Revisiting the History of International Environmental Law: Lessons and Perspectives

Introduction: environmental protection is an important part of international law. International environmental law is developed by sovereign states to create universally recognized standards and ensure the obligations of states related to their participation in solving global environmental problems. Studying the history of international environmental law is important for the following reasons: it allows for better understanding how and why certain international norms and public relations regulated by them arose; what factors influenced their development and what lessons can be learned from the past; for substantiating which international approaches to nature protection have been successful and which have not; the knowledge of history helps to better understand current global environmental problems and the degree of effectiveness of their modern international solutions. Methods: the methodological framework for the research consists of both the general scientific and special methods of scientific cognition. The general scientific methods include dialectical, formal-logical, the methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, and the structural-functional method. The special methods include historicallegal, comparative law, formal-legal, and the method of legal modeling. Results: the author has proposed new criteria for the periodization of the development stages of international environmental law. The six stages of the formation of international environmental law are identified, and an assessment of each stage is given. The main international acts (both mandatory and the acts of “soft” law) that have had an impact on international environmental protection are highlighted. The dynamics of the gradual introduction of the ecosystem approach into international environmental law are shown; the main lessons and prospects for further international environmental protection are formulated. Conclusions: over the past almost 200 years of its existence, international environmental law has undergone a significant evolution, starting with the protection of certain types of natural resources (fish, animals) and reaching the formulation of the SDGs and tasks for climate protection. Nevertheless, it has a number of directions for further development: elaboration of a new UN declaration on current directions of environmental protection (analogous to the Rio 1992 declaration); reform of UNEP, expansion of its functions; establishment of the International Environmental Court; codification of special principles of international environmental law; and strengthening of the ecosystem approach.