The development of the Precautionary Principle in International Customary Law

6 Introduction. International Law is a branch of law that encompasses different areas. It can address topics such as the cooperation among States, in order to enhance commerce or political activities, as well as other emerging issues that need to be faced under an over-state ruling. In the last Century, mainly due to the rapid technological as well as the economic and political progress, International Law found itself frequently requested to find out solution to new and emerging issues, related to goods of life never taken in consideration before. The Environment certainly falls into this category, as a good of particular importance, subject to an extreme exploitation by the humankind and likely close to a destruction process in absence of protection measures. As it has been said: “It is widely recognized that the planet faces serious environmental challenges that can only be addressed through international cooperation. Acid rain, ozone depletion, climate change, loss of biodiversity, toxic and hazardous products and wastes, pollution of rivers and depletion of freshwaters resources. These are amongst the issues that international law is being called upon to address and since the mid-1980s, the subject of international environmental law has emerged as a discrete field of public international law, although one that is closely related to many other areas. The conditions contributing to the emergence of international environmental law are easily identified: environmental issues are accompanied by a recognition that ecological interdependence does not respect national boundaries and that issues previously considered to be matters of domestic concern have international implications, that frequently can only be addressed by international law and regulation”. 1 1 P.SANDS and J.PEEL, Principles of International Environmental Law, 2012, p.3.