In international law, as in any other legal system, respect and protection of human rights can be guaranteed only by the availability of effective judicial remedies. When a right is violated or damage is caused, access to justice is of fundamental importance for the injured individual and it is an essential component of the rule of law. Yet, access to justice as a human right remains problematic in international law. First, because individual access to international justice remains exceptional and based on specific treaty arrangements, rather than on general principles of international law; second, because even when such right is guaranteed as a matter of treaty obligation, other norms or doctrines of international law may effectively impede its exercise, as in the case of sovereign immunity or non reviewability of UN Security Council measures directly affecting individuals. Further, even access to domestic legal remedies is suffering because of the constraints put by security threats, such as terrorism, on the full protection of freedom and human rights.
This collection of essays offers seven distinct perspectives on the present status of access to justice: its development in customary international law, the stress put on it in times of emergency, its problematic exercise in the case of violations of the law of war, its application to torture victims, its development in the case law of the UN Human Rights Committee and of the European Court of Human Rights, its application to the emerging field of environmental justice, and finally access to justice as part of fundamental rights in European law.

The global commons - the oceans, Antarctica, outer space and the atmosphere - are critical to the survival of human kind. Yet, they are, by definition, beyond the control of any government. How, then, can the governments of some 180 or more sovereign states co-operate effectively to protect and sustain the often fragile environment of the commons? This book develops and applies the tools of regime analysis to the question of how the various global commons are, or fail to be, governed effectively. The new edition has been extensively re-written and expanded to take into account recent developments and includes a new conclusion on the connections between global and local commons. Involving the first systematic comparative analysis of governance regimes The Global Commons covers:

• The Third Law of the Sea Convention, the deep seabed, whaling and marine pollution regimes
• Antarctica and the Madrid Protocol on Environmental Protection
• Outer space regimes for weapons, the operation of satellites and the emerging problem of orbital debris
• The global atmosphere, the Montreal Protocol for the protection of the stratospheric ozone layer and the developing climate change regime and the Kyoto Protocol

Authoritative, comprehensive, accessible—the definitive guide to a new approach in environmental policy Emissions Trading: Environmental Policy’s New Approach presents the work of an outstanding group of contributors on the successes and limitations of this new and exciting incentive-based tool for reducing environmental pollutants. By including the comments of emitters, regulators, public interest group representatives, and academics, the book reveals the criticisms, disagreements, and growing resolution of numerous environmental questions, including:

• Can markets be used to correct market environmental failure?
• Will decentralized decisions by emitters produce an improvement in air quality?
• Can this approach realize significant control cost savings?
• Can emissions trading be monitored and enforced effectively at a reduced cost?
• Will affected groups support this dramatic innovation?

This book reveals the many harms which flow across the ever-more porous sovereign borders of a globalising world. These harms expose weaknesses in the international legal regime built on sovereignty of nation states. Using the Trail Smelter Arbitration, one of the most cited cases in international environmental law, this book explores the changing nature of state responses to transboundary harm. Taking a critical approach, the book examines the arbitration's influence on international law generally, and international environmental law specifically. In particular, the book explores whether there are lessons from Trail Smelter that are useful for resolving transboundary challenges confronting the international community. The book collects the commentary of a distinguished set of international law scholars who consider the history of the Trail Smelter arbitration, its significance for international environmental law, its broader relationship to international law, and its resonance in fields beyond the environment.

Die Untersuchung beschaftigt sich mit der Frage einer internationalen Haftung fur gentechnologisch bedingte Folgeschaden. Anknupfungspunkte hierfur sind das UN-UEbereinkommen uber die biologische Vielfalt (CBD) und das Cartagena-Protokoll uber die biologische Sicherheit (BSP). Dieses Protokoll beschaftigt sich mit dem Schutz vor den Gefahren der Biotechnologie fur den Bereich der grenzuberschreitenden Verbringung gentechnisch veranderter Organismen. Die Frage der Haftung wird nur in Form eines Verhandlungsauftrages geregelt. Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht und systematisiert die spezifischen Probleme des Sachbereichs und den Stand der gegenwartigen Diskussion um voelkervertrags- und voelkergewohnheitsrechtliche Haftungsnormen. Auf dieser Basis entwickelt sie Eckwerte fur ein moegliches internationales Haftungsregime.

The proliferation of environmental agreements is a defining feature of modern international relations that has attracted considerable academic attention. The cooperation literature focuses on stories of policy creation, and ignores issue areas where policy agreements are absent. Science and International Environmental Policy introduces nonregimes into the study of global governance, and compares successes with failures in the formation of environmental treaties. By exploring collective decisions not to cooperate, it explains why international institutions form but also why, when, and how they do not emerge. The book is a structured comparison of global policy responses to four ecological problems: deforestation, coral reefs degradation, ozone depletion, and acid rain. It explores the connection between knowledge and action in world politics by investigating the role of scientific information in environmental management. The study shows that different types of expert information play uneven roles in policymaking. Extensive analysis of multilateral scientific assessments, participatory observation of negotiations, and interviews with policymakers and scientists reveal that some kinds of information are critical requirements for policy creation while other types are less influential. Moreover, the state of knowledge on ecological problems is not a function of sociopolitical power. By disaggregating the concept of 'knowledge, ' the book solves contradictions in previous theoretical work and offers a compelling account of the interplay between knowledge, interests, and power in global environmental politics

The worst chemical disaster ever could be happening right now. In India and Bangladesh between forty and eighty million people are at risk of consuming too much arsenic from well water that might have already caused one hundred thousand cancer cases and thousands of deaths. Many millions elsewhere in South-East Asia and South America may soon suffer a similar fate. Venomous Earth is the story of this tragedy: the geology, the biology, the politics and the history. It starts in Ancient Greece, touches down in today's North America and takes in William Morris, alchemy, farming, medicine, mining and a cosmetic that killed two popes.

Dieses mit der Otto-Hahn-Medaille der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft ausgezeichnete Werk entwickelt eine eigene These vom voelkerrechtlichen Legitimationsdefizit: Voelkerrechtlicher Rechtserzeugung fehlt es an Mechanismen institutionalisierter Opposition. Obwohl die Rechtserzeugungskompetenzen internationaler Institutionen zunehmen, fehlt es an Moeglichkeiten, Regelungsalternativen und AEnderungsvorschlage in voelkerrechtlichen Verfahren zu artikulieren. "Opposition im Voelkerrecht" entwirft im Anschluss an Hannah Arendt und Claude Lefort eine Theorie des Konzepts der Opposition, die auch im Voelkerrecht Anwendung finden kann. Es folgt eine interdisziplinare Studie, die zum ersten Mal voelkerrechtliche Rechtserzeugungsprozesse (konkret an drei Beispielen der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarats, des WTO waiver-Mechanismus, der UNESCO Konvention zur kulturellen Vielfalt und des Cartagena-Protokolls zur Biodiversitat) unter dem Gesichtspunkt mangelnder Politisierung untersucht und die in der Voelkerrechtswissenschaft bisher nicht rezipierten philosophischen Ansatze von Hannah Arendt und Claude Lefort hierfur fruchtbar macht.

This book explains the role and limitations of liberalized international trade on the global environment and sustainable development. A distinguishing feature of this book is an integration of trade, environment and development perspectives for operationally meaningful policy purposes. The topics explored include an analysis of the global trade regimes, their interrelationships with the existing multilateral environmental agreements, institutional mechanisms governed by the World Trade Organization, and a framework for pragmatic reforms.

Although it is usually assumed that only the federal government can confer citizenship, localities often give residents who are noncitizens at the federal level the benefits of local citizenship: access to medical care, education, housing, security, labor and consumer markets, and even voting rights. In this work, Kenneth A. Stahl demonstrates that while the existence of these 'noncitizen citizens' has helped to reconcile competing commitments within liberal democracy to equality and community, the advance of globalization and the rise of nationalist political leaders like Donald Trump has caused local and federal citizenship to clash. For nationalists, localities' flexible approach to citizenship is a Trojan horse undermining state sovereignty from within, while liberals see local citizenship as the antidote to a reactionary ethnic nationalism. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand why citizenship has become one of the most important issues in national politics today.

The first volume of the International Environmental Law Reports focuses on early decisions. It includes all the well known, and some lesser known, international decisions relevant to international environmental law prior to the 1970s, with a summary of each decision. Volume 1 also includes a number of very early national decisions considered important in the development of international environmental law, either because they were the background against which international decisions were shaped or because they are often referred to but are not widely available in English. Other decisions are included in because they illustrate of national views of the content and direction of international law at the beginning of the twentieth century. This is the first ever collection devoted to international environmental law decisions, an essential work of reference collecting all relevant materials in one place.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the best known and most controversial of international conservation treaties. Since it came into force 25 years ago, debate has raged over its most basic assumptions. CITES treats the international trade in wildlife as the most important threat to the continued existence of wild species. It offers a prescription of trade bans and restrictions for endangered species. However, it is now generally acknowledged that for most species habitat loss is a much more significant threat. Some argue that the CITES remedy actually exacerbates the problem by removing the incentive to conserve wildlife habitat. This collection of essays, the first of its kind, charts the controversies and changes within CITES. It provides case studies of the way CITES has dealt with particular species and notes the growing role of the South in shaping the direction of the treaty. It considers the role of sustainable use, the precautionary principle and unilateralism within CITES. Finally, it examines options for the future of CITES. Implicit within a number of the contributions is the recognition that questions of wildlife conservation cannot be divorced from wider issues of land use, development and social justice. This book provides an essential resource for policy makers, practitioners, academics and students concerned with conservation, development and trade.

Attending to the 'Cry of the Earth' requires a critical appraisal of how we conceive our relationship with the environment, and a clear vision of how to apprehend it in law and governance. Addressing questions of participation, responsibility and justice, this collective endeavour includes marginalised and critical voices, featuring contributions by leading practitioners and thinkers in Indigenous law, traditional knowledge, wild law, the rights of nature, theology, public policy and environmental humanities.Such voices play a decisive role in comprehending and responding to current global challenges. They invite us to broaden our horizon of meaning and action, modes of knowing and being in the world, and envision the path ahead with a new legal consciousness. A valuable reference for students, researchers and practitioners, this book is one of a series of publications associated with the Earth System Governance Project. For more publications, see www.cambridge.org/earth-system-governance.

Over the past 40 years, countries throughout the world have similarly adopted human rights related to environmental governance and protection in national constitutions. Interestingly, these countries vary widely in terms of geography, politics, history, resources, and wealth. This raises the question: why do some countries have constitutional environmental rights while others do not? Bringing together theory from law, political science, and sociology, a global statistical analysis, and a comparative study of constitutional design in South Asia, Gellers presents a comprehensive response to this important question. Moving beyond normative debates and anecdotal developments in case law, as well as efforts to describe and categorize such rights around the world, this book provides a systematic analysis of the expansion of environmental rights using social science methods and theory. The resulting theoretical framework and empirical evidence offer new insights into how domestic and international factors interact during the constitution drafting process to produce new law that is both locally relevant and globally resonant. Scholars, practitioners, and students of law, political science, and sociology interested in understanding how institutions cope with complex problems like environmental degradation and human rights violations will find this book to be essential reading.

International Natural Resources Law, Investment and Sustainability provides a clear and concise insight into the relationship between the institutions that govern foreign investment, sustainable development and the rules and regulations that administer natural resources. In this book, several leading experts explore different perspectives in how investment and natural resources come together to achieve sustainable development in developing countries with examples from water, oil and gas, renewable energy, mineral, agriculture, and carbon trading. Despite varying perspectives, it is clear that several themes are central in considering the linkages between natural resources, investment and sustainability. Specifically, transparency, good governance and citizen empowerment are vital conditions which encourage positive social, economic and environmental outcomes for developing countries. In addition, this book provides new insights into key concepts which underpin international law, including sovereign rights and state responsibility principles. It is clear from this book that in the attempt to reconcile these concepts and principles from separate legal regimes, complex policy questions emerge whereby it is difficult to attain mutually beneficial or succinct outcomes. This book explores how countries prioritise their policy objectives to achieve their notion of sustainable natural resource use, which is strongly influenced by power imbalances that inform North-South cooperation, as well as South-South cooperation in the international investment regime. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers of international environmental law, international human rights law, international investment law and international economic law. This book may also be of relevance to environmentalists, policy-makers, NGOs, and investors working in the natural resources field.

This volume takes a fresh look at climate change as a threat to peace and its impacts on cultural heritage and cultural diversity. It proceeds under the assumption that the impacts of climate change on cultural heritage and cultural diversity may challenge sustainable global peace. As innovative feature, the interdisciplinary nexus between cultural heritage and peace is explicitly taken account of. Accordingly, corresponding threats on climate change and conflict on the one hand, and protection of cultural property and climate change on the other, are pulled together into one conceptual triangle. While the importance of the protection of cultural heritage in armed conflicts tends to become more and more recognized, the crucial role of cultural policy as a reconciliatory, proactive element of building and securing of sustainable peace has so far been largely underestimated. This volume brings together opinions of renowned experts in the fields of international law as well as natural sciences, engineering, humanities and social sciences. The focus lays on the legal and institutional challenges faced by national and international stakeholders, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in particular. Moreover, it alludes to broader issues of mitigation, adaptation and resilience.

This state-of-the-art Dictionary defines terms employed in international agreements, national legislation and scholarly legal studies related to comparative and international environmental law and the emerging law of climate change. In acknowledgement of China's growing role in this arena, each term also includes its pinyin translation in order to facilitate access to the Mandarin variants.The international community is developing increasingly complex environmental provisions and participating in a number of international treaties and agreements related to environmental law and regulation. The complicated and highly specific nature of environmental law has led to the development of localized terminology that is not easily understood outside its country of origin. Jointly prepared by scholars in China and the US, the Dictionary provides a linguistic bridge between English and Chinese speakers as well as an essential reference for those interpreting and applying international environmental law, multilateral environmental agreements, and domestic laws that implement these treaties. Students, scholars and practitioners in the area of environmental law will find this groundbreaking Dictionary an invaluable addition to their libraries.

Das Buch befasst sich mit den Vorgaben des internationalen Wasserrechts fur Abkommen zwischen Anrainerstaaten uber die Nutzung und Bewirtschaftung gemeinsamer Wasserlaufe. Der aktuelle Stand des internationalen Wassergewohnheitsrechts wird dargelegt und der Regelungsgehalt der UN-Wasserlaufkonvention erlautert, Abkommen auf regionaler und wasserlaufspezifischer Ebene werden skizziert. Anschliessend werden die bisherigen Nilvertrage und das noch nicht in Kraft getretene Kooperationsrahmenabkommen fur den Nil dargestellt, rechtlich gewurdigt und auf ihre UEbereinstimmung mit dem internationalen Wasserrecht untersucht. Auch die eingehende Prufung einer Vertragsnachfolge Sudsudans ist Teil der Darstellung. Schliesslich wird das voelkerrechtliche Leitprinzip zur Nutzungsverteilung, der Grundsatz ausgewogener und angemessener Nutzung, auf den Nil angewandt und dazu konkretisiert. Die Arbeit zeigt auf, inwieweit dieser Grundsatz ein Konzept fur eine Nutzungsverteilung in der Praxis zu liefern vermag.

Die Untersuchung enthalt eine rechtliche Systematisierung grenzuberschreitender administrativer Informationsverfahren am Beispiel des europaischen Umweltrechts. Im Umweltrecht der Gemeinschaft werden viele verschiedene Begriffe fur die Erhebung und die Weitergabe von Informationen verwendet, ohne dass auf den ersten Blick einer einheitlichen Systematik gefolgt wurde. Diese Begriffe sind Bestandteil von Rechtsvorschriften, sie konnen aber schwerlich als Rechtsbegriffe bezeichnet werden. Zudem ist das Gemeinschaftsrecht im bestandigen Wandel. Je umfassender und detaillierter das Regelwerk der Gemeinschaft wird und je kurzer dessen Halbwertzeit, desto notiger ist es, in den einzelnen Teilbereichen Grundstrukturen herauszuarbeiten, die eine gewisse Orientierung geben. Die vorliegende Arbeit enthalt fur den Bereich der Verwaltungskooperation eine solche Systematisierung und rechtliche Einordnung. Die Autorin bettet dabei diese rechtlichen Fragestellungen in Erkenntnisse anderer Wissenschaftsbereiche ein. "

Remarkable advances are being made in life science and agricultural research to reform the methods of food production, particularly with regard to staple grain and legume crops, in ways that will better reflect ecological realities. However, advances in science may be insufficient to ensure that these possibilities for agricultural reform are realized in practice and in a sustainable way. This book shows how these can only be achieved through changes in legal norms and institutions at the global level. Interdisciplinary in character, the book draws from a range of issues involving agricultural innovation, international legal history and principles, treaty commitments, global institutions, and environmental challenges, such as climate change, to propose broad legal changes for transforming global agriculture. It first shows how modern extractive agriculture is unsustainable on economic, environmental, and social grounds. It then examines the potential for natural-systems agriculture (especially perennial-polyculture systems) for overcoming the deficiencies of modern extractive agriculture, especially to offset climate change. Finally it analyses closely the legal innovations that can be adopted at national and international levels to facilitate a transition from modern extractive agriculture to a system based more on ecological principles. In particular the author argues for the creation of a Global Convention on Agroecology.

Why do people obey the law? And why do states abide by their international commitments? These are among the questions raised in this important book. The setting is the Barents Sea, home to some of the most productive fishing grounds on the planet, including the world's largest cod stock. Norway and Russia manage these fish resources together, in what appears to be a successful exception to the rule of failed fisheries management: stocks are in good shape, institutional cooperation is expanding and takes place in a constructive atmosphere. The author argues that post-agreement bargaining helps activate norms and establish standard operating procedure that furthers precautionary fisheries management. The Barents Sea fishery is seen as one of the best-managed international fisheries in the world, and the book specifically enquires into the lessons to be learned from the Norwegian-Russian partnership. It will therefore prove to be of invaluable interest to practitioners, scholars and policy makers working in the field of fisheries management and environmental agreements.

This book addresses the diverse ways in which international law governs the uses, management, and protection of fresh water. The regulation of fresh water has primarily developed through the conclusion of treaties concerning international watercourses, yet a number of other legal regimes also apply to the governance of fresh water. In particular, there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of fresh water to environmental protection. The development of international human rights law and international humanitarian law has also proven crucial for ensuring the sound and equitable management of this resource. In addition, the economic uses of fresh water feature prominently in the law applicable to watercourses, while water itself has become an important element of the trade and investment regimes. These bodies of rules and principles not only surface in an array of dispute settlement mechanisms, but also stimulate wider trends of institutionalization. Since the publication of the first edition of this volume in 2013, water has continued to be at the forefront of the international agenda, and the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals constitutes a milestone around which various public and private initiatives have been launched. This book presents and appraises these important developments as part of its comprehensive analysis of the origin and scope of the various areas of international law as they apply to fresh water. It demonstrates how these areas connect and adapt to one another, forming an integrated body of international principles.

Several disturbing issues pose a threat to the marine environment and its wellbeing, among them marine environmental pollution and degradation of marine biodiversity. Most troubling is that these issues are overwhelmingly caused by human activities which are sometimes transboundary, and their consequences will become more severe and complicated if not properly curbed. Thus, these activities require comprehensive policies, laws, and principles to manage them effectively. Linked to these solutions is the need for responsibilities, cooperation and commitments at local, national, regional and international levels. Contemporary Marine Environmental Law and Policy presents a thorough appraisal of the main issues, actors and institutions engaged in the legal aspects of marine environmental conservation. With contributions from an international range of authors, the book provides a concise account of the legal and policy framework underlying international marine environmental issues, and of the fundamental concepts and strategies that are important to the protection of the marine environment. Some of the topics explored include: the prevention of marine pollution caused by land based activities, ships, and offshore hydrocarbon and mineral resources exploration; the conservation and management of marine living resources; the marine environment in the polar regions; and the settlement of marine environmental disputes. This book provides a solid foundation for anyone studying International Environmental Law and the Law of the Sea. It will also appeal to anyone seeking to gain a deeper understanding of this hugely important subject.

Since 2010, a significant quantity of international climate change finance has begun to reach developing countries. However, the transfer of finance under the international climate change regime - the legal and ethical obligations that underpin it, the constraints on its use, its intended outcomes, and its successes, failures, and future potential - constitutes a poorly understood topic. Climate Change Finance and International Law fills this gap in the legal scholarship. The book analyses the legal obligations of developed countries to financially support qualifying developing countries to pursue globally significant mitigation and adaptation outcomes, as well as the obligations of the latter under the international regime of financial support. Through case studies of climate finance mechanisms and a multitude of other sources, this book delivers a rich legal and empirical understanding of the implementation of states' climate finance obligations to date. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of international law and policy, international relations, and the maturing field of climate change law.

This book provides a comprehensive review of the state of international law as it applies to transboundary groundwater resources and aquifers. The main focus is on recent developments and the emerging international law for transboundary aquifers as reflected in the practice of states and the work of the UN International Law Commission, UN Economic Commission for Europe, and International Law Association. The author takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject matter and provides the scientific hydro-geological underpinning for the application of law and policy to transboundary groundwater resources. He also addresses the growing global dependence on this hidden resource, as well as both the historical and scientific context for development of the law. The book provides case examples throughout to illustrate the various concepts and developments. These include more detailed examinations of the few existing transboundary aquifer agreements in operation, such as for aquifers between France and Switzerland and Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as aquifers in North Africa and in South America.