This chapter analyses the environmental case practice of ad hoc inter-state tribunals and arbitral panels established under the aegis of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Judicial techniques to reflect on the scientific profile of cases are analysed in light of the Bering Sea Fur Seals, Trail Smelter, Lake Lanoux, MOX Plant, MOX Plant OSPAR, Iron Rhine, Southern Bluefin Tuna, Kishenganga, and South China Sea Arbitrations. The chapter examines how adjudicators frame the legally relevant aspects of science-intensive disputes, and the varied avenues tribunals utilize for gathering expert advice. It discusses the significance of appointing independent experts. The chapter also examines the science-based causal inquiries and causal tests from the practice of arbitral tribunals.

The UN Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR) created the WGAD in 1991 after a long investigation by the Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities into the practice of administrative detention. In his final report to the sub-commission, prominent French lawyer Louis Joinet emphasized the need for “suitable machinery … to prevent and report violations” of international law regarding detention and recommended the UNCHR create either a special thematic rapporteur or a five-person working group. He thought the latter option “might be more effective, by being able to deal with the variety of categories of detention.”