broad support in practice and are increasingly included in international instruments and statements. Amongst others, these principles include: • • • The polluter pays principle; The precautionary principle; and; The principle of intergenerational equity. 8 Further developments include the global move to address the effects of climate change via the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992, 9 and its Kyoto Protocol, 10 the latter of which contains specific emissions reduction targets for States parties. A further example includes the international legal regime developed to control the transport and disposal of chemicals, pesticides and hazardous waste. These regimes are particularly concerned with the impact of hazardous waste on humans and their immediate environment, and have significant international and regional support, having been adopted by almost all Member States of the APF region. 11 Within the Asia Pacific region, ministerial conferences on the environment, organised by the United Nations (‘UN’) Economic and Social Commission, have resulted in the Ministerial Declaration on Environmentally Sound and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific 1990 and the subsequent Ministerial Declaration on Environment and Development in Asia and the Pacific 2000. These Declarations highlight the need for individuals and non-government organisations (‘NGOs’) to be informed of environmental problems relevant to them, to have the necessary access to information, and to participate in the formulation and implementation of discussions likely to affect their environment, but do not seek to elaborate a human right to environmental quality. Sub-regionally, the ASEAN Charter specifically lists as one of its objectives, the promotion of sustainable development to protect the environment and quality of life. At a practical level, initiatives such as the Pacific Islands Framework for Regional Action on Climate Change variability and Sea Level Rise (2006-2015) seeks to further address the impact of climate change through an integrated, multi-stakeholder approach that links specific sectors such as agriculture; energy; forestry and land use; health; coastal zone management; marine ecosystems; ocean management; tourism and transport. Constitutional provisions, national laws, policies and practices also deal with the environment, however most are couched in regulatory terms rather than in a rights-based framework.12 In this context, there have been constructive developments in relation to procedural rights: access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to remedies. An emerging right Calls for a human right to an environment of a particular quality have found voice in a variety of United Nations (‘UN’) declarations, resolutions and statements of principle, (including the preventive principle). 13 These may support the view that a human right to environmental quality 8 For a further discussion on rules and principles, see Sands, above note 6, pp. 230 - 291 . 9 The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992 (entered into force on 21 March 1994). Kyoto Protocol 10 11 See, eg, Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal 1989 (entered into force 5 May 1992); Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade 1998 (entered into force 24 February 2004); Waigani Convention to Ban the Importation into Forum Island Countries of Hazardous and Radioactive Wastes and to Control the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within the South Pacific Region 1995 (entered into force 21 October 2001). 12 Asia Pacific Forum, above n 4, 32–3. For a list of some constitutional provisions see ibid 93–9. 13 Ibid 24. For the preventative principle, which imposes the obligation to prevent, reduce, limit or control activities that cause or may cause damage to the environment in violation of accepted international standards, see also Sands, above at note 6, pp 246-251). - 10 -