Global Management Of Environmental Disasters

Chernobyl. Three Mile Island. The Exxon Valdez. Major earthquakes. All are environmental disasters. Environmental disasters can be both natural, such as earthquakes and tsunamis, or they can be man-made, such as nuclear reactions and oil spills. Many of these disasters have an international impact and require concert of action by the international community.

Under customary international law principles, a State in which a disaster occurs has duties to both its own citizens and to States that may be affected by the disaster. To its own citizens, an affected State has the duty to assist those who are or may be affected by the disaster. To neighboring or other potentially affected States, a State has the duty to: (1) minimize the affect that the disaster will have on those States; (2) promptly advise other States of the disaster and its potential impact; (3) provide information about the disaster; and (4) cooperate with other affected States to control the damage.

These customary international law duties are reflected in treaties and other legal documents throughout the world. For example, the United States Restatement of Foreign Relations Law on the Law of the Environment discusses a State's duty to notify other States of potential impact on them.

The United Nations has multiple initiatives and agencies that address the issue of environmental disaster. One is the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). ISDR looks at risk management, education about impact of disasters, and encouragement of global partnerships, among other things. The Division of Environmental Policy Implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme has a Disaster Management arm (DM). DM is a "think tank" that provides the ideas and resources of people in the field of disaster management to the States that need assistance. This may include recommendations on how to minimize the effect of the disaster or post-disaster clean-up.

In the United States, the primary non-governmental disaster response comes from the International Red Cross. The focus of the Red Cross is to provide immediate relief to those people affected by a disaster, whether their need is food, shelter, medical treatment, or other item. The Red Cross is an international organization, and it provides similar assistance in countries around the globe.

Nuclear disasters

There are three primary international organizations that handle nuclear disasters: (1) the International Atomic Energy Agency; (2) the European Atomic Energy community; and the (3) Nuclear Energy Agency, which is part of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. An important treaty in this area is the 1986 Convention on Assistance in Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiologic Emergency. This treaty is aimed at facilitating "prompt assistance" among the parties to the treaty in the event of a nuclear disaster.