On the issue of the effectiveness of international environmental law

In the modern conditions of the continuing deterioration of the global environment, the issue of the effectiveness of international environmental law is especially relevant. Purpose: to study the negative factors that hinder the effective implementation of international environmental standards. Methods: the authors use empirical methods of comparison, description, interpretation; they analyze international documents in the field of environmental protection; they apply a special scientific method of interpreting legal norms. Results: the authors conclude that international environmental law in spite of all its advances has several fundamental problems. They are the diversity and congestion of international environmental standards; the slowness of diplomatic negotiations in concluding environmental treaties, due to the short-term interests of states, such negotiations rarely lead to binding agreements; the adoption of an environmental standard does not guarantee its implementation, since the mechanisms for monitoring its application are not binding. The authors make a point that a civil society should demand from its state to comply with its international obligations in the environmental sphere.