1.2.5 Other Principles

Apart from the four basic principles, there are a number of others guiding national and international environmental law, such as the ‘grandfathering principle’ or the ‘principle that action may not result in a significant deterioration of environmental conditions’ (Knopp 2008: 49). Last but not least, we should also mention the principle of transboundary environmental protection: this principle mirrors the insight that environmental problems do not stop at national borders. For instance, this principle underpins much of the Water Framework Directive of the European Union where it covers the transboundary management of water resources in natural river basins.

National as well as international environmental laws are often based on the above called principles, especially the transboundary principle. This is important, because many environmental problems are border-crossing problems, for example, climate change, sea water and air pollution.