The International Environment and Common Heritage of Mankind

The application of the concept of common heritage of mankind within the corpus of environment international law shows that there are considerable problems regarding the conceptual meaning and its application. These problems arise from the meaning of the concept of common heritage of mankind in regard to the exploitation of resources which are beyond national jurisdiction and its application within the framework of protection of the global environment. These differences in conceptual meaning and lack of proper explanation regarding the essential element of common heritage of mankind particularly in regard to international law of the environment has caused ambiguity, vagueness, and confusion.The question which is raised by present article is that how the concept of common heritage of mankind can be implemented in regard to environment? The present article by a future oriented viewpoint and by a descriptive analytical method examines the application of the concept of common heritage of mankind and the new concept of “common concern” which is used for preservation of the environment. This common concern is about the international environment particularly about the natural heritage of the world, atmosphere, living resources, and diversity of the living species. The paper also discusses the ways to strengthen the legal status of this concept in subject of environment and is of the view that five principles of common heritage of man should exist in it.