The Concept of Sustainable Development and International Environmental Law

Abstract

The article is devoted to the influence of the concept of sustainable development on international environmental law. This concept, in many ways, sets guidelines for the adoption of its norms and thereby defines the contours of legal environmental regimes. Based on the analysis of international UN documents, starting with the Stockholm Declaration of 1972, then the RIO 92 Declaration, the Johannesburg Declaration of 2002, the Millennium Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals, the evolution of the concept of sustainable development, the shift in emphasis in its content and the desire for integration between the three dimensions of sustainable development — economic, social and environmental interests — for all states is presented. The article identifies several aspects that determine the importance of the concept of sustainable development for international environmental law: 1) the content of sustainable development in the context of State obligations; 2) the mutual influence of advisory acts and norms of international environmental law on the specification and implementation of the concept of sustainable development; 3) the interaction of various branches of international law in the context of sustainable development.