Zeleke, Dereje (Associate Professor)Yemane, Dejen2018-10-132023-11-082018-10-132023-11-082018-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/12632The Precautionary Principle, an anticipatory model of environmental protection, requires states to take proactive measures when there is a threat of environmental harm without waiting for scientific evidence to prove the causal link between activities, as causes, and environmental harms, as effects. The Principle which has first emerged in the domestic legal systems transferred into the international system and now it has acquired wider recognition in international environmental law. This research finds out the normative status of the Principle under international environmental law. To that end, it examines various international instruments in light with article 38 of the ICJ statute. Many environmental treaties which address global environmental problems, like ozone depletion, climate change, marine environment pollution and loss of bio-diversity, have recognized the Principle. Collective state practices as expressed in the resolutions and declarations of the UN and other international soft instruments establish the customary international law status of the Principle. States, in their litigations before international adjudications, supported their legal arguments on the basis of the Precautionary Principle and they have avowed the binding nature of the Principle. Accordingly, some international adjudication bodies confirmed the normative status of the Principle under international environmental law. Finally, the research has ascertained the normative status of the Precautionary Principle as a treaty norm due to its incorporation in many environmental treaties. It has also ascertained the Principle‟s normative status as a principle of customary international environmental lawenInternational LawThesis