This book presents an important discussion on future options for sustainable soil management in Africa from various perspectives, including national soil protection regulations, the role of tenure rights, the work of relevant international institutions such as the UNCCD and FAO, and regional and international cooperation. This first volume of the new subseries Regional Perspectives to the International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy includes contributions by African and international experts alike. Given the range of key topics covered, the book offers an indispensable tool for all academics, legislators and policymakers working in this field. The "International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy - Regional Perspectives" series discusses central questions in law and politics that concern the protection and sustainable management of soil and land in different regions of the world.

The Water Quality Act of 1987 ushered in a new era of clean water policy to the US. The Act stands today as the longest-lived example of national water quality policy. It included a then-revolutionary funding model for wastewater infrastructure - the Clean Water State Revolving Fund - which gave states much greater authority to allocate clean water infrastructure resources. Significant differences between states exist in terms of their ability to provide adequate resources for the program, as well as their ability (or willingness) to meet the wishes of Congress to serve environmental needs and communities. This book examines the patterns of state program resource distribution using case studies and analysis of state and national program data. This book is important for researchers from a range of disciplines, including water, environmental and infrastructure policy, federalism/intergovernmental relations, intergovernmental administration, and natural resource management, as well as policy makers and policy advocates.

The book provides a comprehensive overview of the European Sustainability Model which cannot be properly understood without taking into account the global governance trends surrounding the topic. The author offers a fresh analysis of both theory and praxis of sustainable development in the open-ended process of EU integration by shedding new light on the often-overlooked role that law and legal science should have within the educational and cultural domains. The monograph explores the necessity of new conceptual and methodological approaches in order to understand the emerging educational and cultural challenges when it comes to their integration and intersection with sustainability in today's society, which desperately claims systemic transformations.

No one sets out to intentionally cause environmental problems. All things being equal, we are happy to protect environmental resources; in fact, we tend to prefer our air cleaner and our species protected. But despite not wanting to create environmental problems, we all do so regularly in the course of living our everyday lives. Why do we behave in ways that cause environmental harm? It is often easy and inexpensive to behave in ways with bad environmental consequences, but more difficult and costly to take environmentally friendly actions. The incentives we face, some created by the nature of environmental resources, some by social and political structures, often do not make environmentally beneficial behavior the most likely choice. Furthermore, our behavior is conditioned by habits and social norms that fail to take environmental protection into consideration. In this book, Elizabeth R. DeSombre integrates research from political science, sociology, psychology, and economics to understand why bad environmental behavior makes perfect sense. As she notes, there is little evidence that having more information about environmental problems or the way an individual's actions contribute to them changes behavior in meaningful ways, and lack of information is rarely the underlying cause that connects behavior to harm. In some cases such knowledge may even backfire, as people come to see themselves as powerless to address huge global problems and respond by pushing these issues out of their minds. The fact that causing environmental problems is never anyone's primary goal means that people are happy to stop causing them if the alternative behavior still accomplishes their underlying goals. If we can figure out why those problems are caused, when no one intends to cause them, we can develop strategies that work to shift behavior in a positive direction. Over the course of this book, DeSombre considers the role of structure, incentives, information, habit, and norms on behavior in order to formulate lessons about how these factors lead to environmentally problematic behavior, and what understanding their effects can tell us about ways to change behavior. To prevent or address environmental problems, we have to understand why even good people do bad environmental things.

At the time of the 1972 Stockholm UN Conference on the Human Environment, the concept of sustainable development and the subject of international environmental law were virtually unknown. Since then, the importance of the subject has burgeoned, as has the number and complexity of the legal instruments that seek to address the threats posed to the planet by humankind. Deforestation, marine pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity and similar concerns are now familiar - and still unresolved - problems. This research review discusses a selection of key articles on the seminal issues of sustainable development and international environmental law, providing the reader with a solid understanding of the breadth and texture of the legal issues involved.

Climate change is a key problem of the 21st century. China, as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, has committed to stabilize its current emissions and dramatically increase the share of electricity production from non-fossil fuels by 2030. However, this is only a first step: in the longer term, China needs to aggressively strive to reach a goal of zero-emissions. Through detailed discussions of electricity pricing, electric vehicle policies, nuclear energy policies, and renewable energy policies, this book reviews how near-term climate and energy policies can affect long-term decarbonization pathways beyond 2030, building the foundations for decarbonization in advance of its realization. Focusing primarily on the electricity sector in China - the main battleground for decarbonization over the next century - it provides a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers, as well as energy and climate experts.

Coastal States exercise sovereignty and sovereign rights in maritime zones, measured from their coasts. The limits to these maritime zones are bound to recede as sea levels rise and coastlines are eroded. Furthermore, ocean acidification and ocean warming are increasingly threatening coastal ecosystems, which States are obligated to protect and manage sustainably. These changes, accelerating as the planet heats, prompt an urgent need to clarify and update the international law of maritime zones. This book explains how bilateral maritime boundaries are established, and how coastal instability and vulnerable ecosystems can affect the delimitation process through bilateral negotiations or judicial settlement. Arnadottir engages with core concepts within public international law to address emerging issues, such as diminishing territory and changing boundaries. She proposes viable ways of addressing future challenges and sets out how fundamental changes to the marine environment can justify termination or revision of settled maritime boundaries and related agreements.

This book critically engages the shortcomings of the field of international heritage law, seen through the lenses of the five major UNESCO treaties for the safeguarding of different types of heritage. It argues that these five treaties have effectively prevented local communities, who bear the brunt of the costs associated with international heritage protection, from having a say in how their heritage is managed. The exclusion of local communities often alienates them not only from international decision-making processes but also from their cultural heritage itself, ultimately meaning that systems put in place for the protection of cultural heritage contribute to its disappearance in the long term. International Heritage Law for Communities adds to existing literature by looking at these UNESCO treaties not as isolated regimes, but rather as belonging to a discursive continuum on cultural heritage. In doing so, the book focuses on themes that cut across the relevant UNESCO regimes like the use of expert rule in international heritage law, economics, the relationship between heritage and the environment, among others, rather than the regimes themselves. It uses this mechanism to highlight the blind spots and unintended consequences of UNESCO treaties and how choices made in their drafting have continuing and potentially negative impacts on how we think about and safeguard heritage.

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.

This is the first book that critically examines the reform of the Appellate Body (AB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in light of the current crisis resulting from the U.S. blocking of the appointment of its members. The reform of the AB is critical, as the appointment crisis could lead to the demise of "the jewel in the crown," which may even cause the dismantling of the WTO as a whole. This book covers various aspects of the crisis and its reform. Specifically, as the crisis cannot be fully understood without reviewing the role of the AB from the broader perspectives of the other functions of the WTO, the book examines the reform of the AB from the broader perspectives of the WTO governance. Additional focus is on the reform of the AB in relation to its specific functions. Available options are provided to address the AB crisis, as well as discussion of wider implications beyond the WTO. Contributed by world-renowned academics, experts, and practitioners in the field of international economic law, this volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the AB crisis and its solutions.

A global water crisis with far-reaching and interconnected environmental, social, health and economic impacts threatens the world. Healthy ecosystems and ecosystem services are degrading, and access to a sustainable water supply is increasingly inequitable both within and between States. This book demonstrates how to overcome the global freshwater ecosystem crisis by matching the scientific recommendations with an international legal framework fit for the task, which re-orientates international water law towards a stronger ecosystem approach that also protects vulnerable societies. It illustrates how to understand the fragmented legally binding and non-binding instruments of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe environmental treaties as one coherent legal regime, which contributes to strengthening general rules and principles of the law concerning transboundary freshwater ecosystems. With the recent global opening of the UNECE regime, this book explores its potential role within the European region, Central Asia, Caucasus, Africa, the Middle East and beyond.

This book provides a broad understanding of whether law plays a role in influencing patterns of sustainable consumption and, if so, how. Bringing together legal scholars from the Global South and the Global North, it examines these questions in the context of national, transnational and international law, within single and plural legal systems, and across a range of sector-specific issue areas. The chapters identify how traditional legal disciplines (e.g. constitutional law, consumer law, public procurement, international public law), sector-related regulation (e.g. energy, water, waste), and legal rules in specific areas (e.g. eco-labelling and packing) engage with the concept of sustainable consumption. A number of the contributions describe this relationship by isolating a national legal system, while others approach it from the vantage point of legal pluralism, exploring the conflicts and convergences of rules between multiple international treaties (or guidelines) and those between the rules of international and transnational law (or both) vis-a-vis national legal systems. While sustainable consumption is recognised as an important field of interdisciplinary research linking virtually all social science disciplines, legal scholarship, in contrast, has neglected the importance of the field of sustainable consumption to the law. This book fills the gap.

Pervasive environmental harm that disproportionately impacts vulnerable members of society is left largely unregulated across the globe despite existing legal commitments to human rights and environmental protection in many states. To address this shortcoming, Stefan Theil proposes a new normative framework for environmental protection through human rights law. In clear and accessible prose, he demonstrates how such a human rights-based approach can strengthen environmental protection without requiring radical departures from established protection regimes and legal principles. The environmental minimum developed in the book translates the general and abstract commitments of states into specific and practical measures that protect the environment. The framework develops the doctrine of international, regional, and domestic courts, analysed through an innovative approach that improves contextual awareness. This book is thus a valuable resource for lawyers, social scientists, political theorists, environmental and human rights advocates.

This book analyses a selection of challenges in the implementation and application of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), focusing on several areas: international organizations, fisheries, security, preserving marine biodiversity, dispute settlement, and interaction with other areas of international law. UNCLOS has been described as the Constitution for the Oceans. It sets out the fundamental rights, obligations and jurisdictions of States regarding the access to, uses and management of the oceans and seas and their resources. It balances States' diverse and sometimes conflicting interests, such as conflicting uses of space, against navigational interests and the protection of the marine environment. UNCLOS is the first global treaty to include comprehensive obligations on the protection and preservation of the marine environment, including the conservation of living marine resources. These are often common or cross-border challenges, which can only be addressed through international cooperation. The book is divided into three thematic parts. The first concerns the role of international organizations in ocean governance. It includes twelve chapters covering a very diverse set of issues, both materially and geographically, that demonstrate the importance of coordinated actions on the part of multiple States for obtaining harmonized solutions regarding the pursuit of activities in maritime spaces (in connection with e.g. navigation, fisheries or maritime security). The second part concerns the relevance of dispute settlement mechanisms for understanding the international law of the sea and the international legal framework within which the actions of the great maritime powers take place. It is composed of three chapters, examining stakeholders' role in dispute settlement, the position taken by China and the Russian Federation regarding international litigation in maritime spaces, and how the South China Sea Award may be relevant to the debate on the international legal concepts of rock and island. In turn, the third part addresses current discussions on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction. Its seven chapters report on the status quo of the ongoing negotiations for a new international legal regime of the high seas, and the establishment and operationalization of environmental regimes for international maritime spaces.

The modern era is facing unprecedented governance challenges in striving to achieve long-term sustainability goals and to limit human impacts on the Earth system. This volume synthesizes a decade of multidisciplinary research into how diverse actors exercise authority in environmental decision making, and their capacity to deliver effective, legitimate and equitable Earth system governance. Actors from the global to the local level are considered, including governments, international organizations and corporations. Chapters cover how state and non-state actors engage with decision-making processes, the relationship between agency and structure, and the variations in governance and agency across different spheres and tiers of society. Providing an overview of the major questions, issues and debates, as well as the theories and methods used in studies of agency in earth system governance, this book provides a valuable resource for graduate students and researchers, as well as practitioners and policy makers working in environmental governance. This is one of a series of publications associated with the Earth System Governance Project. For more publications, see www.cambridge.org/earth-system-governance.

Against the backdrop of energy markets that have radically changed in recent decades, this book offers an in-depth study of energy regulation in international trade law. The author seeks to clarify what we define as 'energy' in the context of the applicable international trade rules, and gives the reader a thorough analysis of the concepts, history and law of the various legal frameworks underpinning international energy trade. In addition, several case studies address the ongoing quest for energy security and show how the existing rules relate to some of the vast challenges that energy markets face today, notably the decentralisation and decarbonisation of energy markets.

What role could or should the law play in dealing with the climate emergency? In this innovative volume, leading scholars explore fundamental debates at the frontier of climate change law scholarship. They address the key areas of scholarly disagreement about what climate change law is, the legal rules it consists of, and how these rules could be implemented in the real world. The first eleven topics are debated by teams of scholars expressing diametrically opposite points of view on each topic, in traditional debating style; the last seven chapters are presented as an individual author's own reflection on a topic that cannot readily be reduced to a binary debate. Each chapter is written in an accessible and thought-provoking way, emphasizing clear lines of argumentation. The debating-style format is designed to stimulate students to think critically and logically about the law and to fire up debate in and out of class.

In Reconsidering REDD+: Authority, Power and Law in the Green Economy, Julia Dehm provides a critical analysis of how the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) scheme operates to reorganise social relations and to establish new forms of global authority over forests in the Global South, in ways that benefit the interests of some actors while further marginalising others. In accessible prose that draws on interdisciplinary insights, Dehm demonstrates how, through the creation of new legal relations, including property rights and contractual obligations, new forms of transnational authority over forested areas in the Global South are being constituted. This important work should be read by anyone interested in a critical analysis of international climate law and policy that offers insights into questions of political economy, power, and unequal authority.

The role of law in responding to global environmental problems and the interplay between different levels of regulation and governance is becoming increasingly relevant in the field of liability and reparation for environmental damage. This book examines the relationship and reciprocal influences between the EU and the international legal order in a multilevel and comparative perspective, in relation to the ongoing efforts to elaborate effective regimes of liability and reparation for environmental damage. It offers a comparative analysis of legal developments in the field of environmental liability within the EU and at the international law level and addresses questions concerning the impact of such interaction on the development, implementation and enforcement of appropriate responses to environmental damage within the respective legal orders and on a global level. Given the book’s focus and the transnational legal dimension of the issues covered, this volume will be of great interest to legal academics and researchers working in the environmental law field from an EU law and international law perspective, as well as more generally to scholars interested in the study of the relationship between EU and international law. Outside academia, the book will also be of great interest to practitioners wishing to get insights into the application of the law of environmental liability in the EU and at the international law level.

In the history of how the law has dealt with environmental issues over the last century or so, the 1920s and 30s and the key role of the League of Nations in particular remain underexplored by scholars. By delving into the League's archives, Omer Aloni uncovers the story of how the interwar world expressed similar concerns to those of our own time in relation to nature, environmental challenges and human development, and reveals a missing link in understanding the roots of our ecological crisis. Charting the environmental regime of the League, he sheds new light on its role as a centre of surprising environmental dilemmas, initiatives, and solutions. Through a number of fascinating case studies, the hidden interests, perceptions, motivations, hopes, agendas and concerns of the League are revealed for the first time. Combining legal thought, historical archival research and environmental studies, a fascinating period in legal-environmental history is brought to life.

The common ground between religions could be fruitfully promoted in order to call for an effective protection of the climate system. Positioned at a junction of different worlds, this book is a multidisciplinary work on Islamic law, common law and environmental law. Looking at the past, present and future, the author suggests a paradigm shift starting from the common ground in order to propose a better future for environmental law in Muslim countries. As the first book to compare Shari'a and common law in field of environmental protection, it suggests a new path in comparative environmental law by recognizing the contributions of both history and spirituality.

Nearly everyone accepts as gospel two assumptions: compliance with environmental rules is high, and enforcement is responsible for making compliance happen. Both are wrong. In fact, serious violations of environmental regulations are widespread, and by far the most important driver of compliance results is not enforcement but the structure of the rule itself. In Next Generation Compliance, Cynthia Giles shows that well-designed regulations deploying creative strategies to make compliance the default can achieve excellent implementation outcomes. Poorly designed rules that create many opportunities to evade, obfuscate, or ignore will have dismal performance that no amount of enforcement will ever fix. Rampant violations have real consequences: unhealthy air, polluted water, contaminated drinking water, exposure to dangerous chemicals, and unrestrained climate-forcing pollution. They also land hardest on already overburdened communities - that's why Next Gen and environmental justice are tightly linked. The good news is there are tools to build much better compliance into regulations, including many tested strategies that can be the building blocks of programs that withstand the inevitable pressures of real life. Next Generation Compliance shows how regulators can avoid the compliance calamities that plague far too many environmental rules today, a lesson that is particularly urgent for regulations tackling climate change. It has an optimistic message: there are ways to ensure reliable results, if regulators jettison incorrect assumptions and design rules that are resilient to the mess and complexity of the real world.

The 2019 Chagos Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice is a decision of profound legal and political significance. Presented with a rare opportunity to pronounce on the right to self-determination and the rules governing decolonization, the ICJ responded with remarkable directness. The contributions to this book examine the Court's reasoning, the importance of the decision for the international system, and its consequences for the situation in the Chagos Archipelago in particular. Apart from bringing the Chagossians closer to the prospect of returning to the islands from which they were covertly expelled half a century ago, the decision and its political context may be understood as part of a broader shift in North/South relations, in which formerly dominant powers like the UK must come to terms with their waning influence on the world stage, and in which voices from former colonies are increasingly shaping the institutional and normative landscape.

Our oceans are suffering under the impacts of climate change. Despite the critical role that oceans play in climate regulation, international climate law and the law of the sea are developed as two different, largely separate, legal regimes. The main objective of this book is to assess how the law of the sea can be interpreted, developed and applied to support the objectives of the United Nations Climate Regime. By identifying the potential and constraints of the law of the sea regime in supporting and complementing the climate regime in the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, this book offers a new perspective on the law of the sea and its capacity to evolve to respond to systemic challenges, and its potential to adapt and ensure a resilient and sustainable future.

This book is based on presentations from the Conference 'Arctic Marine Resource Governance' held in Reykjavik Iceland in October 2015. The book is divided into four main themes: 1. Global management and institutions for Arctic marine resources 2. Resource stewards and users: local and indigenous co-management 3. Governance gaps in Arctic marine resource management and 4. Multi-scale, ecosystem-based, Arctic marine resource management'. The ecosystem changes underway in the Arctic region are expected to have significant impacts on living resources in both the short and long run, and current actions and policies adopted over such resource governance will have serious and ultimately irreversible consequences in the near and long terms.