This book provides valuable insights into various contemporary issues in public and private maritime law, including interdisciplinary aspects. The public law topics addressed include public international law and law of the sea, while a variety of private law topics are explored, e.g. commercial maritime law, conflict of laws, and new developments in the application of advanced technologies to maritime law issues. In addition, the book highlights current and topical discussions at international maritime forums such as the International Maritime Organization on regulatory and private law matters within the domain of marine environmental law, the law respecting seafarers' affairs and maritime pedagogics, maritime security, comparative law in the maritime field, trade law, recent case law analysis, taxation law in the maritime context, maritime arbitration, carriage of passengers, port law, and limitation of liability.

Challenging views prevalent among Western and Polish scholars, this book explains Poland's surprising success in developing effective environmental and occupational regulatory systems while achieving remarkable socioeconomic growth, despite the toxic legacy of the Communist era. It offers rich insights into the questions of how one can achieve both economic growth and improved environmental and safety protection, and of the extent to which regulatory systems can be transferred across national and cultural boundaries. The authors develop a theoretical framework for assessing regulatory success, then use it to analyze Poland's recent experience. Grounded in five case studies of recently privatized firms, the analysis also presents a new survey of privately owned firms, extensive policy and data analysis, and interviews with key policy leaders, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals. The book points to case-specific decision making and information richness as key dimensions of an effective regulatory system and considers in depth the extent to which information richness is culturally dependent, and hence its portability as a policy tool. Addressing regulatory issues that are specific to both the United States and the international development community, the book makes a significant contribution to advancing the theoretical and conceptual frameworks used to explain the success, or lack of success, of regulatory systems.

This volume discusses a number of questions arising in connection with the relationship between European law and national environmental law, such as the legal basis of European environmental law, its transposition and implementation in the national legal orders, the relationship between environmental law and the internal market. The final chapter surveys the most important EC legislation on the environment.

This book examines the current status of environmental human rights at the international, regional, and national levels and provides a critical analysis of possible future developments in this area, particularly in the context of a changing climate. It examines various conceptualisations of environmental human rights, including procedural rights relating to the environment, constitutional environmental rights, the environmental dimensions of existing human rights such as the rights to water, health, food, housing and life, and the notion of a stand-alone human right to a healthy environment. The book addresses the topic from a variety of perspectives, drawing on underlying theories of human rights as well as a range of legal, political, and pragmatic considerations. It examines the scope of current human rights, particularly those enshrined in international and regional human rights law, to explore their application and enforceability in relation to environmental problems, identifying potential barriers to more effective implementation. It also analyses the rationale for constitutional recognition of environmental rights and considers the impact that this area of law has had, both in terms of achieving stronger environmental protection and environmental justice, as well as in influencing the development of human rights law more generally. The book identifies climate change as the key environmental challenge facing the global community, as well as a major cause of negative human rights impacts. It examines the contribution that environmental human rights might make to rights-based approaches to climate change.

The book provides an introduction to shipping in all its aspects. It is a valuable source of information for students of traditional maritime law as well as for those who seek to understand maritime and shipping services on a global scale. The text includes information and analytical content on national and international practices in shipping, including the age-old dichotomy between freedom in international shipping and the persistent demands of states to control specific maritime areas, as well as the tension between, on the one hand, the desire on the part of sovereign states to regulate and protect their shipping interests and, on the other, the abiding concern and unquestioned right of the international community to regulate the global shipping industry effectively, in order to ensure maritime safety, protection of the environment and fair competition.

This reference work presents an analysis of the European legislative framework governing waste management and disposal. Waste legislation in the European Union member states derives in large measure directly from European Community directives and regulations. A thorough understanding of the applicable European law is therefore essential for all those involved in waste management and their legal advisers. The author provides a systematic description and analysis of the framework Directive on waste, general laws relating to civil liability, regulations of specific waste management operations (transboundary movements, transport, incineration, dumping and incineration and dumping at sea) and regulations specific to certain categories of waste (hazardous waste, PCB waste, waste oils, packaging, batteries, TiO2 waste, sewage sludge, animal waste and radioactive waste). It further considers the institutional framework and categories of legal measures that have shaped waste legislation, the basic legal principles arising from the Treaties and the political guidelines which lie at the basis of all current and planned regulations.

It is widely understood today that nothing is more urgently needed than international agreement on the scale, application, and enforcement of environmental law. This outstanding book - a major contribution to the debate - demonstrates that existing international judicial bodies have already taken giant steps toward overcoming the insufficiency of international law enforcement with standards, compliance mechanisms, and new law development in the field of environmental law. The author not only presents a detailed analysis of a wealth of relevant case law, but also outlines a model suggesting that a commitment to international judicial control can be used to contain deviance within acceptable limits, ensure harmonized interaction among regimes, and clarify the meaning and application of environmental norms. With pervasive attention to the differing demands of inter-State relations and State-individual relations, and of the varieties of 'soft' and 'hard' control, the book considers the ways in which the proposed judicial control could move powerfully toward minimizing damage in such legal environmental areas as the following: ‒ conservation of marine living resources; ‒ obligation not to cause transfrontier pollution harm; ‒ the human rights challenge to state sovereignty; ‒ equitable utilization of international watercourses; ‒ noise; and ‒ nuclear risk. Among the international judicial regimes examined are the GATT/WTO judiciaries, the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights and other regional human rights courts and commissions, decisions of arbitral tribunals, the Montreal Protocol Non-Compliance Procedure, and the Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is no exaggeration to say that the environment has taken centre stage in international affairs, and this book's provocative proposal cuts through the much-lamented ineffectiveness of international law where it matters most. In its clear-headed recommendations of practical ways to resolve ambiguities, confront recurrent non-compliance, and cure the absence and defects of applicable rules, it will be of immeasurable value to policymakers, practitioners and academics concerned with international environmental law.

This book analyses Nicaragua's role in the development of international law, through its participation in cases that have come before the International Court of Justice. Nicaragua has appeared before the ICJ in fourteen cases, either as an applicant, respondent or intervening State, thus setting an important example of committment to the peaceful judicial settlement of disputes. The "Nicaraguan" cases have enabled the ICJ to take positions on and clarify a whole range of important procedural, jurisdictional and substantive legal issues, which have inspired the jurisprudence of international and regional courts and tribunals and influenced the development of international law. The book focuses on reviewing Nicaragua's cases before the ICJ, using a thematic approach to identify their impact on international law. Each chapter includes a discussion of the relevant cases on a particular theme and their impact over time on general as well as specific branches of international law, notably through their use as precedent by other international and regional courts and tribunals.

This collection considers the future of climate innovation after the Paris Agreement. It analyses the debate over intellectual property and climate change in a range of forums - including the climate talks, the World Trade Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, as well as multilateral institutions dealing with food, health, and biodiversity. The book investigates the critical role patent law plays in providing incentives for renewable energy and access to critical inventions for the greater public good, as well as plant breeders' rights and their impact upon food security and climate change. Also considered is how access to genetic resources raises questions about biodiversity and climate change. This collection also explores the significant impact of trademark law in terms of green trademarks, eco labels, and greenwashing. The key role played by copyright law in respect of access to environmental information is also considered. The book also looks at deadlocks in the debate over intellectual property and climate change, and provides theoretical, policy, and practical solutions to overcome such impasses.

This study is written for those who seek effective ways of controlling environmental pollution. Indeed, many developing and East European states look to the experience of the United States and Western Europe. The book does not, however, concentrate on any one system of control or control laws, but succeeds in introducing the exact nature of pollution problems and the variety of ways in which effective control and management have been achieved. Rather than advocate a ready-made system, lessons are drawn for example from the UK, USA, Sweden, Denmark, France, Germany and New Zealand, and instructive legislative samples are reproduced, the place of international obligations being clearly marked out. The wide-ranging comparative approach adopted renders this handbook yet more valuable, based as it is on the premise that a control system is better if it is built on existing institutional and legal structures. It should interest all who advise on environmental matters on a daily basis, particularly senior administrators, policy makers, institutions, legal advisers and researchers.

The book examines how the absence of insurance in the past led to some special maritime liability law principles such as 'general average' (i.e., losses or expenses shared by all the parties to a maritime adventure) and the limitation of shipowners' liability. In the absence of insurance, these principles served the function of insurance mostly for shipowners. As commercial marine insurance is now widely available, these principles have lost their justification and may in fact interfere with the most important goal of liability law i.e., deterrence from negligence. The work thus recommends their abolition. It further argues that when insurance is easily available and affordable to the both parties to a liability claim, the main goal of liability law should be deterrence as opposed to compensation. This is exactly the case with the maritime cargo liability claims where both cargo owners and shipowners are invariably insured. As a result, the sole focus of cargo liability law should be and to a great extent, is deterrence. On the other hand in the vessel-source oil pollution liability setting, pollution victims are not usually insured. Therefore oil pollution liability law has to cater both for compensation and deterrence, the two traditional goals of liability law. The final question the work addresses is whether the deterrent effect of liability law is affected by the availability of liability insurance. Contrary to the popular belief the work attempts to prove that the presence of liability insurance is not necessarily a hindrance but can be a complementary force towards the realization of deterrent goal of liability law.

This book discusses the recently introduced concession policy, which is also known as PPP worldwide, on municipal utilities policy in China. In this context, critics have claimed that there is a gap in accountability with regard to concessions. The author utilizes interdisciplinary methods and comparative studies, taking into account the situation in the EU and US to analyze the accountability gap some feel will be created when the policy is implemented. Taking water sector concessions as the subject of discussion, the author distinguishes between three types of accountability: traditional bureaucratic accountability, legal accountability and public accountability. By systematically analyzing the essential problems involved, the book attempts to achieve a better understanding of concession and its application in the context of public utilities and finds that the alleged accountability gap is attributed to traditional bureaucratic accountability in China and the concession system per se.

This book considers the international law applicable to maritime interception operations (MIO) conducted on the high seas and within the context of international peace and security, MIO being a much-used naval operational activity employed within the entire spectrum of today's conflicts. The book deals with the legal aspects flowing from the boarding and searching of foreign-flagged vessels and the possible arrest of persons and confiscation of goods, and analyses the applicable law with regard to maritime interception operations through the legal bases and legal regimes. Considered are MIO undertaken based on, for instance, the UN Collective Security System (maritime embargo operations), self-defence and (ad-hoc) consent, and within the context of legal regimes various views are provided on the right of visit, the use of force and the use of detention. This volume, which has contemporary naval operations as its central focus and structures the analysis as a sub-discipline of the international law of military operations, will be of great interest both to academics, practitioners and policy advisors working or involved in the field of military and naval operations, and to those professionals wanting to learn more about the international law of military operations, naval operations, and the law of the sea and maritime security. Martin Fink is a naval and legal officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy.

This is an extraordinary book that tackles the requirement, as laid down in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to save our climate for future generations. By approaching this requirement from various angles (international law, human rights, ethics, economics, etc.), Lawrence achieved a unique result: he succeeded in turning a vague aspirational norm into concrete actions that need to be taken by us today.' - Jonathan Verschuuren, Tilburg Sustainability Center and Tilburg Law School, The NetherlandsJustice for Future Generations breaks new ground by discussing what ethical obligations current generations have towards future generations in addressing the threat of climate change and how such obligations should be embodied in international law. Peter Lawrence uses an interdisciplinary approach, involving discourse theory, international relations theory, and philosophical concepts of ethics and justice to inform discussion of international law. Recent political science theories are used to show why the current global climate change treaties are so weak in addressing intergenerational justice concerns. The book draws on contemporary theories of justice to develop a number of principles used to critique the existing global climate change treaties. These principles are also used as a blueprint for suggestions on how to develop a much-needed global treaty on climate change. The approach is pragmatic in that the justice-ethics argument rests on widely shared values. Moreover, the book is informed by the author's extensive experience in the negotiation of global environmental treaties as an Australian diplomat. With its interdisciplinary approach and focus on intergenerational justice, this detailed study will be of particular interest to academics and policymakers in international environmental law and climate law, as well as to those in international law with an interest in ethics and justice issues. Contents: 1. Introduction: The Climate Change Problem and Solutions Part 1: Theory 2. The Basis of an Obligation Towards Future Generations in Justice and Ethics in the Context of Climate Change 3. Content of Justice-based Obligations Towards Future Generations in the Context of Climate Change Part II: International Law and Politics 4. Current International Law, Intergenerational Justice and Climate Change 5. International Human Rights Law, Intergenerational Justice and Climate Change 6. Climate Change Discources and Intergenerational Justice Part III: The Way Forward and Conclusion 7. The Way Forward - Incorporating Intergenerational Justice Principles into International Climate Law 8. Conclusion Bibliography Index

This book is the most updated and comprehensive look at efforts to protect the Amazon, home to half of the world's remaining tropical forests. In the past five years, the Basin's countries have become the cutting edge of environmental enforcement through formation of constitutional protections, military operations, stringent laws, police forces, judicial procedures and societal efforts that together break through barriers that have long restrained decisive action. Even such advances, though, struggle to curb devastation by oil extraction, mining, logging, dams, pollution, and other forms of ecocide. In every country, environmental protection is crippled by politics, bureaucracy, unclear laws, untrained officials, small budgets, regional rivalries, inter-ministerial competition, collusion with criminals, and the global demand for oils and minerals. Countries are better at creating environmental agencies, that is, than making sure that they work. This book explains why, with country studies written by those on the front lines-from national enforcement directors to biologists and activists.

With a Foreword by Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Over the last decades natural and man-made disasters have been increasing in terms of frequency, size, number of people affected and material damage caused. There is growing awareness of the importance of adequate national and international legal frameworks for disaster prevention, mitigation and response. The implementation of these frameworks, however, poses serious challenges. This book analyses International Disaster Response Law as developed in recent times and identifies the main existing normative gaps. The authors address the rights and duties of States in preventing and mitigating disasters, in facilitating access to their territory for humanitarian relief actors, as well as issues related to liability and compensation. Due attention is paid to European Union law governing disaster response (and to its reform in the light of the Lisbon Treaty) and to the main trends in domestic legislation. Human rights obligations are thoroughly examined and the potential relevance of international criminal law is assessed. Additional topics such as the status of relief personnel, the hindrances to the delivery of relief consignments by customs and excise administration, the use of civilian and military defence assets in emergency situations, the mechanisms and procedures available to offer financial support for recovery and rehabilitation, risk insurance, and the issue of corruption during disaster-related activities are specifically addressed. By drawing on the expertise of lawyers, political scientists, economists and humanitarian practitioners, the book promotes much-needed interdisciplinary dialog and sheds light on a largely uncharted field of research. It is therefore essential reading for academics and practitioners in international and EU law, policy makers, civil protection and humanitarian operators and for anyone interested in exploring the legal facets of the international community's response to large-scale calamitous events. Over the last decades natural and man-made disasters have been increasing in terms of frequency, size, number of people affected and material damage caused. There is growing awareness of the importance of adequate national and international legal frameworks for disaster prevention, mitigation and response. The implementation of these frameworks, however, poses serious challenges.This book analyses International Disaster Response Law as developed in recent times and identifies the main existing normative gaps. The authors address the rights and duties of States in preventing and mitigating disasters, in facilitating access to their territory for humanitarian relief actors, as well as issues related to liability and compensation. Due attention is paid to European Union law governing disaster response (and to its reform in the light of the Lisbon Treaty) and to the main trends in domestic legislation. Human rights obligations are thoroughly examined and the potential relevance of international criminal law is assessed. Additional topics such as the status of relief personnel, the hindrances to the delivery of relief consignments by customs and excise administration, the use of civilian and military defence assets in emergency situations, the mechanisms and procedures available to offer financial support for recovery and rehabilitation, risk insurance, and the issue of corruption during disaster-related activities are specifically addressed. By drawing on the expertise of lawyers, political scientists, economists and humanitarian practitioners, the book promotes much-needed interdisciplinary dialog and sheds light on a largely uncharted field of research. It is therefore essential reading for academics and practitioners in international and EU law, policy makers, civil protection and humanitarian operators and for anyone interested in exploring the legal facets of the international community's response to large-scale calamitous events.

Authorities in the fields of environmental and international law and policy, political science, environmental technology, and public administration compare and contrast the ways in which the United States and the European Union handle similar environmental issues. The contributors critically analyze the influence of culture and history on the way apparently "similar" developed democracies handle the same problems; they examine the center-state relationship as it applies to EU member countries in contrast to states within the United States; they look at the challenge of transboundary, international, and global environmental problems, and how these relate to the still-emerging geopolitical reconfigurations involved in such structures as NAFTA and the EU; and they examine how transnational resources are handled in the North American and EU contexts. Randall Baker has assembled leading experts who examine significant issues for policymakers and environmentalists in North America and Western Europe.

This book argues for a reframing of environmental law. It starts from the premise that all environmental issues confront lawmakers as emergencies. Environmental issues pose a fundamental challenge to law because it is impossible to reliably predict which issues contain the possibility of an emergency and what to do in response to such an unforeseen event. These features undermine the conventional understanding of the rule of law. This book argues that approaching environmental issues from the emergency perspective leads us to an understanding of the rule of law that requires public justification. This requirement recentres the debates in environmental law around the question of why governance under the rule of law is something worth having in the environmental context. It elaborates what the rule of law requires of decision-makers in light of our ever-present vulnerability to catastrophic environmental harm. Controversial, compelling and above all timely, this book presents an important new perspective on environmental law.

This work presents an analysis and commentary on the 1992 United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, which was opened for signature following the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. This Convention was an international treaty which addressed all aspects of biodiversity, ranging from the conservation of biological diversity and sustainable use of biological resources, to access to biotechnology and the safety of activities related to modified living organisms. The work extends beyond the ambit of the Convention itself to examine the conservation of biodiversity in international law, including measures for the protection of the terrestrial, marine and Antarctic environment and particular features relating to sustainable use of biological resources, ex-situ conservation and plant genetic resources. It further analyzes the controversial issue of intellectual property rights, the problems of implementation in the EU, differences between developing and developed states, and the role of indigenous people. This work was written by members of the Committee on Environmental Law of the British branch of the International Law Association, following an earlier study of International Law and Global Climate Change (Graham & Trotman, 1991).

This book is the outcome of the global consultation on the development and enforcement of international environmental law, with a special focus on the preservation of biological diversity. More than 250 experts on international environmental law and representatives of the global environmental movement collaborated in the drafting of a list of recommendations and conclusions. This list was then communicated to the delegates at the Third Preparatory Committee meeting for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

Environmental conflicts over sustainability, environmental impact assessment (EIA), biodiversity, biotechnology and risk, chemicals and public health, are not necessarily legalistic problems but land use problems. Edward Christie shows how solutions for these conflicts can be found via consensual agreement using an approach that integrates law, science and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and reframes the role of law and science. This book assesses the key unifying principles of environmental and administrative law in Australia, the UK/EU and USA, together with accepted scientific concepts for environmental management and protection. By doing so it provides a cross-disciplinary approach to collaborative problem-solving and decision-making, using ADR processes to resolve environmental conflicts, and will be valuable to environmental professionals. The book also promotes the use of Indigenous traditional knowledge for resolving conflicts over sustainability, biodiversity and the EIA process. The book has been written to meet the requirements of any environmental professional - lawyer, scientist, engineer, planner - who directly, or indirectly, may be involved in development or planning conflicts when the environment is an issue. For the lawyer, this book, with its focus on understanding and integrating unifying legal principles and scientific concepts, consolidates opportunities for assessing and resolving environmental conflicts by negotiation. For the environmental professional, the book provides opportunities for managing environmental conflicts. In addition, opportunities are identified for resolving environmental conflicts by negotiation, but in quite specific situations i.e. when the interpretation and application of questions of law are not in issue and only factual (scientific) issues are in dispute. It will of course be of great interest to academics and researchers of environmental studies and environmental law. It will also appeal to the Indigenous community, environmental groups and local communities who are seeking more direct and effective inputs into finding sustainable solutions for environmental conflicts.

In 1996, the International Court of Justice delivered an Advisory Opinion on the legality of the use of nuclear weapons in which the Court stated that "while the existing international law relating to the protection and safeguarding of the environment does not specifically prohibit the use of nuclear weapons it indicates important environmental factors that are properly to be taken into account in the context of the implementation of the principles and rules of the law applicable in armed conflict." The present work analyses this conclusion, focusing on the question whether or not the use of nuclear weapons during international armed conflict would violate existing norms of public international law relating to the protection and safeguarding of the environment. Although the use of weaponry during armed conflict is usually related to the protection of individuals, the rapidly emerging appreciation of, and the worldwide realization of the intrinsic value of, the natural environment as an indispensable asset for the continuation of life, including human life, on this planet, both for present and future generations, warrants a thorough and extensive examination of the question of the (il)legality of the employment of nuclear weapons from the point of view of international environmental protection law. The book consists of two parts. Part I discusses the historical development and the effects of nuclear weapons; Part II discusses the protection of the environment during international armed conflict under ius in bello, ius ad bellum and ius pacis. Only then is it possible to assess the legality of the use of nuclear weapons under this particular set of rules.

This text is a comprehensive, in-depth review and summary of the UN FCCC AIJ pilot. Over 30 prominent players in the UN FCCC AIJ pilot, drawn from 12 countries, prepared the 16 peer-reviewed chapters in this book. Most chapters are extensively illustrated and the book contains a glossary of acronyms and a list of points of contact in the UN FCCC AIJ pilot. To help meet the technical and policy needs associated with the UN FCCC and complementary treaty negotiations, this book has three broad objectives: review, interpret and compile experiences of AIJ pilot participants and observers; based on empirical data and skilled observations, identify and document lessons learned from the AIJ pilot; and interpret, summarize and translate lessons learned for future consideration by FCCC parties. Specific topics covered include: an introduction to the AIJ pilot and the FCCC guidelines/criteria; AIJ project development and finance; the project development community; an overview of energy and land-use and forestry sector projects; sustainable development technology transfer; human and institutional capacity building; legal issues; and project monitoring, verification and reporting.