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Bowman, Michael --- "Environmental Protection and the Concept of Common Concern of Mankind" [2010] ELECD 611; in Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos (eds), "Research Handbook on International Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Environmental Law

Editor(s): Fitzmaurice, Malgosia; Ong, M. David; Merkouris, Panos

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201249

Section: Chapter 23

Section Title: Environmental Protection and the Concept of Common Concern of Mankind

Author(s): Bowman, Michael

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

23 Environmental protection and the concept of
common concern of mankind
Michael Bowman



Introduction
In every political community, not to mention the legal system which serves it, it is necessary
for decisions to be made regarding the distribution of power, authority and property amongst
its constituent members. Within the more highly developed societies, as exemplified by many
contemporary constitutional arrangements at the national level, ultimate power and authority
tend to be concentrated in the hands of centralised institutions, with individual constituents
enjoying only a limited capacity to influence the overall complexion of government policy
through such opportunities as are afforded them for participation in the ongoing democratic
process. Property rights, on the other hand, in general remain widely distributed, and are
usually protected from undue encroachment along with other forms of constitutionally
entrenched entitlement.1 In sharp contrast to this scenario, however, the international politi-
cal community remains locked in a more primitive stage of development, characterised by a
decentralised approach to both power and property rights. There is a profound reluctance to
yield extensive authority to global (or even regional) institutions, and an enduring insistence
upon the importance of national sovereignty,2 as reflected in a primarily territorial conceptu-
alisation of international personhood. Furthermore, even though the vast expanses of the
oceans have traditionally been regarded as representing the property of all states (res commu-
nis), substantial incursions into this regime of communality ­ in the form of progressive
extensions of individual sovereign rights ­ have been a notable feature of ...