THE CONCEPT OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL DISPUTE AND ITS TYPES

Abstract

The article examines the issue of defining the term «international environmental dispute» and considers the grounds for classifying types of environmental disputes in international environmental law. It is determined that the problem lies in the fact that neither scientific literature nor international acts contain a comprehensive analysis of this concept, nor is its content clearly defined.
Environmental issues today are an integral part of global problems (economic, energy, security), where they are often considered through the prism of sustainable development rather than as an independent value. At the present stage, there is an «ecologization» of international relations. The inclusion of environmentally oriented norms in traditional branches of international law (for example, maritime, trade, etc.) is usually due to convenience or established practice and does not lead to an expansion of the subject matter of these branches, but merely complements them. Such norms regulate environmental aspects while remaining within the framework of the respective branch.
It should be noted that many scholars actively oppose classifying international environmental disputes as a separate category, a position with which it is difficult to agree. All international environmental disputes possess a number of distinctive characteristics that allow them to be identified as a separate type of international dispute. By analyzing various approaches, the article formulates the key features inherent in all international environmental disputes and provides the author’s definition of the concept of an «international environmental dispute».
In the course of the study, a distribution of international environmental disputes by types was proposed, namely: disputes on the use of natural resources; disputes on the management of natural objects; disputes on environmental pollution; disputes regarding the protection of citizens’ environmental rights. Summing up the study, emphasis is placed on the complexity of the concept of «international environmental dispute» and the importance of forming a systematic approach to understanding this category.