Teclaff, Ludwik

English

University of New Mexico

Volume 19 
Issue 4 Fall 1979 
Fall 1979 
Protecting the Human Environment: Procedures and Principles for 
Preventing and Resolving International Controversies, by A. Levin 
Ludwik Teclaff 
Recommended Citation 
Ludwik Teclaff, Protecting the Human Environment: Procedures and Principles for Preventing and 
Resolving International Controversies, by A. Levin, 19 Nat. Resources J. 1002 (1979). 
Available at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nrj/vol19/iss4/18 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UNM Digital Repository. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in Natural Resources Journal by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For 
more information, please contact amywinter@unm.edu, lsloane@salud.unm.edu, sarahrk@unm.edu. 
PROTECTING THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT:
PROCEDURES AND PRINCIPLES FOR PREVENTING
AND RESOLVING INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSIES
By A. LEVIN
New York: United Nations Institute for Training and Research (1977).
xiii and 131 pp.
International environmental law is a new discipline and as yet
somewhat ill-defined, perhaps because of its rather amorphous char-
acter. In spite, and perhaps because, of this it attracts scholarly atten-
tion and the literature is growing to such an extent as to warrant
specialization and compartmentalization. Protecting the Human
Environment is a highly specialized work dealing with the prevention
and resolution of international environmental disputes. In this re-
spect it follows in the footsteps of Professor Bilder's pioneering
work,1 but is more comprehensive and more current.
The book is divided into two parts: (I) procedures for the avoid-
ance and settlement of disputes and (2) substantive rules applicable
to settlement. In the first part Dr. Levin discusses such procedures as
prior notification, negotiation, intermediary procedures, third-party
determination, and national means of settlement. All these pro-
cedures have been analyzed, though not exhaustively, by others-for
example, by Professor Bourne in the context of water resources
problems and by this reviewer in the context of both water law and
general environmental law.2 But Dr. Levin's discussion of them is more
systematic and more up-to-date because they form one of the major
themes of her study. Particularly valuable is her review of the latest
thinking on the subject in the U.N. Environment Programme which,
since its inception after the 1972 Stockholm Conference, has as-
sumed coordination of the work of U.N. organizations on environ-
mental protection, and in international organizations outside the
United Nations family such as EEC and OECD. The output of infor-
mation emanating from these bodies is so voluminous that any sys-
tematization and summary presentation is of great help.
In the second part of the book, on substantive principles, Dr. Levin
begins by discussing general rules of liability, such as those which
1. R. Bilder, The Settlement of International Environmental Disputes (1976) (University
of Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program, Technical Report No. 231).
2. Bourne, Procedure in the Development of International Drainage Basins: The Duty to
Negotiate, 10 CAN. Y.B. INT'L L. 212 (1974); Teclaff, Harmonizing Water Resources
Development and Use with Environmental Protection in Municipal and International Law,
16 NAT. RES. J. 807 (1976).
PROTECTING THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT
evolved from the Stockholm Conference and, earlier, from the Trail
Smelter arbitration. Then she devotes attention to more specific rules
under the following topics: use and conservation of fresh water re-
sources; use and protection of the airspace; and climate and weather
modification. She brings the development of these rules up to date
through analysis of the work of international organizations, noting
both the difficulty of getting compensation for transfrontier pollu-
tion damage and the remedies suggested by the Nordic Convention of
1974' and by the recommendations of the OECD Council for non-
discriminatory access to foreign courts.4
In this analysis of specific areas, weather modification is the one
most fully developed, whereas the use and conservation of fresh water
resources are more sketchily treated, perhaps because of the vague-
ness of customary international law. The inadequacy of the Helsinki
Rules for coping with water pollution, which first was noted by
Professor Utton in his chapter on international streams in Vol. 1 of
Clark's Water and Water Rights and further elaborated by this re-
viewer in The Impact of Environmental Concern on the Development
of International Law' underscores the need for further work on rules
concerning water pollution in general and groundwater pollution in
particular.
This slender work (92 pages, not counting bibliography, index,
and notes) is remarkable for its comprehensiveness. The selected bib-
liography and voluminous notes at the end add greatly to its breadth
and scope and it is especially valuable for quick reference and review
of recent developments in international environmental law.
LUDWIK A. TECLAFF*
3. Convention on the Protection of the Environment between Denmark, Finland, Nor-
way and Sweden, 13 INT'L LEGAL MATERIALS 591 (1974).
4. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development: Council Recommendation
on Principles Concerning Transfrontier Pollution, Annex, Title B(1)(b), 14 INT'L LEGAL
MATERIALS 242 (1975).
5. 13 NAT. RES. J. 357 (1973).
*Professor of Law, Fordham University.
October 1979]


Protecting the Human Environment: Procedures and Principles for Preventing and Resolving International Controversies, by A. Levin

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Protecting the Human Environment: Procedures and Principles for Preventing and Resolving International Controversies, by A. Levin

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