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Future directions in international regimes
10. The implications of global change for the
international legal system
11. Restructuring the international organizational framework
12. Intergenerational equity: a legal framework for global environmental change
13. Ecological security: response to global challenges
10. The implications of global change for the international legal system
The impact of global change on different
functions in international law
The impact of global change on international structures
Different theories explain in different ways the origin and the creation of legal norms.1 As far as international law is concerned, its development during the last 50 years seems to have been guided by the need to face situations created by political events or by scientific or technical evolution. The creation of international human rights law between 1948 and 1969, although intellectually prepared during the first half of the century, was a direct reaction to the massacres and atrocities of the Second World War, while international space law and the new Law of the Sea were responses to the conquest of outer space by man and to the evolution of the sea's uses.
Of course, in most cases, political or scientific factors do not act directly upon the orientations of a legal system. Their impact is made by the intermediary knowledge that we have of their nature and potential implications. Such knowledge must enhance awareness of the need to react to a given situation. The importance of these elements must be stressed since they motivate and explain action.
Thus, we must understand global change as the awareness of a situation threatening our whole biosphere. The word "change" means in fact "challenge": It reminds us of the antic fable of the Sphinx: If we do not solve its enigma, we will perish.
Still, our knowledge, which is at the very base of action, is limited.
Science necessarily includes a part of uncertainty: we never know the whole truth and, in addition, at every moment new factors can appear, so that scientists must always be prepared to revise their position. However, such considerations must not prevent the adoption of legal rules. If we had waited for unanimous approval by all the scientists in the world before adopting safety regulations for nuclear activities, today there would by practically no such rules in this field. At a certain moment decision makers must make up their mind: their action will be strongly influenced by the awareness that the public may have of the problem. Thus, the process is a complex one composed of different sequences: facts - scientific findings- knowledge -awareness - decision-making, and the formulation of legal rules.
Taking into account these considerations, we may speak of a global challenge for international law. In the process that has been represented, we arrive now at the last stages, at least as far as certain aspects of global change are concerned: In some cases some legal rules already exist2 and must be further developed; in others, decisions still must be taken and translated into international legal rules.3 Anyway, even by now it can be useful to ask the question, what are the implications of global change on the international legal system, and what developments may be expected for the coming decades?
It is submitted that global change modifies the functions of the international legal system. Legal rules must be drafted in new fields, using new methods; existing rules must be implemented, sometimes by unusual means. Thus, new developments in the exercise of these functions are to be examined. However, such changes may also have an impact on the very structures of the international system. Reflections on the different aspects of such implications will form the second part of the present study.
The impact of global change on different functions in international law
In all legal systems different functions have to be fulfilled: legislation, execution, and co