International environmental threats today are more problematic than those in the past, as a consequence of growing industrialization in the developing world. This growth has been responsible for increasing the standard of living for many of the world’s poor. However, it has also been accompanied by a concomitant swelling of population. These two factors have had many negative effects on the environment, including global warming, increased pressure on natural resources - consisting of the destruction of forests and increased waste from mining – as well as a concomitant expansion of water pollution, air pollution, water scarcity and desertification.
For example, the forests of tropical Asia are among the most threatened on earth. The relative rates of tropical deforestation have been about twice as high in Asia (0.8–0.9% per year) than in either Latin America or Africa (0.4–0.5% per year). Southeast Asia has also suffered higher rates of industrial logging than the other major tropical regions across the world. Dam building for hydropower generation, to provide electricity to those who heretofore have not had access to power, has also caused massive problems.
Due to their impact on human health and the environment these international problems today are more than ever critical issues within the legal academy, the political branches of many governments and society in general. These problems however do not stop at the borders of individual states, which of course, do not coincide with natural systems. Rather, they are a transboundary phenomena. Indeed, one expert recently observed that “[i]t is now recognized that the planet faces a diverse and growing range of environmental challenges which can only be addressed through international co-operation. Acid rain, ozone depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, toxic and hazardous products and wastes, pollution of rivers and depletion of fresh water resources, are some of the issues which international law is being called upon to address.”
Transboundary environmental problems pose unique difficulties for international law and international legal institutions. Some of these environmental problems include the technical and/or scientific complexity of pollution, water scarcity and allocation; lack of information regarding how natural systems work; and the impact on future generations. Moreover, the transnational environmental problematic incorporates the involvement or overtones of various and dissimilar domestic laws, political regimes, cultural features, and diverse priorities. Finally, one question that confronts national Supreme Courts and international courts and tribunals is how to be disciplined enough to develop a normative framework for adjudicating underground and surface water problems.
