INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE DISPUTE CONCERNING CONSTRUCTION OF A ROAD IN COSTA RICA ALONG THE SAN JUAN RIVER (NICARAGUA V . COSTA RICA) MEMORIAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA VOLUME I 19 December 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION . 1 A. JURISDICTION OF THE COURT ............................1 B. THE SCOPE OF THE DISPUTE ..............................2 C. STRUCTURE OF THE MEMORIAL ..........................8 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND OF THE DISPUTE . 11 A. THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE SAN JUAN DE NICARAGUA RIVER. 11 1. The San Juan de Nicaragua River .............................11 2. The Environment and Protected Reserves in and along the River ....13 (a) The San Juan River Wildlife Refuge ......................14 (b) The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve .......................16 (c) The San Juan River – Nicaragua Biosphere Reserve ..........17 3. The San Juan de Nicaragua River Human Communities ...........19 B. COSTA RICA’S AUTHORIZATION OF THE ROAD PURSUANT TO AN “EMERGENCY DECREE” ................19 C. COSTA RICA’S REFUSAL TO PROVIDE INFORMATION OR TO CONDUCT AN EIA ON THE ROAD CONSTRUCTION ...30 CHAPTER 3: HARM CAUSED TO NICARAGUA BY COSTA RICA’S ROAD CONSTRUCTION . 45 A. INTRODUCTION ........................................45 B. COSTA RICA CONSTRUCTED ITS ROAD IMPROPERLY AND RECKLESSLY, MAKING IMPACTS TO THE SAN JUAN DE NICARAGUA RIVER INEVITABLE ................47 1. Deforestation and Soil Erosion Affecting the San Juan de Nicaragua River ..........................................51 2. Earthmoving and Topographical Changes Affecting the San Juan de Nicaragua River ................................56 iii 3. Exposed, Unprotected and Unstable Mounds of Earth .............63 4. Lack of Proper Drainage Systems and Stream Crossings ...........76 C. DAMAGE TO NICARAGUA HAS ALREADY OCURRED AND CONTINUES, WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES ........87 1. The San Juan de Nicaragua River has been Damaged, and Continues to be Damaged, by Costa Rica’s Road Construction .............................................88 2. Harms Caused by Road Construction to Watercourses in Environmentally Sensitive Areas Generally ....................107 3. Required Remediation Measures ............................114 CHAPTER 4: BREACHES OF THE LEGAL REGIME OF THE SAN JUAN DE NICARAGUA RIVER . 123 A. BREACHES OF THE 1858 TREATY AND ITS SUCCESIVE ARBITRAL AND JUDICIAL INTERPRETATIONS ............124 1. The 1858 Treaty of Limits and its Arbitral Interpretations .........124 2. Costa Rica’s Breaches of the 1858 Treaty of Limits ..............128 (a) Breach of Nicaragua’s Right of Navigation ................128 (b) Breach of the Obligation to Notify ......................134 B. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD VIOLATES PRINCIPLES AND RULES OF INTERNATIONAL LAW .......139 1. The Violation of Nicaragua’s Territorial Sovereignty .............139 2. The Violation of the Principle of the Non-Harmful Use of the Territory ...............................................141 3. The Violation of the Obligation to inform, notify and consult ......144 CHAPTER 5: COSTA RICA’S BREACHES OF ITS ENVIRONMENTAL OBLIGATIONS . 149 A. INTRODUCTION .......................................149 B. COSTA RICA BREACHED ITS OBLIGATION TO ASSESS THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE ROAD, ON BOTH THE NATIONAL AND TRANSBOUNDARY LEVEL .....152 iv 1. The National Level .......................................152 2. The Transboundary Level. .166 C. COSTA RICA BREACHED ITS OBLIGATION TO PROVIDE PRIOR NOTIFICATION TO NICARAGUA ..........172 D. COSTA RICA BREACHED ITS OBLIGATION NOT TO CAUSE SIGNIFICANT TRANSBOUNDARY HARM. .186 E. COSTA RICA’S CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROAD BREACHED TREATIES TO WHICH THE TWO STATES ARE PARTIES ..........................................192 1. Costa Rica’s Road Project Breaches Universal Agreements .......192 (a) The Convention on Biological Diversity ..................192 (b) The Ramsar Convention ..............................197 2. Costa Rica’s Road Project Breaches Regional and Bilateral Agreements. 201 (a) Regional Agreements .................................201 (i). The Central American Convention for the Protection of the Environment ...............................201 (ii). The Tegucigalpa Protocol ..........................204 (iii). The Convention for the Conservation of Biodiversity ....209 (iv). The Regional Agreement on the Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes .....................213 (b) Bilateral Agreements: SI-A-PAZ ........................215 F. CONCLUSION ..........................................217 CHAPTER 6: REMEDIES . 221 A. URGENTLY NEEDED IMMEDIATE REMEDIATION MEASURES. .221 B. REMEDIES REQUESTED BY NICARAGUA .................228 1. A Declaration by the Court on Costa Rica’s Internationally Wrongful Acts. 229 v 2. Cessation of Costa Rica’s Continuing Internationally Wrongful Acts and Performance of the Obligations Breached ..............231 3. Nicaragua is Entitled to Appropriate Guarantees of Non-Repetition by Costa Rica of its Internationally Wrongful Acts ...................................................234 4. Nicaragua is Entitled to Full Reparation from Costa Rica for All Damages Caused by its Internationally Wrongful Acts ........238 5. The Prejudice to Nicaragua’s territory affects the Navigational Rights granted by the 1858 Treaty to Costa Rica ................244 SUBMISSIONS . 251 CERTIFICATION . 255 LIST OF ANNEXES . 257 vi LIST OF FIGURES IN VOLUME I Figure 2.1. San Juan de Nicaragua River. Figure 2.2. Sketch Map: The Indio Maíz Biological Reserve (dark green) and the San Juan River Wildlife Refuge (Yellow). Figure 5.1. Site Visit on the 1st of December, 2011. Note: This photograph was taken from the San Juan de Nicaragua River. (Application Instituting Proceedings, 22 December 2011, Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua vs. Costa Rica), Annex 1). Figure 5.2. El Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua, "Nicaragua requires Costa Rica the immediate halt of the works and lists eight blows to the river", 12 december 2011. (Application Instituting Proceedings, 22 December 2011, Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua vs. Costa Rica), Annex 4). Figure 5.3. El Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua, "Environmentalist corroborate damage by the Costa Rican road in Río San Juan on sight, Violation of sovereignty", 5 December 2011 (Application Instituting Proceedings, 22 December 2011, Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua vs. Costa Rica), Annex 7). Figure 5.4. Site Visit on the 1st of December, 2011. Note: This photograph was taken from the San Juan de Nicaragua River (Application Instituting Proceedings, 22 December 2011, Construction of a Road in Costa Rica along the San Juan River (Nicaragua vs. Costa Rica), Annex 8). vii LIST OF ACRONYMS BMP Best Management Practices CACJ Central American Court of Justice CCAD (Spanish Acronym) Central American Commission for Environment and Development CFIA (Spanish Acronym) Association of Federated Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica CONAVI (Spanish Acronym) Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Spanish) or National Roads Authority CRM Memorial of Costa Rica EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EPN (Spanish Acronym) Empresa Portuaria Nacional (Spanish) or National Port Authority FONARE (Spanish Acronym) National Recycling Forum (Nicaragua) FUNDENIC-SOS (Spanish Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Acronym) Development ILC International Law Commission INETER (Spanish Acronym) Territorial Institute of Nicaragua IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature LANAMME (Spanish Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Acronym) Modelos Estructurales, Universidad de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models MARENA (Spanish Acronym) Ministerio del Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales (Spanish) or Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources MINAET (Spanish Acronym) Ministerio del Ambiente, Energía y Mares (Spanish) or Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications NM Nicaragua Memorial NCM Nicaragua Counter Memorial NR Nicaragua Rejoinder OCAS Organization of Central American States SETENA (Spanish Acronym) Secretary General of Costa Rica’s National Environmental Technical Secretariat SI-A-PAZ (Spanish Acronym) International System of Protected Areas for Peace viii LIST OF ACRONYMS BMP Best Management Practices CACJ Central American Court of Justice CCAD (Spanish Acronym) Central American Commission for Environment and Development CFIA (Spanish Acronym) Association of Federated Engineers and Architects of Costa Rica CONAVI (Spanish Acronym) Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Spanish) or National Roads Authority CRM Memorial of Costa Rica EIA Environmental Impact Assessment EPN (Spanish Acronym) Empresa Portuaria Nacional (Spanish) or National Port Authority FONARE (Spanish Acronym) National Recycling Forum (Nicaragua) FUNDENIC-SOS (Spanish Nicaraguan Foundation for Sustainable Acronym) Development ILC International Law Commission INETER (Spanish Acronym) Territorial Institute of Nicaragua IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature LANAMME (Spanish Laboratorio Nacional de Materiales y Acronym) Modelos Estructurales, Universidad de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models MARENA (Spanish Acronym) Ministerio del Ambiente y los Recursos Naturales (Spanish) or Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources MINAET (Spanish Acronym) Ministerio del Ambiente, Energía y Mares (Spanish) or Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications NM Nicaragua Memorial