Greening International Jurisprudence: Environmental NGOs before International Courts, Tribunals, and Compliance Committees examines how international judicial and quasi-judicial bodies enforce international environmental law, with particular consideration to the role of environmental NGOs. Author Cathrin Zengerling analyses the institutional structure as well as the environmental case law from a total of fourteen international courts, arbitral tribunals, and compliance committees with special focus on accessibility, comprehensiveness, and transparency. Underlying this analysis is the fundamental question of whether the respective body appropriately contributes to the realization of democratic governance for sustainable development. After presenting her core findings, the author provides concrete recommendations for future best practices and discusses the need for a new World Environment Court.

The Bialowieza Forest is probably the best known forest in Central and Eastern Europe, owing its fame to not only to its natural value, but also to the disputes which have arisen in recent years concerning approaches to its protection. In this book the authors present the Bialowieza Forest and the principles of its protection, as well as the legal remedies constructively derived from the disputes. The proposed remedies can also be applied appropriately to other priceless shared goods and cross-border properties.

Although all states agree that sustainable development must be provided for at the international level, it is still impossible to foresee which environmental problems are to be dealt with by the community of States rather than by states individually. The all-important debate over the development of specific measures enforceable under international law is just beginning. This book takes a major step in the progress of that debate toward a genuine global commitment to the protection of the earth and of future generations. The essays represent a confluence of expert scholarly opinion on this vital subject in two of the world's most populous and powerful countries. The outcome of a symposium in Beijing in September 1999, organized jointly by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the German Research Association, the book emphasizes the urgent need for international co-ooperation without losing sight of the inevitable restrictions on state sovereignty inherent in solving environmental problems.

The World Bank and Sustainable Development: Legal Essays collects works from the past ten years by David Freestone, former Deputy General Counsel and Senior Adviser at the World Bank. The essays offer a unique perspective founded on the author s years of experience at the World Bank. They cover a wide-range of topics, including the Bank s Sustainable Development and its Climate Change agendas as well as its project based Environmental and Social Safeguard policies, highlighting the evolution of the pioneering role of the Bank s Inspection Panel. Other essays look at the establishment and subsequent evolution of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the design and implementation of the innovative Prototype Carbon Fund now the basis of a $3 billion greenhouse gas reduction portfolio. Updated by current Bank Staff members, together these seven legal essays represent a seminal body of work from a uniquely qualified voice in international environmental law.

The applications and uses of satellite remote sensing have burgeoned during the last decade and the associated legal aspects of satellite remote sensing have become increasingly important, however, the legal regime in this area is surprisingly inadequate. The research undertaken for this book provides, for the first time in one place, an examination of the existing regime and highlights shortcomings with regard to liability, data policy and data integrity before proposing improvements needed for the full beneficial exploitation of remotely sensed data, particularly in support of disaster management and the protection of the environment.

This book explores the means by which economic liberalisation can be reconciled with human rights and environmental protection in the regulation of international trade. It is primarily concerned with identifying the lessons the international community can learn, specifically in the context of the WTO, from decades of European Community and Union experience in facing this question. The book demonstrates first that it is possible to reconcile the pursuit of economic and non-economic interests, that the EU has found a mechanism by which to do so, and that the application of the principle of proportionality is fundamental to the realisation of this. It is argued that the EU approach can be characterised as a practical application of the principle of sustainable development. Secondly, from the analysis of the EU experience, this book identifies fundamental conditions crucial to achieving this 'reconciliation'. Thirdly, the book explores the implications of lessons from the EU experience for the international community. In so doing it assesses both the potential and limits of the existing international regulatory framework for such reconciliation. The book develops a deeper understanding of the inter-relationship between the legal regulation of economic and non-economic development, adding clarity to the debate in a controversial area. It argues that a more holistic approach to the consideration of 'development', encompassing economic and non-economic concerns - 'sustainable' development - is not only desirable in principle but realisable in practice.

This book addresses the use of Benedict Spinoza's philosophy in current attempts to elaborate an ecological basis for international environmental law. Because the question of environmental protection has not been satisfactory resolved, the legal debate concerning our responsibility for the environment has - as evidenced in the recent UN report series Harmony with Nature - come to invite calls for a new eco-centric, rather than anthropocentric, legal paradigm. In this respect, Spinoza appears as a key figure. He is one of the few philosophers in the history of western philosophy who cares, and writes extensively, about the roots of anthropocentrism; the core issue of contemporary normative debates in ecology. And in response to the rapidly developing ecological crisis, his work has become central to a re-thinking of the human relationship with nature. Addressing the contention that Spinoza's ethics might provide a useful source for developing a new, eco-centred framework for environmental law, this book elaborates a more nuanced understanding of Spinoza's philosophy. Spinoza cannot, it is argued here, simply be reduced to an eco-ethicist. That is: his metaphysics cannot be used as basis of an essentially naturalised or extended human morality. At the same time, however, this book argues that the radicality of Spinoza's naturalism nevertheless offers the possibility of developing a more adequate ecological basis for environmental law.

Blending scientific and legal expertise, Kunich proves that a devastating ecological crisis is imminent or even underway already, and that conservation law has yet to catch up with biological science. He challenges readers with a hotspots wager, arguing that he have vastly more to gain than lose by legally protecting biological hotspots, and that foregoing them in favor of the relatively minor and immediate returns arising from their devastation is both foolish and, ultimately, dangerous.

Legal thought lags behind modern science in focusing on and setting priorities for global conservation. An extinction spasm is imminent, many scientists argue, due to the ongoing global devastation of biological hotspots, home to a disproportionate share of all life forms, including perhaps millions of unknown species. These hotspots have already lost 88 percent of their primary vegetation and are likely to lose much more, yet few legal measures exist to protect them. Environmental legal protections are often incomprehensive and feebly enforced. Even worse, 62 percent of all hotspots are unprotected. Kunich provides a brief history and science of extinction. He discusses the importance of saving species from extinction and analyzes the legal measures directed toward preserving biodiversity in nations that harbor hotspots.

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.

The ozone layer is threatened by chemical emissions, the climate is endangered from fossil fuels and deforestation, and global biodiversity is being lost by reason of thousands of years of habitat conversions. Global environmental problems arise out of the accumulated impacts from many years' and many countries' economic development. In order to address these problems the states of the world must cooperate to manage their development processes together - this is what international environmental agreements are designed to do. But can the world's countries cooperate successfully to manage global development? How should they manage it? Who should pay for the process, as well as for the underlying problems? This book presents an examination of both the problems and the processes underlying international environmental lawmaking: the recognition of international interdependence, the negotiation of international agreements and the evolution of international resource management. It examines the general problem of global resource management by means of general principles and case studies and by looking at how and why specific negotiations and agreements have failed to achieve their targets. The book, commissioned by UNCTAD to assist policymakers, especially in developing countries. It will also be of interest to practitioners in the areas of environmental economics and law and to scholars studying global environmental policy making and institution building.

A healthy water sector has been identified as a crucial contributing factor in reaching and maintaining a healthy society, from an environmental, human health and economic perspective. However, freshwater resources are under increasing pressure and climate change is expected to have a substantial impact on the hydrological cycle and freshwater resources. Considering the fact that the territories of 145 States worldwide, and 60 per cent of EU territory, run through transboundary lakes and river basins, their good governance is essential in tackling the challenges ahead. To this end, solid inter-regional and international upstream-downstream cooperation mechanisms are necessary.The Law of the River takes a comparative perspective by analysing the relevant legal and policy frameworks in the European Union and the United States, with the goal of providing Critical Success Factors to transboundary river basin management. Each Critical Success Factor has resulted in a specific set of recommendations, both geared toward the level of the EU and the International River Basin Districts.The main focus of this book is on water quantity management, specifically floods, scarcity and droughts. The relevant EU requirements for water quantity management in transboundary waters (International River Basin Districts) and the way these have been implemented in a specific river basin in the EU, the Scheldt, are scrutinized. Moreover, a case study of the river basin mechanism governing the Delaware River in the United States has been conducted with the aim of identifying lessons learned for the EU. The key theme running through the book is based on the social-ecological resilience theory and the water security paradigm.This book proposes an Enhanced Cooperation Model, whereby the notion of "River Basin District Security" is set forth as a comprehensive assessment tool to be used in transboundary river basins.

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.

The monograph analyzes international relations in the Arctic from two perspectives: cooperation and competition. The following question was asked: does rivalry outweigh cooperation in the Arctic or is it the other way round; do the entities manage to gain the benefits of cooperation? The authors pose the hypothesis that States and the Arctic actors should cooperate with each other in the light of the prisoner's dilemma of obtaining tangible benefits, but the more probable, and definitely more possible variant of absence of such a cooperation or breaking the cooperation is rivalry, which in the short-term gives an advantage over other players, but in the long-term causes losses.

Fifty years after the adoption of the Declaration on Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1962, this volume assesses the evolution of the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources into a principle of customary international law as well as related developments. International environmental and human rights law leave unresolved questions regarding the limitations of this principle, e.g. extraterritorial and international influences such as the applicable criminal and tort law, as well as the extraterritorial and international promotion of good governance, including transparency obligations.

Water security threats arising from inadequate access to water for sustaining ecosystems, livelihoods, human well-being and socio-economic development has gained increasing attention over the past decades all over the world, but especially in international river basins shared by two or more states. In the Aral Sea basin, shared by Afghanistan and five post-Soviet republics of Central Asia - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - water security issues are extremely pressing due to heavy reliance on, and competition over, shared waters. Promoting Transboundary Water Security in the Aral Sea Basin through International Law addresses the current gap in the literature by moving beyond the static identification of treaties and norms to examine how these treaties and norms can work for water security in practice. In its thorough and incisive scholarship, the book serves as a contribution toward peaceful and sustainable regulation of transboundary watercourses and their ecosystems in the Aral Sea basin.

The Joint Operating Agreement (JOA) is widely used in the petroleum industry as a contractual framework for joint ventures across different continents and standardsThe first part of this book deals with considerations prior to entering into a JOA, such as compliance with bribery laws; standards, practices and procedures across the petroleum industry; enforceability of JOAs and understanding decommissioning obligations. The second part focusses on key clauses within any JOA covering topics including health and safety considerations; liability and insurance; and control of operations and expenditures.This is a unique publication dedicated to analysing all of these key practical issues faced by oil and gas companies in different parts of the world in negotiating and implementing a JOA in a single book publication.

The book describes and analyses how environmental issues are regulated in several federal, regional and unitary systems and in the European Union. The comparative analysis reveals common trends towards a multi-layered environmental governance, cross-cutting traditional distinctions among different state models. In the second part, the case study of the management and protection of water resources is selected and analysed in the same legal systems. Disaggregating environmental protection into more specific competence fields allows trends and challenges to be tested The book casts light on the relationship between the state models as to the division of powers and environmental governance. It develops theoretical and practical foundations of contemporary, multi-level environmental law and challenges consolidated approaches in federal studies.

The adoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010 is a major landmark for the global governance of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The way in which it will be translated into practice will however depend on the concrete implementation in national country legislation across the world. Implementing the Nagoya Protocol compares existing ABS regimes in ten European countries, including one non-EU member and one EU candidate country, and critically explores several cross-cutting issues related to the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in the EU. Gathering some of the most professional and widely acclaimed experts in ABS issues, this book takes a major step towards filling a gap in the vast body of literature on national and regional implementation of global commitments regarding ABS and traditional knowledge.

Acts perpetrated during the course of warfare have, through the ages, led to significant environmental destruction. These have included situations where the natural environment has intentionally been targeted as a 'victim', or has somehow been manipulated to serve as a 'weapon' of warfare. Until recently, such acts were generally regarded as an unfortunate but unavoidable element of armed conflict, despite their potentially disastrous impacts. The existing international rules have largely been ineffective and inappropriate, and have in practical terms done little to deter deliberate environmental destruction, particularly when measured against perceived military advantages. However, as the significance of the environment has come to be more widely understood and recognised, this is no longer acceptable, particularly given the ongoing development of weapons capable of widespread and significant damage. This book therefore examines the current international legal regime relevant to the intentional destruction of the environment during warfare, and argues that such acts should, in appropriate circumstances, be recognised as an international crime and should be subject to more effective rules giving rise to international criminal responsibility. It also suggests a framework within the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as to how this might be achieved.

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 book seeks to answer the questions: how do the rules of international treaties on trade and investment apply to the new laws and policies relating to energy-related trade, and do the rules of the multilateral system contribute to or detract from sustainable development? An emerging set of new problems in the law of international trade is how to reconcile the rules of the multilateral trading system with shortages of certain natural resources and the necessity to develop renewable energy resources. The chapters in this book provide a comprehensive analysis of the international trade issues presented by national trade laws and policies with regard to natural resources and energy. This book is about the extent to which we are interpreting existing rules to cover emerging problems and how the rules of the multilateral trading system can be adapted to achieve sustainable development in natural resources and energy. The book begins with a survey of selected national laws relating to recent restrictions on the export of natural resources, both resources used to produce energy as well as natural resources essential for industrial production. After examining the range of such laws in selected important countries, we turn to the application of the rules of the multilateral trading system to such export restrictions. We discuss the major rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) as well as the natural resources rules in selected regional preferential free trade agreements. While there is not a comprehensive global legal regime on competition law, we believe it is also important to examine how selected national competition laws impact export restrictions on natural resources. This book will be a major contribution to the international dialogue on international economic law issues with respect to trade in natural resources and energy.

This book focuses on particulate matter emissions produced by vehicles with combustion engines. It describes the physicochemical properties of the particulate matter, the mechanisms of its formation and its environmental impacts (including those on human beings). It discusses methods for measuring particulate mass and number, including the state-of-the-art in Portable Emission Measurement System (PEMS) equipment for measuring the exhaust emissions of both light and heavy-duty vehicles and buses under actual operating conditions. The book presents the authors' latest investigations into the relations between particulate emission (mass and number) and engine operating parameters, as well as their new findings obtained through road tests performed on various types of vehicles, including those using diesel particulate filter regeneration. The book, which addresses the needs of academics and professionals alike, also discusses relevant European regulations on particulate emissions and highlights selected methods aimed at the reduction of particulate emissions from automobiles.

With a considerable influence on national and international legislators, courts, public administrators and private companies, environmental principles ? such as the polluter-pays principle, sustainable development or the precautionary principle ? play an important role in the making, application and the interpretation of environmental law. As a key part of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law, this comprehensive volume provides detailed coverage of all of the important environmental principles and offers unique insights as well as wider reflection on the role played by principles. With 50 structured entries written by leading scholars from around the world the volume discusses the various environmental principles in turn, covering their impact on international cooperation, their varying importance globally, their relevance in the jurisprudence of international and European courts and their growing importance in international business practice. As well as forming an authoritative reference source, Principles of Environmental Law offers new insights into this topic, which has developed strongly over the last 50 years and has become increasingly fundamental for the future of the planet. As well as forming an indispensable guide, this important volume offers both a reflection on the evolution of the legal principles and insight into their practical application. It will prove an essential resource for students, academics, judges, company lawyers, and administrators. Contributors include: A. Aaragao, M. Alberton, S. Atapattu, V. Barral, B. Boer, N. Craik, C. Dalhammar, J. Darpoe, N. de Sadeleer, O. Dubovik, L.-A. Duvic-Paoli, T. Fajardo del Castillo, R. Fowler, M. Fuhr, M. Gestri, G. Handl, M. Hedemann-Robinson, S. Khan, R. Kibugi, S. Kingston, V. Koester, L. Kramer, K. Kulovesi, R. Lefeber, R. Macrory, C.W. Malcomb, G.J. Martin, E. Meidinger, I. Michallet, B. Milligan, M. Montini, E. Morgera, D.M. Ong, E. Orlando, A. Panovic, O. Pedersen, M. Peeters, M. Prieur, A. Proelss, L. Rajamani, C. Redgwell, M. Reese, A. Roehricht, G. Roller, J. Schenten, P. Schwartz, D. Spitzer, T. Stephens, H. Strydom, P. Taylor, E. Tsioumani, J.B. Wiener, G. Winter, Y. Zhao