Abstract
In 1979 the most severe diplomatic incident in the relations between the governments of France and the Netherlands since at least the Second World War took place when the Dutch ambassador in Paris was recalled by his government for consultation. The occasion for this unprecedented official protest was not (as might perhaps be expected) long-standing disagreements over the future shape of the European Community or large differences of opinion with regard to the combat of drugs or the need for a European nuclear force. Instead, the diplomatic row concerned the inability of the two governments to find an acceptable solution to a relatively minor environmental problem: the dumping of large amounts of salt into the river Rhine by an Alsatian mining company. This problem was only minor as it mildly affected very few interests: some Dutch water companies, the port of Rotterdam and a few horticultural firms. It did not threaten any flora or fauna in or along the river.
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Notes
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This part of the text is based on J. G. Lammers, Pollution of International Watercourses (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1984), pp. 166–95;
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In this I somewhat follow K. A. Mingst, ‘The Functionalist and Regime Perspectives: The Case of Rhine River Cooperation’, Journal of Common Market Studies, vol. 20, 1981, pp. 161–73. Her article advocates analysis of the international Rhine regime in terms of the perceptions that are predominant within the involved organizations.
Besides the annual reports (entitled Rheinberichte) of the IAWR, see Hellmann, op. cit. in note 10; J. E. M. Beurskens, H. J. Winkels, J. de Wolf and C. G. C. Dekker, ‘Trends of Priority Pollutants in the Rhine during the Last Fifty Years’, Water Science Technology, vol. 29, 1994, pp. 77–85;
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On these court cases, see H. U. Jessurun d’Oliviera, ‘La Pollution du Rhin et le Droit International Privé’, in R. Hueting, C. van der Veen, A. C. Kiss and H. U. Jessurun d’Oliviera (eds), Rhine Pollution (Zwolle, the Netherlands: Tjeenk Willink, 1978); ‘Rijnvervuiling en Internationaal Privaatrecht: Rechtsvergelijkende Aantekeningen’, Milieu en Recht, vol. 16, 1989, pp. 146–56;
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I. Romy, Les Pollutions Transfrontières des Eaux: L’Exemple du Rhin (Lausanne: Editions Paytot, 1990) offers a comprehensive overview of the domestic laws in each Rhine country that have been of relevance to the protection of the Rhine. See also B. Barraqué. Romy, Les Pollutions Transfrontières des Eaux: L’Exemple du Rhin (Lausanne: Editions Paytot, 1990) offers a comprehensive overview of the domestic laws in each Rhine country that have been of relevance to the protection of the Rhine.
See also B. Barraqué, ‘Les Politiques de l’Eau en Europe’, Revue Francaise de Science Politique. vol. 45. 1995. pp. 420–53.
Thomas Bernauer and Peter Moser have also concluded that domestic and private measures contributed much more to the clean-up of the Rhine than international agreements. See T. Bernauer and P. Moser, ‘Reducing Pollution of the River Rhine: The Influence of International Cooperation’, Journal of Environment and Development, vol. 5, 1996, pp. 389–415
A. Nollkaemper, ‘The River Rhine: From Equal Apportionment to Ecosystem Protection’, Review of European Community and International Environmental Law, vol. 5, 1996, p. 158; Wieriks and Schulte-Wülwer-Leidig, op. cit. in note 11, p. 155. At the time of writing, Mr Wieriks and Ms Schulte-Wülwer-Leidig were (respectively) Executive Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the ICPR.
Interview with official of the Dutch Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water Treatment (RIZA), Lelystad, 1 August 1996. See also H. T. A. Bressers and L. A. Plettenburg, ‘The Netherlands’, in M. Jänicke and H. Weidner (eds), National Environmental Policies (Berlin: Springer, 1997), pp. 115–16.
M. Jänicke and H. Weidner, ‘Germany’, in Jänicke and Weidner, op, cit. in note 30, p. 139; W. Rüdig and R. A. Kraemer, ‘Networks of Cooperation: Water Policy in Germany’, Environmental Politics, vol. 3, 1994, pp. 52–79.
M. Prieur, Droit de l’Environnement (Paris: Dalloz, 1996), pp. 511–13. The French Ministry of the Environment has divided the whole of French territory into six bassins hydrographiques. In each of these basins, an agence de l’eau is permitted to levy a fee on point source discharges into open waters. The monies collected in this way are invested in water protection programmes by the agence de l’eau. These local water agencies are made up of civil servants who fall under the Ministry of the Environment, but who enjoy a relatively large degree of autonomy. The local body relevant for the protection of the Rhine is the agence de l’eau Rhin—Meuse in Metz. The French missions to the ICPR include representatives from this water agency as well.
S. Schwager, P. Knoepfel and H. Weidner, Umweltrecht Schweiz-EG: Das schweizerische Umweltrecht im Lichte der Umweltschutzbestimmungen der Europäischen Gemeinschaften — ein Rechtsvergleich (Basle: Helbing & Lichtenhahn. 1988). p. 20.
Adrienne Héritier has shown that something similar has taken place at the EU level. The details of air protection policies in EU member states have differed greatly from one country to the next. Generally, member states have argued for the adoption of their particular regulatory style at the EU level. This insistence by member states on their own way of doing things has sometimes led to impasses in the development of EU environmental regulation. A. Héritier, ‘The Accommodation of Diversity in European Policy-Making and Its Outcomes: Regulatory Policy as a Patchwork’. Journal of European Public Policy, vol. 3. 1996. pp. 149–67.
The following description of the Sandoz incident is based on A. Schwabach, ‘The Sandoz Spill: The Failure of International Law to Protect the Rhine from Pollution’, Ecology Law Quarterly, vol. 16, 1989, pp. 443–80;
and F. Galliot, ‘La Coopération Européenne en Matière de Lutte contre la Pollution du Rhin’, Annuaire de Droit Maritime et Aéro-Spatial, vol. 10, 1989, pp. 247–71.
See also A. Nollkaemper, ‘The Rhine Action Programme: A Turning Point in the Protection of the North Sea?’, in D. Freestone and T. IJlstra (eds), The North Sea: Perspectives on Regional Environmental Co-operation (London: Graham & Trotman, 1990); Dieperink, op. cit. in note 11, p. 132;
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An example is a publication by Greenpeace members Kerner, Maissen and Radek, which combines a general attack on the profit motive and the chemical industry with virulent criticisms of the integrity of several persons working for Sandoz at the time of the fire. See I. Kerner, T. Maissen and D. Radek, Der Rhein: Die Vergiftung geht weiter (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. 1987).
ICPR, Ecological Master Plan for the Rhine: Salmon 2000 (Koblenz: 1991), p. 9.
See ICPR. The Rhine: An Ecological Revival (Koblenz: 1995).
W. G. Cazemier, ‘Present Status of the Salmondis Atlantic Salmon and Sea-Trout in the Dutch Part of the River Rhine’, Water Science Technology, vol. 29. 1994. pp. 37–41.
K. G. Malle, ‘Accidental Spills: Frequency, Importance, Control, Countermeasures’. Water Science Technology, vol. 29. 1994, pp. 149–63.
Respectively R. O. Keohane and J. S. Nye, Jr (eds), Transnational Relations and World Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971);
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R. B. Mitchell, ‘Regime Design Matters: Intentional Oil Pollution and Treaty Compliance’, International Organization, vol. 48, 1994, pp. 425–58;
P. M. Haas, Saving the Mediterranean: The Politics of International Environmental Protection (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990);
and E. B. Haas, When Knowledge Is Power (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990).
ICPR, Grundlagen und Strategie zum Aktionsplan Hochwasser (Koblenz: 1995), p. 7.
For the case of the Netherlands, see Bressers and Plettenburg, op. cit. in note 30, p. 116; for Switzerland, see P. Knoepfel, ‘Switzerland’, in M. Janicke and H. Weidner (eds), National Environmental Policies (Berlin: Springer, 1997), p. 181;
for France, G. Müller-Brandeck-Bocquet, Die institutionelle Dimension der Umweltpolitik: Eine vergleichende Untersuchung zu Frankreich, Deutschland, und der Europäischen Union (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1996), pp. 93–4; for Germany, see Jänicke and Weidner, op. cit. in note 31. pp. 139–40.
For example, F. Pearce, The Dammed: Rivers, Dams, and the Coming of the World Water Crises (London: Bodley Head, 1992).
D. J. Coyle, ‘“This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land”: Cultural Conflict in Environmental Regulation and Land-Use Regulation’, in D. J. Coyle and R. J. Ellis (eds), Politics, Policy, and Culture (Boulder, CO: Westview Press. 1994).
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© 2000 Marco Verweij
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Verweij, M. (2000). A Watershed on the Rhine. In: Transboundary Environmental Problems and Cultural Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780333981801_4
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