International environmental law is a relatively young and dynamic area of international law. Over the last 50 years, the environment has emerged as an important policy area that needs international attention. The 1972 Stockholm United Nations Conference on the Human Environment is generally seen ‘as the foundational moment of modern international environmental law’. Since then, around 500 new international environmental treaties have been adopted and a complex and multi-layered environmental governance structure has materialized over the past few decades.