On the formation of the catalogue of special principles of international environmental law

The article deals with the analysis of the basic norms of international environmental law in order to create the list of special principles of this branch of international law. It is shown that in Russian as well as foreign science of international environmental law there is no unity of opinions not only on the number of such principles, but also on their legal content. This conclusion is proved by the statements of some well-known Russian and foreign specialists. The authors are convinced that the existence of special principles is one of the six criteria that could allow the international environmental law to complete the process of transformation into the branch of international law. That is why the authors opt for a draft International Covenant on Environment and Development of September 22, 2010 which contains the reference to nine such principles. The analysis of the text of draft Covenant let reveal another currently emerging special principle of international environmental law - the principle of the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. This means that the process of establishing such principles as applied to international environmental law remains open.