For today’s blog, I attained inspiration from one word. Responsibility. As a child, or even now when I would do something wrong in my parent’s eyes, I would get scolded or grounded just as any other child would. I take responsibility for any wrong doings, and accept the implication. But why cannot it be this simple for a nation?
I feel nations are still constantly hiding from international jurisdiction of transboundary pollution under the supposedly safe blanket of “territorial sovereignty”; in other words, it’s my land, my power, and my choice. This concept of permanent territorial sovereignty over natural resources aroused first during the colonial period. An example would be The Harmon Doctrine established over hundred years ago, marked as the most notorious legislation, which permitted the United States to divert an international watercourse without being responsible for the implications on nations downstream.
But territorial sovereignty is a farfetched concept now. A nation cannot practice sovereignty in exploitation of natural resources without its activities leaving detrimental impacts on others. Possible activities may even violate the sovereignty of the affected nation. There is a Latin saying, sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas – “you should use your property in a such a way as not to cause injury to your neighbors”. Nations need to practice good neighborliness.
Our world is not comprised of simply boundary lines; we are all interconnected with the environment. An impact of slash-and-burn in the rain forests of Malaysia will spread the transboundary haze across Singapore. Each nation is not isolated. Even if these natural resources are restricted within countries, they provide economic services worldwide. If the nations continue diffusing their responsibility, we will see a tragedy of the commons at a global scale.
But territorial sovereignty is a farfetched concept now. A nation cannot practice sovereignty in exploitation of natural resources without its activities leaving detrimental impacts on others. Possible activities may even violate the sovereignty of the affected nation. There is a Latin saying, sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas – “you should use your property in a such a way as not to cause injury to your neighbors”. Nations need to practice good neighborliness.
Our world is not comprised of simply boundary lines; we are all interconnected with the environment. An impact of slash-and-burn in the rain forests of Malaysia will spread the transboundary haze across Singapore. Each nation is not isolated. Even if these natural resources are restricted within countries, they provide economic services worldwide. If the nations continue diffusing their responsibility, we will see a tragedy of the commons at a global scale.
References:
Nshimirimana, Vital. "Master of Arts in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes Curriculum Development." (2012).
McCaffrey, Stephen C. "Harmon Doctrine One Hundred Years Later: Buried, Not Praised, The." Nat. Resources J. 36 (1996): 549.
Mendis, Chiinthaka. "Soverenighty vs. Trans-boundary Environment Harm: The Evolving International Law Obligations and the Sethusamuduram Ship Channel Project." (2006). Accessed September 3, 2015.
Perrez, Franz Xaver. "Relationship between Permanent Sovereignty and the Obligation Not to Cause Transboundary Environmental Damage, The." Envtl. L.26 (1996): 1187.
Nshimirimana, Vital. "Master of Arts in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes Curriculum Development." (2012).
McCaffrey, Stephen C. "Harmon Doctrine One Hundred Years Later: Buried, Not Praised, The." Nat. Resources J. 36 (1996): 549.
Mendis, Chiinthaka. "Soverenighty vs. Trans-boundary Environment Harm: The Evolving International Law Obligations and the Sethusamuduram Ship Channel Project." (2006). Accessed September 3, 2015.
Perrez, Franz Xaver. "Relationship between Permanent Sovereignty and the Obligation Not to Cause Transboundary Environmental Damage, The." Envtl. L.26 (1996): 1187.