Contractualizing environmental protection. Public and private international law perspectives in Azerbaijan’s post-conflict reconstruction

Multiple environmental damages have been committed by belligerents and by private companies operating under their sovereignty during the thirty-year long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in South Caucasus. Markedly, this paper will provide an overview of illicit activities having caused severe harm to the natural environment of Azerbaijan, with the aim of exploring legal and governance solutions to be applied in the post-conflict reconstruction phase, and specifically for the recovery of the damaged areas. More precisely, the ultimate intention of this work is proposing a contractual approach to environmental protection, namely the incorporation of environmental protection clauses within contracts concluded between government agencies and foreign corporations. Considering this, the contractualization approach is intended to be applicable both to corporate activities and during the reconstruction of the conflict-affected areas of Azerbaijan. Hence, the adoption of a contractual approach to environmental protection will be considered in the field of mineral resource extraction; reconstruction of infrastructure and transportation lines; and eventually foreign investments. According to the author, the contractualization of environmental protection would eventually overcome the drawbacks of international law in the field of corporate environmental accountability and simultaneously be characterized as a viable governance approach to prevent future damage to the natural environment on the part of private companies operating in the territories of Azerbaijan. Ultimately, its successful application in Azerbaijan could galvanize the adoption of the same approach in other wartime corporate environmental harm-affected areas of the world.