AUTHOR(S)
Sayere Nazabi Sayem

abstract
The core purpose of the paper is to create a measure of accountability for the man-made factors worsening environmental degradation through the formation of an international court. An independent and specialized court that would criminalize acts against the environment by weighing intricate geographical data and their biological, economic, and social implications in the nearby surroundings. With the likeness of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the elements of the crime of the International Environmental Court (IEC) can be quantified with the environmentally damaging factors of different acts by states or individuals. Additionally, the court would ensure that countries pay off and receive their due carbon taxes in exchange for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; provide reparations to the affected individuals by the governments; cease environmentally damaging activities, implement international environmental laws, and so on. On the contrary, the court would reserve the right to administer sanctions and order the imprisonment of state officials. Although several environmental treaties have been put into order for decades, their implementation by existing courts has not been noteworthy. Even though the proposition is drafted in a futuristic manner, the author attempts to portray the pragmatism of the insights in the paper. The structure of the Court, with its distinct feature of ‘compulsory’ jurisdiction, will be further explored. The paper will examine the mandates of the court in bridging the existing gaps of environmental conservation and its possible limitations, and finally, it will conclude with recommendations for its establishment to ensure better conservation of nature for future generations to come. *The abstract of this paper has been accepted and presented verbally at the 1st NSU Law Conference: Law in the Contemporary World (2024) Keywords: international environmental law, international court, jurisdiction, climate change, environmental conservation

DOI
https://doi.org/10.47126/nsjpgs.v2i1.05