Affiliations: Professor of International Law, Jawaharlal Nehru Chair in International Environmental Law and Chairman, Centre for International Legal Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Note: [] The article is a revised and thoroughly updated version of a lecture that was originally designed to be delivered upon the author taking over as the Jawaharlal Nehru Chair Professor on 6 May 2004. Drawn from original publication in Yearbook of International Environmental Law, Vol. 29, No. 1 (2018), pp. 3–32; Advance Access published on January 9, 2020. Reprinted with permission from Oxford University Press.
Abstract: The article seeks to make a modest effort in making sense of the international environmental law-making process. It comprises the subtle normative process currently at work, including ‘global conferencing’ technique resorted to by the UN General Assembly, how it draws upon the basic legal underpinnings of international law, the unique treaty-making enterprise at work, and what this enormous legal churning process portends for the protection of the global environment at this critical time of perplexity in the Anthropocene epoch. It calls for taking serious cognizance of mass destruction of plant and animal species, heavy pollution of fresh water resources, choking of the oceans with plastic and other litter, and alteration of the atmosphere, among other lasting impacts that imperil our only abode Earth. International environmental law-making process is ad hoc and piecemeal and is generally understood to be the product of a lack of a single, central specialized institution having expertise on the subject, scientific uncertainty on many environmental issues, and the hard-headed economic interests of sovereign states. Still, the international environmental law-making process with its inherent resilience could possibly be able to adapt to the vagaries of scientific assessments and the political realities of in the future.
Keywords: Global environmental problematique, anthropocene epoch, international environmental law-making process, multilateral environmental agreements, institutionalized international environmental cooperation
