and approaches aimed at preventing harm to the environment. Among these principles, some have received scholarly attention, while others have been sidelined despite their significance and contribution to environmental protection. The prevention principle is one such principle.

Precautionary principle
The Precautionary Principle has been widely incorporated, in various forms, in international environmental agreements and declarations and further developed in a number of national laws. An element common to the various formulations of the precautionary principle is the recognition that lack of certainty regarding the threat of environmental harm should not be used as an excuse for not taking action to avert that threat. The precautionary principle recognizes that delaying action until there is compelling evidence of harm will often mean that it is then too costly or impossible to avert the threat. Use of the principle promotes action to avert risks of serious or irreversible harm to the environment in such cases. The principle is based on the recognition that a false prediction that a human activity will not result in significant environmental harm will typically be more harmful to society than a false prediction that it will result in significant environmental harm. The principle therefore provides a fundamental policy basis to anticipate, avoid and mitigate threats to the environment.

The Precautionary Principle requires more than careful anticipation, avoidance, and mitigation of potential harm from human activities that are already underway or proposed for the future. It requires a forward-looking stance of taking care for the future in the sense of actively preparing, planning and providing for it. It encourages humans to commit themselves to the future of life on Earth by ensuring that evolutionary processes and life-support systems continue to be replenished and that the generations to come enjoy lives of dignity, opportunity and beauty. The Precautionary Principle is therefore a proactive principle that calls on decisionmakers to place the powers of scientific inquiry, technological innovation, political decision-making, legislative enactment, economic production and personal vocation in the service of new and creative ways of living that risk less harm to the health of humans and nature, and sustain the viability of the biosphere.