On April 12, 2010, the International Court of Justice delivered one of the most important and environmentally sensitive judgement in the Argentina v. Uruguay Pulp Mill Case. This judgement did not just contribute to environmental jurisprudence at an International Court but also exposed a lacuna on the Court handling its insufficiency in analyzing scientific and complex evidence that required the Court to intake expert assistance, which was again, make no mistake, within the Court’s ambit (Article 50, ICJ Statute). This was also reflected in the dissenting as well as concurring (but in parts) judgement of the fellow judges of the ICJ. Establishing not one but two pulp mills around the River Uruguay made several Argentine environmentalists began sporadic blockades of an international bridge across the river, to protest the construction of the mills. The major concern at that moment was the enormous amount of sulphur compounds and nitrogen oxides that would be emitted into the air, toxic pollutants, dark brown coloration of the river, along with absorbable organic halogens (AOX), and total organochlorine (TOCl) which would be discharged in the wastewaters thus ultimately polluting river Uruguay and disturbing the ecosystem around it. As per previous researches, it had been identified that wastewater discharged from such mills was highly deficient in dissolved oxygen and was associated with extreme values of BOD and COD. This paper attempts to expose such judicial gaps by drawing a parallel with the scientific findings that the court may have found if it delved deeper with a committee comprising of scientists, environmentalists, and industrialists. Consequently, avoiding an anti-environmental judgement and attributing Uruguay of the liability it originally had.

Revisiting the necessity of expert advice in the Pulp Mill case: The possible scientific findings and the evident judicial gap

ACS Fall 2021

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