This important book addresses the prospects for reconciling economic competitiveness with sustainable development. It shows that we cannot simply assume that changes in public attitudes, business policies and government regulation will guarantee the conditions for long-term ecological, social and economic sustainability. On the basis of new original case studies, the authors consider corporate environmental strategies, technological change and sustainable development as a social partnership between firms, citizens and government. They suggest that competitiveness must be considered as a dynamic process requiring proactive and reactive adjustments by business and government institutions all working towards sustainability. Sustainbility and Firms combines intellectual rigour with accessibility to communicate fundamental ideas to help policy decision-makers, enterprise managers, environmental scientists and economists grapple effectively with the problems of competitiveness, technological change, strategies of firms, governance and sustainable development.

This book is the fifth volume in the European Environmental Law Forum (EELF) Book Series. The EELF is a non-profit initiative established by environmental law scholars and practitioners from across Europe aiming to support intellectual exchange on the development and implementation of international, European and national environmental law in Europe. One of the activities of the EELF is the organisation of an annual conference.The fifth EELF Conference dedicated to 'Sustainable Management of Natural Resources - Legal Instruments and Approaches' was held in Copenhagen from the 30th of August to the 1st of September 2017 at the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with the Department of Law, Aarhus University.This book is a collection of peer reviewed contributions addressing various legal aspects of sustainable management of natural resources. Natural resources are in this book understood in broad terms encompassing biodiversity, water, air and soil, as well as raw materials. Based on the contributions, it can be asserted that despite many efforts there is still a long way to go in order to achieve sustainable management of natural resources. Making ecosystem integrity ultimately the bottom-line for sustainable development requires not only dedication in the design and coherence of (environmental) legislation at international, EU and national level, but also a strong commitment to the implementation and enforcement of the legislation. Thus, it is necessary to carefully consider how different legal instruments and approaches may pave the way for the sustainable management of natural resources.

This book explores the relevance of Japanese ethics for the field of ethics of technology. It covers the theories of Japanese ethicists such as Nishida Kitaro, Watsuji Tetsuro, Imamichi Tomonobu, Yuasa Yasuo, as well as more contemporary ethicists, and explores their relevance for the analysis of energy technologies, ICT, robots, and geoengineering. It features contributions from Japanese scholars, and international scholars who have applied Japanese ethics to problems in the global condition. Technological development is considered to cause new ethical issues, such as genetically modified organisms fostering monocultures, nanotechnologies causing issues of privacy, as well as health and environmental issues, robotics raising issues about the meaning of humanity, and the risks of nuclear power, as witnessed in the Fukushima disaster. At the same time, technology embodies a hope for mankind, such as ICT improving relationships between human beings and nature, and smart systems assisting humans in leading a more ethical and environmentally friendly life. This book explores these ethical issues and their impact from a Japanese perspective.

We are in a moment where peoples and states are interested, directly or indirectly, in asserting their "national interest," unilaterally if necessary. In the White House, the national security policy is premised on "America First," while Catalans and Iraqi Kurds have taken steps to unilaterally declare their independence. All of these actions have generated tension both domestically and internationally. However, even though the potential for unilateral action has been receiving a lot of attention, the larger issue of the legality of unilateral acts is often hard to discern. This book provides a history of the doctrine of unilateral acts in international law, tracing their treatment in the international sphere from consent based acts, to obligations erga omnes, to acts of estoppel. Through chapter-by-chapter case studies, this book traces the "legalization" of the category of unilateral acts from its 19th Century foundations into a broad category of obligation. To understand why and how this occurred, this book examines the history of the legal doctrine of unilateral acts, which shows that in spite of efforts to progressively make unilateral acts "legal" they are still not precisely defined or easy to apply, challenging the very commitment these acts are meant to establish.

In international negotiations, the question of the design and the legal form of the negotiated instrument is as complex as it is often controversial. Intended as a read for both practitioners and academics, this book provides a comprehensive treatise of the characteristics, the potential and the limits of nonbinding instruments in international environmental law and governance. An extensive overview and typology of nonbinding instruments as well as several case studies from the areas of fisheries (FAO), hazardous substances (UNEP/FAO) and corporate social responsibility (OECD) provide the material for an in-depth analysis of the role of nonbinding instruments on all levels of governance. The book demonstrates the potential but also highlights the limits of nonbinding instruments in the interplay with customary and treaty law (e.g. UNCLOS, WTO) as bases for interinstitutional linkages and as tools to shape the behaviour of states and private actors. Legitimacy challenges arising from this form of exercise of authority are then discussed in the final chapter, alongside with remedies to address possible concerns.

The precautionary concept has become intrinsic to international environmental policy, especially with the adoption, in 1992, of the Rio Declaration at UNCED. Principle 15 of that Declaration provides that: "In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation." The challenge facing the international community is how to attain truly precautionary environmental policies. This challenge is one of changing perceptions as much as of changing institutions or technical mechanisms. It is a challenge to our way of viewing the world as much as to our views of the role of science, or the burden of proof. It also raises a question as to the role of legal and other regulatory instruments in implementing the precautionary principle. This question, however, lends itself to a multifaceted and multidisciplinary approach. After an introduction to the origins and development of the precautionary principle, 12 chapters explore a selection of themes relevant to the implementation of the principle. Where the relationship between international, national and local policies is concerned, a new concept is introduced: glocalization. The book concludes with a synthesis of the opportunities for, and constraints on, the implementation of the precautionary principle, as identified by the various authors.

As 300 million Americans squeeze into our country, and as single-person households outnumber parents with children, it's time to rethink our land use laws that favor the single-family house. This provocative book visits sites of recent controversies--from an immigration dispute in a Virginia suburb, to eminent domain in New York City, to illegal apartments in the backyards of California. Boudreaux explores how we could scrap the old housing bias in favor of affluent homeowners, and in its place harness the free market to provide for a greater variety of residences--apartments, townhouses, and mobile homes - for the twenty-first century.

This timely book brings clarity to the debate on the new legal phenomenon of environmental border tax adjustments. It will help form a better understanding of the role and limits these taxes have on environmental policies in combating global environmental challenges, such as climate change. The book is structured around three main topics: the rationale, the tax design and the legal framework of environmental border tax adjustments. This three-fold analysis gives an overview of the legal issues that should be considered before the adoption of environmental border taxes, including carbon tax adjustments. Alice Pirlot's critical approach to the arguments surrounding traditional and environmental border tax adjustments allows for detailed legal analysis going beyond the question of their compatibility with WTO law, while also reviewing the economic argument. This book will prove to be essential reading for legal scholars and professionals alike, as well as benefitting environmental NGOs, stakeholders in energy-intensive industries and policymakers looking for in-depth insight into environmental border tax adjustments.

This book presents a variety of articles on contemporary issues in environmental law by eminent university professors of environmental law, international public law, European Union law, and comparative law in Europe and Japan. It is the first book in the field of environmental law based on the results of international conferences and research activities supported by the European Union delegation in Japan. Current essential and global topics such as principles of environmental law, climate change, biodiversity, ethics pertaining to animal rights , nuclear safety regime after Fukushima, environmental impact assessments, protecting international waters, genetically-modified organisms, and implementing international instruments, and EU rules at the national level are discussed in light of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon and other recent international treaties, by comparing the approaches taken by the EU, European countries, and Japan. As environmental law is not just a national issue but also a global one, it is important to understand and analyse various aspects of current environmental issues. This book is a response to such needs, and represents the joint work of five Japanese and four European (two German and two Italian) professors who have succeeded in creating something that is both unique and remarkable.

This book is the fourth volume in the European Environmental Law Forum (EELF) book series. The Fourth EELF Conference dedicated to Procedural Environmental Rights of the public was organised in Wroclaw from 14 to 16 September 2016 by the Faculty of Law of the University of Wroclaw in co-operation with the Environmental Law Center, Wroclaw, the law firm Jendroska Jerzmanski Bar & Partners and the Faculty of Law of the University of Opole. `Procedural Environmental Rights: Principle X in Theory and Practice' is not a random collection of papers presented at the conference but rather a monograph presenting in a structured manner some of the topical issues related to this subject. It provides an overview of various aspects of the current status, development and practice of rights of access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters following their codification as non-binding principles in Principle X of the Rio Declaration. The book goes far beyond presenting merely the issues related to environmental procedural rights in Europe - it brings together the expertise of worldwide legal scholars, representing a wide range of legal cultures, to discuss the adoption and implementation of procedural environmental rights in different jurisdictions and under various legal instruments. Furthermore, it provides insight into the various aspects of procedural environmental rights ranging from theoretical issues of global application to practical problems at local level.

This significant book investigates the political economy of environmental policy in Europe with a careful analysis of how EU directives are realised in the member states. The authors explore this issue through a comparative evaluation of the implementation of three pieces of EU environmental legislation in France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Areas covered by the legislation include air emission standards for waste incinerators, the electricity supply industry, and the certification of environmental management systems. The results vary across cases even though overcompliance is observed in certain cases. The regularity arising from the different case studies is related to the determinants of the environmental outcomes that are observed. When environmental directives are implemented they are likely to interact with parallel policy processes and these interactions can exert a strong positive or negative influence on the success of the policy in question. The central policy problem is the fact that these interactions are very difficult to anticipate at the policy formulation stage. It leads the authors to propose that effective environmental policy should therefore be adaptable in order to cope with these unanticipated effects. This book covers a very important and topical issue by studying the genuine impact of environmental directives and increasing the readers' understanding of the way in which environmental federalism works in Europe. It will be welcomed by scholars of environmental law and political science, environmental economists, and environmental policymakers, advisors and consultants.

The significant differences between the environmental legal systems throughout the European Union, together with a scarcity of national environmental law literature written in English, have until now made it difficult to achieve a ready understanding of environmental law and policy in Europe. This work opens with a practical overview of environmental policy and legal procedures in the European Union, and goes on to examine the environmental system in each of the member states. The 15 country chapters, uniformly structured for easy reference, are each divided into two parts. The first section, contributed by a leading academic, covers the general environmental legislative and regulatory system of each country. The second is written by a practising environmental lawyer and deals with practical aspects of environmental law relevant to commerce and industry. This section aims to answer questions frequently asked by companies and their advisers, and includes discussion of issues relating to the start-up of new companies, change of company activities, mergers and takeovers, environmental licences, environmental impact assessment reports and enforcement procedures. This book should offer an insight into the main structures and procedures of environmental law in the European Union, and should be a useful reference work for company lawyers, corporate managers, researchers and environmental specialists alike.

This book analyses the drivers of specific common pool resource problems, particularly in fisheries and forestry, examining the way in which private and public regulation have intervened to fight the common pool resource problem by contributing to the establishment and maintenance of property rights. It focuses on the various forms of regulation that have been put in place to protect fisheries and forestry over the past decades - both from a theoretical as well as from a policy perspective - comparing the concrete interaction of legal and policy instruments in eight separate jurisdictions.

Property Rights and Climate Change explores the multifarious relationships between different types of climate-driven environmental changes and property rights. This original contribution to the literature examines such climate changes through the lens of property rights, rather than through the lens of land use planning. The inherent assumption pursued is that the different types of environmental changes, with their particular effects and impact on land use, share common issues regarding the relation between the social construction of land via property rights and the dynamics of a changing environment. Making these common issues explicit and discussing the different approaches to them is the central objective of this book. Through examining a variety of cases from the Arctic to the Australian coast, the contributors take a transdisciplinary look at the winners and losers of climate change, discuss approaches to dealing with changing environmental conditions, and stimulate pathways for further research. This book is essential reading for lawyers, planners, property rights experts and environmentalists.

The success of Brazil in the large-scale production and use of fuel ethanol has been widely discussed and analyzed by other countries interested in adopting policies designed to encourage the use of biofuels. Within this context, certain questions arise: Could the Brazilian experience be replicated in other countries? What were the conditions that enabled the creation of the Brazilian Proalcool (National Ethanol Program and what lessons can be learned? To examine these issues, it is important to understand the functioning of the key, interconnected markets (those for sugarcane, sugar and ethanol), which, from their inception, were the objects of extensive government intervention until 1999. Two main conditions enabled the creation of Proalcool: robust production of sugarcane and sugar (tightly regulated by the government, which applied the numerous regulations then in place); and the military regime that was in place at the time, whose decision-making and enforcement powers were quite broad, facilitating the carrying out of the necessary actions, as well as making it easier to coordinate the activities of the various stakeholders and sectors involved. This book increases understanding of the functioning of the sugarcane supply chain in Brazil, not only during the phase of government intervention but also in recent years (in the free-market environment). The lessons, positive and negative, gleaned from the Brazilian experience can contribute to reflection on and the development of alternative modalities of biofuel production in other countries, making the book of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with biofuel and renewable resources as well as economic development.

China is the world's second largest consumer of commercial energy and is therefore a significant contributor to atmospheric pollution. It is becoming a major player in global and regional markets for energy products, services and investment. This book provides an overview of the formulation and implementation of energy policy in China. Part One provides background information on China's energy sector. Part Two examines the nature of China's energy policy and of the policy-making process, with examples drawn from the coal and natural gas sectors, as well as from the government's drive to promote energy conservation and energy efficiency. Part Three focuses on recent efforts to reform the energy sector in China and to regulate it more effectively, paying particular attention to the electrical power sector and to small-scale coal mines. Part Four evaluates, from the perspective of the citizen, policy relating to the electrical power sector and to the closure of small-scale coal mines. Part Five addresses the international dimensions of China's energy policy, with accounts of both inward and outward investment, and of the international political implications.

Environmental Regulation through Financial Organisations examines in the industrialised nations the emerging role of banks, insurers and institutional investors as organisations for articulating and strengthening environmental law and policy. Taking a comparative perspective of practice in the European Union, North America, Japan and Australia, the book argues that existing legal reforms to promote sustainable development are unlikely to be successful unless environmental policy can be diffused and embedded in the financial services sector. This sector plays a crucial role in creating the financial conditions that allow much economic development to proceed. Financial markets are already highly regulated in pursuance of various public policy objectives, and there is scope to adapt existing regulation to incorporate environmental aspects into the financial services sector. In terms of specific reforms, the book focuses on the role of corporate environmental reporting, economic instruments and liability rules to provide a proper context for engaging financial organisations with the environment, as well as reforms to the system of prudential regulation that currently governs this sector. Beyond the focus on the financial services sector, the book raises complex questions regarding the relationship between the state and market institutions in environmental policy, and will appeal to scholars from a wide range of disciplines interested in problems of environmental governance.

Controlling Pollution in Transition Economies examines and evaluates the recent experience of implementing pollution charges and the use of environmental permits in Central and Eastern Europe and Russia.The book focuses on controlling point-source air and water pollution. It describes and analyses the experience of implementing pollution charges and fines, and the interactions of these fiscal instruments with systems of pollution permits. The ten country case studies have been written by specialists who have been or are actively involved with the development or revision of pollution charges. Based on the experience of these countries, general conclusions are drawn for implementing pollution charge systems in other contexts. This book will encourage new theoretical and empirical work on the problem of implementing economic instruments (pollution charges), in combination with 'command-and-control' instruments (pollution permits). Practitioners and policy analysts as well as graduate students, academics, researchers and environmental consultants will find this book an important contribution to the existing literature.

This book presents an interdisciplinary collection of expert analyses and views of existing verification systems. It provides guidelines and advice for the improvement of those systems as well as for new challenges in the field.

Bobbie the Wonder dog crossed more than 2,500 miles of plains, desert and mountains to find his way home - and became the inspiration for Lassie. Cher Ami the pigeon, despite being shot twice, delivered a message that saved the lives of 194 soldiers in 1918. Trakr the police dog spent two days exhaustively searching Ground Zero and found the last survivor of the 9/11 attacks. Ever since Alexander the Great named a city after the horse who saved his life in battle (and another after his dog), human history wouldn't be the same without the awe-inspiring tales of amazing animals. Now BAFTA-winning presenter, no. 1 bestselling author and all-round national treasure Clare Balding picks out the most heroic and heartwarming (and sometimes hilarious) animals from history and tells their stories. From Simon the sea cat to Greyfriars Bobby's 14-year vigil over his master's grave, to the elephant that saved a small girl and Paul the World-Cup-predicting octopus, Heroic Animals brings to life incredible feats and moving moments which highlight the timeless special bond between human and animal.

Can private law assume an ecological meaning? Can property and contract defend nature? Is tort law an adequate tool for paying environmental damages to future generations? This book explores potential resolutions to these questions, analyzing the evolution of legal thinking in relation to the topics of legal personality, property, contract and tort. In this forward thinking book, Mattei and Quarta suggest a list of basic principles upon which a new, ecological legal system could be based. Taking private law to represent an ally in the defence of our future, they offer a clear characterization of the fundamental legal institutions of common law and civil law, considering the challenges of the Anthropogenic era, technological tools of the Internet era, and the global rise of the commons. Summarizing the fundamental institutions of private law: property rights, legal personality, contract, and tort, the authors reveal the limits of these legal institutions in relation to historical international evolution and their regulation in the contexts of catastrophic ecological issues and technological developments. Engaging and thoughtful, this book will be interesting reading for legal scholars and academics of private law and, in particular, those wishing to understand the role of law when facing technological and ecological challenges.

Governments have at their disposal a broad range of policy instruments that they may use to influence behaviour and pursue environmental policy goals. This volume of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law is a comprehensive guide to these environmental policy instruments, examining their characteristics, applications, strengths and limitations, as well as giving an overview of the most significant issues related to their adoption and effectiveness. With entries written by leading international scholars, this incisive volume provides insight into the cross-cutting issues that are common to discussions of such policy instruments, including the legal bases for their use, how instruments can be compared for costs, distributional questions, and monitoring and enforcement. Contributions also explore hybrids and blends of policy instruments and explain the relationships between them, using case studies and examples from around the world, as well as providing succinct summaries of the substantial literature in the field. Students and scholars in environmental law will find this volume to be an invaluable resource, for both its solid theoretical foundations and its analysis of undertreated issues in the field. Its discussion of how and why each policy tool might be used is particularly relevant for policymakers and practitioners. Contributors include: A.D.K. Abelkop, C. Coglianese, M.A. Cohen, D.H. Cole, C.M. Correa, N. de Sadeleer, R.C. Feiock, P.Z. Grossman, N. Gunningham, S. Hayes Richards, M. Howlett, S.-L. Hsu, B. Huber, O. Karassin, B.C. Karkkainen, S.E. Light, L.M.J. McCann, J.E. Milne, I. Mukherjee, E.W. Orts, O. Perez, K.R. Richards, T.M. Roberts, A. Rowell, S. Roy, J.P. Shimshack, H. Sigman, D. Sinclair, S. Starobin, S.E. Weishaar, E. Woerdman, H. Yi, J. van Zeben

This may be the book to guide advocates and citizens through our complex environmental laws. . . . Not a critique of the pollution laws, this is a detailed summary of their provisions, such as who is responsible for administration; criteria and schedules to be met; citizens' right to bring suit; and the like. Not easy reading, it beats hacking through the language of the laws themselves. "Library Journal"

"Pollution Law Handbook" is a comprehensive yet accessible guide to eight major federal statutes concerned with controlling pollution. Written for attorneys and their corporate clients concerned with environmental matters, the handbook is designed to help the reader fully comprehend both the general intent and the essential provisions of each statute--many of which seem convoluted, confusing, and unduly complex in their original statutory text. The eight statutes selected for inclusion are those which provide the principal authority for regulating air, water, and land pollution, and toxic waste.

There are few more sensitive or important policy areas in the world today, and that means this book is a hugely relevant and timely one. Written by practice-oriented political scientists from various universities in Europe and the rest of the world, this book is a testimony to both policy and the evolution of policy analyses over the last 25 years. On the basis of empirical observations all contributions have attempted to develop new conceptual perspectives for environmental policy analyses which furthermore can be generalized and applied to other policy fields.