Debates about Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) have moved on in recent years. An initial focus on the legal obligations established by international agreements like the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity and the form of obligations for collecting physical biological materials have now moved to a far more complex series of disputes and challenges about the ways ABS should be implemented and enforced: repatriation of resources, technology transfer, traditional knowledge and cultural expressions; open access to information and knowledge, naming conventions, farmers' rights, new schemes for accessing pandemic viruses and sharing DNA sequences, and so on. Unfortunately, most of this debate is now crystallised into apparently intractable discussions such as implementing the certificates of origin, recognising traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expression as a form of intellectual property, and sovereignty for Indigenous peoples. Not everything in this new marketplace of ABS has been created de novo. Like most new entrants, ABS has disrupted existing legal and governance arrangements. This collection of chapters examines what is new, what has been changed, and what might be changed in response to the growing acceptance and prevalence of ABS of genetic resources. Biodiversity, Genetic Resources and Intellectual Property: Developments in Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources addresses current issues arising from recent developments in the enduring and topical debates about managing genetic resources through the ABS regime. The book explores key historical, doctrinal, and theoretical issues in the field, at the same time developing new ideas and perspectives around ABS. It shows the latest state of knowledge and will be of interest to researchers, academics, policymakers, and students in the fields of intellectual property, governance, biodiversity and conservation, sustainable development, and agriculture.

Total Environmental Compliance: A Practical Guide for Environmental Professionals gives you the background and skills you need to ensure total environmental compliance in your organization. Instead of dryly describing theoretical management systems or reciting regulatory provisions, the author delves into the challenging issues of why organizations disregard this important issue and explains how to promote compliance-oriented attitudes throughout the entire organization.
The Guide focuses on critical elements such as communication skills, hiring and retaining qualified employees, managing environmental information, and maintaining high standards of professionalism. Other topics covered include: how to understand environmental requirements, why organizations violate environmental laws, and the aspects of permitting, designing, and monitoring that must be considered to achieve and sustain compliance. Case studies illustrate actual instances of individuals and organizations who ran afoul of environmental laws because they disregarded the basic principles of environmental compliance.
Total Environmental Compliance: A Practical Guide for Environmental Professionals explores how noncompliance occurs and how to avoid it using techniques that address legal requirements. It shows you how to protect your organization from the expensive and time consuming litigation that occurs when environmental laws are ignored or interpreted incorrectly.

No other European laws are so frequently violated as environmental directives. This informative and illuminating volume explains why member states have repeatedly failed to comply with European Environmental Law. It challenges the assumption that non-compliance is merely a southern problem. By critically comparing and analyzing Spain and Germany, the volume demonstrates that both northern leaders and southern laggards face compliance problems if a European policy is not compatible with domestic regulatory structures. The North-South divide is therefore much more complex than previously thought. Examining each country's capabilities of shaping European policies according to its environmental concerns and economic interests, the book debates the possible outcomes if the European Union does not come to terms with the leader-laggards dynamics in environmental policy-making. It will be a prime resource for anyone concerned with environmental policy-making and law, particularly within the EU, as well as those interested in environmental and political geography.

This book takes an interdisciplinary look at environmental protection during Poland's transition to market democracy. The contributors are recognised experts in their fields, making this an authoritative volume, combining the perspectives of economists, legal scholars, political scientists and sociologists.

Cities are frequently viewed as passive participants to state and national efforts to solve the toughest urban problems. But the evidence suggests otherwise. Cities are actively devising innovative policy solutions and they have the potential to do even more. In this volume, the authors examine current threats to communities across the U.S. and the globe. They draw on first-hand experience with, and accounts of, the crises already precipitated by climate change, population shifts, and economic inequality. This volume is distinguished, however, by its central objective of traveling beyond a description of problems and a discussion of their serious implications. Each of the thirteen chapters frame specific recommendations and guidance on the range of core capacities and interventions that 21st Century cities would be prudent to consider in mapping their immediate and future responses to these critical problems. How Cities Will Save the World brings together authors with frontline experience in the fields of city redevelopment, urban infrastructure, healthcare, planning, immigration, historic preservation, and local government administration. They not only offer their ground level view of threats caused by climate change, population shifts, and economic inequality, but they provide solution-driven narratives identifying promising innovations to help cities tackle this century's greatest adversities.

Do anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions affect human rights? Should fundamental rights constrain climate policies? Scientific evidence demonstrates that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions contribute to increasing atmospheric temperatures, soon passing the compromising threshold of 2 Degrees C. Consequences such as Typhoon Haiyan prove that climate alteration has the potential to significantly impair basic human needs. Although the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and human rights regulatory regimes have so far proceeded separately, awareness is arising about their reciprocal implications. Based on tripartite fundamental obligations, this volume explores the relationship between climate change and interdependent human rights, through the lens of an international and comparative perspective. Along the lines of the metaphor of the 'wall', the research ultimately investigates the possibility of overcoming the divide between universal rights and climate change, and underlying barriers. This book aims to be a useful resource not only for practitioners, policymakers, academics, and students in international, comparative, environmental law and politics and human rights, but also for the wider public.

This volume advances the claim that the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) adopted in 2001 is the only existing international agreement with the potential to promote food security, conservation of biodiversity and equity. However, for germplasm-rich countries, national interests come into conflict with the global interest. This work shows that the pursuit of national interests is counterproductive when it comes to maintaining genetic resources, food-security and rent-seeking and that optimally, the coverage of the FAO Treaty should be widened to apply to all crops.

This volume provides a reference textbook and comprehensive compilation of multifaceted perspectives on the legal issues arising from the conservation and exploitation of non-human biological resources. Contributors include leading academics, policy-makers and practitioners reviewing a range of socio-legal issues concerning the relationships between humankind and the natural world. The Routledge Handbook of Biodiversity and the Law includes chapters on fundamental and cutting-edge issues, including discussion of major legal instruments such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol. The book is divided into six distinct parts based around the major objectives which have emerged from legal frameworks concerned with protecting biodiversity. Following introductory chapters, Part II examines issues relating to conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, with Part III focusing on access and benefit-sharing. Part IV discusses legal issues associated with the protection of traditional knowledge, cultural heritage and indigenous human rights. Parts V and VI focus on a selection of intellectual property issues connected to the commercial exploitation of biological resources, and analyse ethical issues, including viewpoints from economic, ethnobotanical, pharmaceutical and other scientific industry perspectives.

Regulatory Management: A Guide to Conducting Environmental Affairs and Minimizing Liability emphasizes the importance of establishing a proactive approach to permit negotiation and compliance. This book is an important guide to conducting environmental affairs and minimizing liability. This book is a "must have" book for anyone responsible for regulatory compliance/management - private industry, environmental consultants, university officials, environmental engineers, environmental attorneys.Public and political concern about the environment has grown at a phenomenal rate over the last several years. Not since the early 1970s has there been such emphasis on reducing pollution. Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency have responded by enacting tough new legislation and increasing enforcement activities. Industry, utilities, and other entities that continue to discharge must invest millions of dollars in advanced waste treatment or face heavy fines or liability.In 10 detailed chapters, the author explains how to establish cooperative partnerships with politicians and regulators, create solution-oriented strategies using legal and technical permit insights, allocate resources to provide maximum environmental protection at minimum cost, reduce accidents and errors through training programs and procedure documentation, and influence the regulatory process to win practical and achievable permit limits. The book also shows you how to increase public credibility and manage the media, track treatment operations to provide a strong defense in the event of litigation, and keep up with new regulations and new technologies. The book is designed to help its readers set into motion the processes that will develop real solutions to environmental/regulatory challenges and will assist in developing an active and proactive management style that focuses on results as it minimizes liability.

This volume presents a critical analysis of transatlantic relations in the field of environmental governance and climate change. The work focuses on understanding the possible trends in the evolution of global environmental governance and the prospects for breaking the current impasse on climate action. Drawing on research involving experts from eleven different universities and institutes, the authors provide innovative analyses on policy measures taken by the EU and the US, the world's largest economic and commercial blocs, in a number of fields, ranging from general attitudes on environmental leadership with regard to climate change, to energy policies, new technologies for hydrocarbons extraction and carbon capture, as well as the effects of extreme weather events on climate-related political attitudes. The book examines the way in which the current attitudes of the EU and the US with regard to climate change will affect international cooperation and the building of consensus on possible climate policies, and looks to the future for international environmental governance, arguably one of the most pressing concerns of civilisation today. This book, which is based on research carried out in the context of the EU-financed FP7 research project TRANSWORLD, will appeal to academics, policy makers and practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of the challenges resulting from climate change.

This volume reviews the goals, operation, and history of American antidumping laws coupled with a strategy for using those laws to promote U.S. trade policy and economic objectives in the post-Uruguay Round GATT talks.

Timely and accessible, this is the only available comprehensive review of the goals, operation, and history of the U.S. antidumping laws coupled with a strategy for using those laws to promote U.S. trade policy and economic objectives in the post-Uruguay Round World.

Mastel, a former congressional adviser to U.S. trade negotiators, brings a unique expertise to the subject, having been involved in the creation and the analysis of the laws. He brings fact to bear on the sometimes heated debate over the merits of antidumping laws and the impact of the Uruguay Round upon U.S. antidumping laws.

Thoroughly documented, the book features charts and international case studies (including the steel, electronics, ball beatings, cement, and agricultural products industries) the at resent the historical and economic record of U.S. antidumping laws. In addition, the complete text of the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 is conveniently reproduced in the appendix.

This text provides an analysis of the debate over new forms of environmental regulation in the European Union. The contributors explore the conceptual implications of shifting from a traditional regulatory strategy to one which incorporates new instruments and reveal how key actors including governments, industry groups and environmental NGOs view the desirability and feasibility of such a shift. The conclusions draw attention to critical aspects of instrument design, as well as the difficulty of accommodating national policy diversity without contravening EU and international trade rules. Drawing on critical research and practical experience, this book presents a number of recommendations for improving the next generation of environmental policies and explores comparisons between the search for new environmental instruments in the EU and similar regulatory transitions worldwide.

The adoption of administrative procedures in global governance has the potential to foster proper consideration of marginalized actors' interests, yet risks entrenching the dominance of the well-resourced and powerful. Accordingly, this book proposes a new framework for evaluating the extent to which administrative procedures in the compliance systems of multilateral environmental agreements constrain power and promote regard for the interests of affected states, which are frequently developing and transition countries. This framework is applied to the compliance systems under the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol and CITES, which address critical global environmental issues of ozone-layer depletion, climate change and trade in endangered species, respectively. The analysis shows that, under certain conditions, administrative procedures limit the influence of states' asymmetric power on compliance deliberations. Furthermore, systematic adoption of these procedures increases the opportunities for affected states' interests to be voiced and considered in compliance decision-making processes.

Examining international water allocation policies in different parts of the world, this book suggests that they can be used as a platform to induce cooperation over larger political issues, ultimately settling conflicts. The main premise is that water can and should be used as a catalyst for peace and cooperation rather than conflict. Evidence is provided to support this claim through detailed case studies from the Middle East and the Lesotho Highlands in Africa. These international cases - including bilateral water treaties and their development and formation process and aftermath - are analyzed to draw conclusions about the outcomes as well as the processes by which these outcomes are achieved. It is demonstrated that the perception of a particular treaty as being equitable and fair is mainly shaped by the negotiation process used to reach certain outcomes, rather than being determined mechanistically by the quantitative allocation of water to each party. The processes and perceptions leading to international water conflict resolutions are emphasized as key issues in advancing cooperation and robust implementation of international water treaties. The key messages of the book are therefore relevant to the geo-political and hydro-political aspects of water resources in the context of bilateral and multilateral conflicts, and the trans-boundary management of water resources, which contributes insights to political ecology, geo-politics, and environmental policy.

Geoengineering provides new possibilities for humans to deal with dangerous climate change and its effects but at the same time creates new risks to the planet. This book responds to the challenges geoengineering poses to International Law by identifying and developing the rules and principles that are aimed at controlling the risks to the environment and human health arising from geoengineering activities, without neglecting the contribution that geoengineering could make in preventing dangerous climate change and its impacts. It argues first that the employment of geoengineering should not cause significant environmental harm to the areas beyond the jurisdiction of the state of origin or the global commons, and the risk of causing such harm should be minimized or controlled. Second, the potential of geoengineering in contributing to preventing dangerous climate change should not be downplayed.

The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just, sustainable and peaceful global society, with ecological integrity as a major theme. This book provides a series of analyses of ecological integrity as it relates to the Earth Charter, social movements and international law for human rights. It is shown how the Earth Charter project began as a United Nations initiative, but it was carried forward and completed by a global civil society initiative. The drafting of the Earth Charter involved the most inclusive and participatory process of its time ever associated with the creation of an international declaration. This process is the primary source of its legitimacy as a guiding ethical framework. The Earth Charter was finalized and then launched in 2000 and its legitimacy has been further enhanced by its endorsement by over 6,500 organizations, including many governments and international organizations. In the light of this legitimacy, an increasing number of international lawyers recognize that the Earth Charter is acquiring the status of a soft law document. The book also shows the strong connection between ecological integrity and social justice, particularly in the defence of indigenous people, and includes contributions from both the North and the global South, specifically from Central and South America.

Demonstrating the shortcomings of current policy and legal approaches to access and benefit-sharing (ABS) in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), this book recognizes that genetic resources are widely distributed across countries and that bilateral contracts undermine fairness and equity. The book offers a practical and feasible regulatory alternative to ensure the goal of fairness and equity is effectively and efficiently met. Through a legal analysis that also incorporates historic, economic and sociological perspectives, the book argues that genetic resources are not tangible resources but information. It shows that the existing preference for bilateralism and contracts reflects resistance on the part of many of the stakeholders involved in the CBD process to recognize them as such. ABS issues respond very well to the economics of information, yet as the author explains, these have been either sidelined or overlooked. At a time when the Nagoya Protocol on ABS has renewed interest in feasible policy options, the author provides a constructive and provocative critique. The institutional, policy and regulatory framework constitute "bounded openness" under which fairness and equity emerge.

The consequences of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species in non-native ecosystems is an area of growing interest for international policymakers and regulators. Globalisation has increased the rate and magnitude of biological invasions, resulting in huge environmental, economic and social costs. Until recently, the effectiveness of international efforts to provide a coordinated response to the threat of alien invasions have been limited. This book considers the existing Multilateral Environmental Agreements and looks at the potential role of regional environmental governance, particularly in consideration of the adoption of the European Parliament and Council regulation 1143/2014 on the management and control of invasive species, to provide an effective response to this global threat.

Access to genetic resources and Benefit Sharing (ABS) has been promoted under the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the aim of combining biodiversity conservation goals with economic development. However, as this book shows, since its inception in 1992, implementation has encountered multiple challenges and obstacles. This is particularly so in the marine environment, where interest in genetic resources for pharmaceuticals and nutrients has increased. This is partly because of the lack of clarity of terminology, but also because of the terms of the comprehensive law of the sea (UNCLOS) and transboundary issues of delineating ownership of marine resources. The author explains and compares relevant provisions and concepts under ABS and the law of the sea taking access, benefit sharing, monitoring, compliance, and dispute settlement into consideration. He also provides an overview of the implementation status of ABS-relevant measures in user states and identifies successful ABS transactions. A key unique feature of the book is to illustrate how biological databases can serve as the central scientific infrastructure to implement the global multilateral benefit sharing mechanism, proposed by the Nagoya Protocol. The research for this book was supported by both the Bremen International Graduate School for Marine Sciences (GLOMAR) and the International Research Training Group INTERCOAST - Integrated Coastal Zone and Shelf-Sea Research.

At the UN General Assembly in 1997, an overwhelming majority of States voted for the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses - a global overarching framework governing the rights and duties of States sharing freshwater systems. Globally, there are 263 internationally shared watersheds, which drain the territories of 145 countries and represent more than forty percent of the Earth's land surface. Hence, inter-State cooperation towards the sustainable management of transboundary water supplies, in accordance with applicable international legal instruments, is a topic of crucial importance, especially in the context of the current global water crisis. This volume provides an assessment of the role and relevance of the UN Watercourses Convention and describes and evaluates its entry into force as a key component of transboundary water governance. To date, the Convention still requires further contracting States before it can enter into force. The authors describe the drafting and negotiation of the Convention and its relationship to other multilateral environmental agreements. A series of case studies assess the role of the Convention at various levels: regional (European Union, East Africa, West Africa, Central Asia, Central America and South America), river basin (e.g. the Mekong and Congo) and national (e.g. Ethiopia and Mexico). The book concludes by proposing how future implementation might further strengthen international cooperation in the management of water resources, to promote biodiversity conservation as well as sustainable and equitable use.

The low-carbon transition is ongoing everywhere. This Handbook, written by a group of senior and junior scholars from six continents and nineteen countries, explores the legal pathways of decarbonisation in the energy sector. What emerges is a composite picture. There are many roadblocks, but also a lot of legal innovation. The volume distils the legal knowledge which should help move forward the transition. Questions addressed include the differences between the decarbonization strategies of developed and developing countries, the pace of the transition, the management of multi-level governance systems, the pros and cons of different policy instruments, the planning of low-carbon infrastructures, the roles and meanings of energy justice. The Handbook can be drawn upon by legal scholars to compare decarbonisation pathways in several jurisdictions. Non-legal scholars can find information to be included in transition theories and decarbonization scenarios. Policymakers can discover contextual factors that should be taken into account when deciding how to support the transition.

The environmental health professional is subject to scrutiny, particularly in the area of the law. Environmental Health Officers must have a fundamental understanding of the law and how it is implemented. This volume aims to assist the environmental health professional in understanding the operation of English law and navigating through some of its complexities. It covers those aspects of the work which are regulated by legal principles but not found in a single statute. This book is not an exposition of all Environmental Health law; it is designed to indicate how that law may be applied, emphasizing those skills and attributes which are essential if the theory of law is to be put into professional practice.

This edited volume presents a comprehensive and comparative view of the law of international watercourses with special reference to the issues facing the Ganges River basin. It provides an analysis of the development of international waterways law and outlines the essentials of the UN Convention on non-navigational uses of international watercourses. Focusing on relations between the three riparian states of the River Ganges and the potential for cooperation, the volume also examines the domestic legal regimes of the area and the political dimension to the issues of sharing the waters of the river. The work presents a comparative picture with an analysis of developments in the Rhine and Mekong basins, comparing developments in the legal regimes of these areas with the experience of South Asia. Presenting an up-to-date analysis of the current law and pointing the direction for future developments, this collection will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policy makers working in this area.

Does participatory governance benefit the environment? The European Water Framework Directive (WFD), which came into force in 2000 with the aim of revolutionizing European water governance, mandates participatory river basin management planning across the European Union. The belief of European policymakers and the European Commission is that participation will deliver better policy outputs and implementation. This book examines a range of approaches to participatory river basin management planning, and considers whether and how participation impacted on the environmental standard of planning documents, quality of implementation, and social outcomes. It draws on evidence from WFD implementation in eight case studies from Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom on the basis of a matched comparative case study design. The Directive sets common timeframes and procedural requirements, which provides a perfect test-bed and unique opportunity to study the effects of participation on implementation and outcomes in comparative perspective.