Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

For many years, nations have struggled with loss of the Earth's natural resources. Once thought inexhaustible, animal life, plant life and minerals were exploited as fast as possible. Often viewed as a "race-to- ,,2 the-bottom, nations compete with each other to extract as much of a valuable resource as possible from the planet before the resource vanishes. The prevailing view has not been "use it or lose it" but rather "use it until it's lost." Now our vast resources are being visibly depleted - we can see the bottom of what was historically thought to be a bottomless pit. Recently, national governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have realized that unless measures are taken to curtail the rapid depletion of resources, those resources will vanish. But these measures cannot be taken alone. A nation that stood alone in its defense of a resource, protecting that resource while forgoing potential economic gain, would "miss the boat" as other nations stripped the Earth of the resource, gaining economic benefit all the while.

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