Impediments to enforcement of environmental treaties against oil pollution

Indisputably, at various fora, the hopeless picture of the condition of the global environment vis-à-vis the linkage of environmental degradation with growth and human welfare has been painted. ‘Safe water is increasingly limited, hindering economic activity. Land degradation endangers the lives of millions of people. This is the world today.’ Unfortunately, despite oil’s significance to the world’s economy, pollution arising from it has constituted one of the major sources of the global environments’ degradation. To address the threat posed by oil pollution to the global environment, some international and regional instruments have increasingly emerged. This article examines some of these instruments along with some of the challenges confronting their effectiveness. The article concludes that relevant steps should be taken to address the challenges in order to ensure that the various instruments and treaties are effectively implemented by States to safeguard a healthy global environment.