d. Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

Common but Differentiated Responsibilities

Concept

Common but differentiated responsibilities recognizes that States share responsibility for the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem, while their responsibilities are understood in light of their different contributions to global environmental degradation. Principle 7 of the Rio Declaration places this idea within a call for cooperation in a spirit of global partnership. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹

Governing provisions

Principle 7 calls on States to cooperate to conserve, protect, and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem. It identifies the different contributions of States to global environmental degradation as the basis for describing their responsibilities as both common and differentiated. It also records developed countries’ acknowledgment of the responsibility they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹

Principle 2 provides related context. States have the sovereign right to exploit their own resources under their environmental and developmental policies, but they also have the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not damage the environment of other States or areas beyond national jurisdiction. (Principle 2, Rio Declaration)²

Requisites / Rules

• Common concern: The object of cooperation under Principle 7 is the conservation, protection, and restoration of the Earth’s ecosystem. The provision addresses States collectively rather than treating environmental protection as the concern of only one group of States. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹
• Differentiation: The stated reason for differentiated responsibilities is the different contributions of States to global environmental degradation. “Common” therefore does not mean that every State’s responsibility is described in identical terms. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹
• Developed countries: Principle 7 specifically refers to the pressures their societies place on the global environment and to the technologies and financial resources they command when describing their acknowledged responsibility in the international pursuit of sustainable development. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹

Distinctions

Principle 7 addresses cooperation on a global environmental concern and explains why responsibilities are differentiated among States. Principle 2, by contrast, pairs a State’s sovereign right over its resources with its responsibility concerning environmental damage caused by activities within its jurisdiction or control. Read the two provisions according to their respective terms; the acknowledgment in Principle 7 does not erase the responsibility stated in Principle 2. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹ (Principle 2, Rio Declaration)²

Key doctrines

The central formulation is shared cooperation with differentiated responsibility. Principle 7 identifies both the basis for differentiation—different contributions to global environmental degradation—and the considerations it expressly mentions for developed countries: environmental pressures, technology, and financial resources. It does not set out a numerical allocation of responsibility in the supplied text. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹

Bar tip

In an answer, state both halves of the principle: all States are called to cooperate, but their responsibilities are differentiated in view of their different contributions to global environmental degradation. (Principle 7, Rio Declaration)¹