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Synopsis The international community legislated on international oil pollution in the oceans. By the 1970s, the regional consequences of pollution and the destruction of flora and fauna were obvious, and by the late 1980s global environmental threats were part of the international community’s agenda as scientific evidence identified the potential consequences of ozone depletion, climate change and loss of biodiversity. Local issues were recognized to have transboundary, then regional, and ultimately global consequences. In 1996, the International Court of Justice recognized, for the first time, that there existed rules of general international environmental law, and that a ‘general obligation of states of ensure that activities within their jurisdiction and control respect the enrollment of other states or of areas beyond national control is now part of the corpus of international law relating to the environment’.