Introduction

International policies for managing the global atmosphere have evolved in an ad hoc and piecemeal manner. It may now be time to adopt a more thought-out and holistic approach. While some might consider it outrageous heresy, there is a case to be made for moving towards a comprehensive "Law of the Atmosphere" (LoA).

A LEGACY OF AD HOCISM
The atmosphere is one of the very few examples of a true global commons in that it is a "domain that is beyond the exclusive jurisdiction of any one nation but one that all nations may use for their own purposes" [M.S. Soroos, 'The Thin Blue Line: Preserving the Atmosphere as a Global Commons,' Environment, 40(March 1998): 7-13, 32-35]. According to Garrett Hardin's now famous postulate ['The Tragedy of the Commons,' Science 162(1968): 1234], commons need to be regulated because they have a perverse tendency to degenerate into ruin and 'tragedy' since everyone has an incentive for exploiting them while no one has the incentive, or responsibility, for maintaining their integrity. Much of global environmental policy is intellectually premised on the desire to avert Hardin's foretold tragedy.