Although environmental issues have become increasingly prominent in international law and politics since 1945, the actual term ‘environment’ eludes an easy definition on which all can agree, and indeed very few international legal conventions relating to the environment have attempted to define it. One succinct dictionary definition, ‘the conditions or influences under which any person or thing lives or is developed’, probably encompasses most of the specific areas that have been addressed by the many international environmental conferences that have taken place, but it lacks the kind of precision lawyers seek when framing would-be binding agreements. This is not mere pedantry because one of the many controversies in environmental politics revolves around different understandings of the term: some stressing human needs and requirements, others seeing biodiversity and preserving the ecosystem as values in themselves, independent of their utility to human beings. Similarly, varying economic, cultural, social, political and scientific approaches to environmental problems may lead to significantly different emphases. For example, population control, which some see as central to an effective long-term environmental policy, is viewed differently by different religions and cultures.

Here we consider, first, some of the conflicts and tensions that are inherent in environmental issues. Next we provide a brief historical overview of the evolution of international environmental law with the aim of illustrating how such problems impacted upon specific environmental questions. Finally we look at different theoretical perspectives on the environment with a view to reaching some tentative conclusions about the future development of environmental law.