It is obvious that States and international organizations are the primary sources of international law. However, international environmental law is the impact of the efforts of non-governmental organizations and state authorities. Positive efforts in law and policy making in the field of international environmental law have been made in nations such as the United States, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Africa, Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia. In most cases, environmental protection has been observed in those nations where there is a guaranteed constitutional right to a healthy and pollution-free environment. For example, the law in Costa Rica, Latin America, the Constitution of Chile, Hungary, South Africa, etc., establishes the ‘right to a pollution-free environment’. Several European member states have amended their constitutions after the fall of communism and have included the right to the environment as a justifiable right in the constitution.

In the federal states, local governments legislate on environmental issues within their own jurisdiction. The law and policies initiated by different nations and their local regions have influenced each other to develop a state practice of transnational environmental regulations. In this sense, administrative and bureaucratic agencies at the state and national levels have played a vital role in creating environmental activism.

In addition, at the global level, United Nations bodies have served as key players in the process of drafting environmental protection laws. For example, the role played by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as they have helped initiate actions between states and pre-existing international organizations, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD).

However, at all levels, local, national, international, there have been various disagreements regarding decision-making on environmental issues. In particular, at the global level, although there is a comprehensive institutional framework, there is a total absence of unanimity regarding environmental decisions. Therefore, it is a challenge to create an order of international environmental governance with sustainable development as a priority concern.

It was not until the late 1980s that sustainable development began to be frequently included in international texts, first mainly in political documents and later in binding treaty texts. One of the first treaties to use the term, and especially outside the environmental context, was the 1990 Agreement establishing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Despite continuing political disagreement, the concept of sustainable development has now been included within a significant number of binding and non-binding texts at both the regional and global levels. However, in 2012 the international community noted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development that progress was highly unsatisfactory.

Humanity is at a turning point in history, and we must realize that integrating and paying greater attention to environmental and development concerns will lead to the satisfaction of basic needs and the improvement of living standards. of life for all; a guarantee for a prosperous ecological future. No nation can achieve this on its own, but together we can do it in a global partnership for sustainable development.

Therefore, development and environmental conservation must go hand in hand. The governments of all nations (underdeveloped, developing and developed) must adopt a development policy that ensures pollution control. In this sense, international environmental law faces its greatest challenges in meeting the environmental and development needs of present and future generations.