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1. In 1960 there were roughly 150 articles in the New York Times on environmental topics, whereas there were over 1,650 such articles in 1970. Significantly, the number dropped by the end of the decade to about 600 articles. United Nations Environment Programme, The World Environment 1972-1982, 581 (Tycooly International, 1982).
2. World Resources Institute in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Development Programme, World Resources 1990-91, 50 (Oxford University Press, 1990).
3. The percentage of world population living in the less-developed regions was 67 per cent in 1950, grew to 76 per cent in 1987, and is forecast to reach 84 per cent by 2025. World Resources 1990-91, supra note 2 at 50.
4. OECD, The State of the Environment, 222-223 (OECD, 1991).
5. They increased from 2.6 billion metric tons in 1960, to 4.1 billion in 1970, and to 5.9 billion in 1988. Environmental Quality 1991, 317 (Executive Office of the President, CEQ, 1991).
6. World Resources 1990-91, supra note 2 at 319.
7. Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 1990, 40 (Norton, 1990).
8 While problems of deforestation and loss of biological diversity have been well publicized, the loss of soil is less well known. Estimates of soil-erosion rates in the Amazon Basin, for example, show an increase from 6-10 tons per hectare annually in 1960 to as high as 190 tons per hectare in 1985, while estimates for southern India show a corresponding increase from 10-20 to 40-100 tons per hectare. R. Lal, "Soil Degradation and Conversion of Tropical Rainforests," in Changing the Global Environment: Perspectives on Human Involvement, 45 (Academic Press, 1989).
9. OECD Environmental Data, Compendium 1987. 135 (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 1987).
10. The use of nitrogen fertilizers has more than doubled, from 32 million tons in 1970 to 71 million tons in 1986, OECD Environmental Data, Compendium 1987, supra note 9 at 279. 11. The World Environment 1972-1982, supra note I at 340.
12. Treaty Between the United States and Great Britain Relating to Boundary Waters Be tween the United States and Canada, 11 Jan. 1909, 36 Stat. 2448, T.S. No. 548.
13. For complete references for these agreements and the others cited in this chapter, see appendix B.
14. Trail Smelter Arbitration (United States v. Canada), 3 R. Int'l Arb. Awards 1911 (1938), reprinted in 33 A.J.I.L. 182 (1939), 3 R. Int'l Arb. Awards 1938 (1941), reprinted in 35 A.J.I.L. 684 (1941). The Trail Smelter dispute lasted for a number of years. Damage within the United States was reported as early as 1925. In 1928 the two countries established a joint commission to examine the dispute. A report was issued, and damages were awarded to the US in 1931. Convention for Settlement of Difficulties Arising from Operation of Smelter at Trail, B.C., 15 April 1935, U.S.T.S. No. 893, reprinted in 30 A.J.I.L. (Supp.) 163. Continued pollution and disagreements led to the creation of a mixed arbital tribunal that issued opinions in 1938 and 1941, supra. See generally, A.K. Kuhn, Comment, "The Trail Smelter Arbitration - United States and Canada," 32 A.J.I.L. 785 (1938).
15. "Under the principles of international law, as well as the law of the United States, no State has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause injury by fumes in or to the territory of another or the properties of persons therein, when the case is of serious consequence and the injury is established by clear and convincing evidence." Trail Smelter Arbitration, 3 R. Int'l Arb. Awards. at 1965, 35 A.J.I.L. at 716.
16. Helsinki Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transtboundary Air Pollution on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions or Their Transboundary Fluxes by at Least 30 Per
Cent, Art. 2, 8 July 1985, UN Doc. EB.AIR/12. 27 I.L.M. 707 (19138).
17. Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer. 16 Sept. 1987, Art. 2, 26 I.L.M. 1550 (1987); London Adjustments and Amendments to the Montreal Protocol, and Non-Compliance Procedure, 29 June 1990, Adjustments A and B. UNEP/OzL.Pro.2/3.
18. The Agreement is not yet in effect.
19. A. Kiss, Commentary provided to editor (mimeo, 1990).
20. See R. Benedick, Ozone Diplomacy (Harvard Press, 1991) for a detailed analysis of the role of science in the Montreal Protocol negotiations,
21. WCED, Our Common Future (Oxford, 1987) at 8.
22. Two recent studies have examined the effectiveness of international agreements. The UNCED Secretariat has prepared a review of existing international agreements in conjunction with the UN Conference on Environment and Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil, in June 1992. The United States General Accounting Office recently released a study focused on compliance with selected agreements entitled "International Environment: International Agreements Are Not Well Monitored" (January 1992) GAO/RCED92-43.