Environmental Impact Assessment And State Responsibility In Transboundary Environmental Harm
Anurag Lilhare, Government New Law College, Indore
ABSTRACT
International environmental law has moved from a reactive model of liability toward a preventive model centred on environmental impact assessment, due diligence, cooperation and reparation. This paper examines the legal architecture governing activities that may cause significant transboundary environmental harm. It argues that a transboundary environmental impact assessment has emerged as a requirement of general international law where a proposed activity presents a risk of significant adverse transboundary impact, but that the obligation remains primarily procedural and conduct- based. Its content is shaped by domestic authorization processes, treaty obligations, the gravity of risk, scientific knowledge and the principle of sustainable development. The paper further analyses the no-harm rule, the duties to notify, consult and cooperate, and the evidentiary thresholds needed to establish causation and international responsibility. It then further evaluates available remedies, including cessation, ecological restoration, compensation and guarantees of non-repetition, with attention to the difficulties of valuing environmental damage. Finally, it considers the evolving procedural and substantive position of affected communities, civil society organizations and the asserted right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The paper concludes that international law increasingly integrates environmental protection, participatory governance and climate-conscious development, while still preserving State sovereignty and demanding proof of breach, causation and legally cognizable harm.
Keywords: Transboundary environmental harm, Environmental Impact Assessment, No-harm rule, Due Diligence, State responsibility, Public participation, Right to a healthy environment.
