Transboundary Environmental Governance in the Murray Darling Basin

This chapter examines the obligation and challenge of conducting Environmental impact assessment (EIA) for developments and activities in the marine environment which have the potential to cause transboundary environmental harm. The process of EIA is first reviews by an examination of developments in international law which reveal the emergence of a clear yet insufficiently detailed obligation on States to conduct EIA for projects. The chapter suggests that the nature and variety of activities at sea, coupled with the complexity of jurisdictional rights in different maritime zones, merits attention being given to the development of marine activity or marine area-specific transboundary EIA agreements to facilitate the implementation of the general international law obligation to conduct transboundary EIA. The overarching framework of State sovereignty presents problems for the development of international standards for the assessment, planning, monitoring and conduct of activities that have transboundary environmental implications.