The defense of common concerns and humanity's shared heritage

At the dawn of the 21st century, humanity is being challenged by the biosphere from which it has drawn so much benefit and which provides the very conditions for its existence. While standards attempt to establish a legislative framework within national territories, many areas escape this relative protection. Will this res communis-the land of all and the land of no one-be the one from which we profit, and which, once plundered, we abandon to its fate? The environment has taken it upon itself to remind humanity that it is also, and above all, the environment that concerns us fundamentally and collectively. Common spaces, heritage, shared interests, and then shared concerns of humanity-it is through the evolution of a concept, that of "global concern," that we will define the contours of this res communis, which lacks any specific legal status but whose defense we must urgently consider. What legal standing can we invoke to defend spaces or issues that fall outside the notion of property or of a third party affected more than anyone else? As public and private action drives the biosphere toward disaster, is it reasonable to persist in limiting the scope of international law to the state level alone?