This article examines whether the concept of "public interest" is a tool that may be useful in promoting the protection of the global environment. Given the contemporary structure of international relations, the article concludes that the idea of an international public interest is lacking in the current international system. Nevertheless the article goes on to argue that the public interest may be a helpful categorical form that environmental lawyers collaborating around the world across borders can use in promoting the common cause of worldwide efforts to preserve the global environment. It sets out the bearing that the collaborative efforts of environmental nongovernmental organisations have had on the international system and on the development and enforcement of international environmental law within municipal systems, focusing specifically on the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide.