INTRODUCTION

To me has fallen the task of contribution to the book in honour of Sir Robert Jennings on the subject of the International Court of Justice and the environment. It has to be said at the outset that, compared to other subjects in this volume, mine has been perhaps, at least until recently, rather less evident in the records of the Court. However, the last two decades have witnessed an enormous increase in international political awareness of the importance of preservation of the environment; and this has been reflected in the growing body of international environmental law. A number of possible bases for the development of general international law principles have been referred to in cases, but as yet no clear general rules have emerged within customary law defining the responsibility of states in relation to the preservation of the environment or to the causing of environmental harm to other states. Perhaps because of this, the reflection in the development of international law of the political importance of environmental issues has lain largely in the field of international conferences, leading to the publication of draft conventions and declarations, and in the conclusion of bilateral and multilateral conventions between states.