This chapter recalls the distinction between responsibility and liability as it emerged in the work of the International Law Commission and its inherent difficulties, before turning to its relevance in relation to the interplay between the obligation to prevent harm and the prohibition to cause harm, the question of cessation and the procedural treatment at the International Court of Justice of the issues of injury, causality and reparation owed. The chapter questions the received wisdom according to which ‘responsibility’ and ‘liability’ would be two different legal genres and argues that the dichotomy between them is porous.

This chapter explores international law relating to the protection of the environment, a relatively new field of international law that covers a broad range of concerns. The pollution of the oceans and the seas, the extinction of animal species, deforestation, and climate change: these are all concerns addressed by international environmental law. This chapter begins by providing a brief overview of the evolution of international environmental law and explains the principal characteristics of this field of international law. It further considers the interrelationship with the concept of sustainable development, which is central to modern approaches toward protecting the environment. It then explores two of the principal concerns addressed by international environmental law: first, the conservation of flora and fauna; and, second, the prevention of pollution and related environmental harm. Furthermore, the chapter discusses compliance and enforcement mechanisms. Lastly, because environmental protection measures often have implications for international trade, it briefly deals with the interrelationship between international environmental law and trade law.

This chapter explores international law relating to the protection of the environment, a relatively new field of international law that covers a broad range of concerns. The pollution of the oceans and the seas, the extinction of animal species, deforestation, and climate change: these are all concerns addressed by international environmental law. This chapter begins by providing a brief overview of the evolution of international environmental law and explains the principal characteristics of this field of international law. It further considers the interrelationship with the concept of sustainable development, which is central to modern approaches toward protecting the environment. It then explores two of the principal concerns addressed by international environmental law: first, the conservation of flora and fauna; and, second, the prevention of pollution and related environmental harm. Furthermore, the chapter discusses compliance and enforcement mechanisms. Lastly, because environmental protection measures often have implications for international trade, it briefly deals with the interrelationship between international environmental law and trade law.

This chapter provides an understanding of where international law is at (including customary international law, treaty and case law) in terms of its achievements and shortcomings regarding cooperation over environmental protection and use of transboundary freshwater ecosystems. This work provides a basis for critical analysis over the proceeding book chapters, in relation to the value added by the UNECE. The chapter lays the foundations for determining the UNECE regime’s relationship to international water law, international environmental law and general international law. It explores the role of international courts and the international law commission in interpreting outdated water treaties and bringing their standards of environmental protection closer to contemporary scientific understandings and the more progressive multilateral environmental agreements in accordance with the principle of systemic integration. It also explores instances where Courts have arguably has not gone far enough, leaving gaps in understanding. Unlike Courts, pan-regional or basin treaties and their river basin commissions can develop and interpret rules and principles of international water law on a continual and comprehensive basis and provide the institutional framework which supports implementation and compliance with international water law. This hypothesis, on the added value of the UNECE water regime, is tested over the proceeding chapters.

The principle of due diligence is an obligation on States not to knowingly allow the use of their territory for the perpetration of acts contrary to the rights of other States. The duty of diligence was referred to by the International Court of Justice in the Corfu Channel case: every State has the 'obligation not to allow knowingly its territory to be used for acts contrary to the rights of other States'. The duty of diligence can be transposed to cyber activities. This would mean that it imposes a duty on States not to allow their territory to be used for the launch or transit of cyber operations targeting another State. In that perspective, due diligence may constitute an interesting palliative to the problem of attribution. The principle of due diligence in international law is particularly relevant regarding the behaviour of non-state actors, since the principle subjects this behaviour to some limitations imposed by international law by creating a bridge between them and State responsibility.