Human health and well-being are tied to the vitality of the global ocean and coastal systems on which so many live and rely. We engage with these extraordinary environments to enhance both our health and our well-being. But, we need to recognize that introducing contaminants and otherwise altering these ocean systems can harm human health and well-being in significant and substantial ways. These are complex, challenging, and critically important themes. How the human relationship to the oceans evolves in coming decades may be one of the most important connections in understanding our personal and social well-being. Yet, our understanding of this relationship is far too limited. This remarkable volume brings experts from diverse disciplines and builds a workable understanding of breadth and depth of the processes both social and environmental that will help us to limit future costs and enhance the benefits of sustainable marine systems. In particular, the authors have developed a shared view that the global coastal environment is under threat through intensified natural resource utilization, as well as changes to global climate and other environmental systems. All these changes contribute individually, but more importantly cumulatively, to higher risks for public health and to the global burden of disease. This pioneering book will be of value to advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in public health, environmental, economic, and policy fields. Additionally, the treatment of these complex systems is of essential value to the policy community responsible for these questions and to the broader audience for whom these issues are more directly connected to their own health and well-being. "The seas across this planet and their effects on human society and its destiny are a fascinating subject for analysis and insights derived from intellectual inquiry. This diverse and complex subject necessarily requires a blending of knowledge from different disciplines, which the authors of this volume have achieved with remarkable success." "The following pages in this volume are written in a lucid and very readable style, and provide a wealth of knowledge and insightful analysis, which is a rare amalgam of multi-disciplinary perspectives and unique lines of intellectual inquiry. It is valuable to get a volume such as this, which appeals as much to a non-specialist reader as it does to those who are specialists in the diverse but interconnected subjects covered in this volume." (From the "Foreword" written by, R K Pachauri, Director General, TERI and Chairman, IPCC)

International Law for the Environment is a comprehensive exposition of contemporary international environmental law and the governance institutions that implement it. Part I sets out the drivers of threats to the planet's air, water and social support systems, the philosophical, economic, and scientific foundations of the legal responses to these threats, and the customary and treaty-based legal regimes that have emerged. Also addressed in Part I are the intersections between the environment and human rights and environmental disasters and emergencies. These regimes are placed in the context of general international law. Part II introduces the students to the major treaty-based regimes such as those addressing transboundary air and water pollution, the control of pollutants which deplete the ozone layer, global climate change, the protection of oceans, polar regions, and outer space, the disposal of hazardous wastes outside the country of origin, the protection and allocation of fresh waters and the restoration of degraded aquatic ecosystems, and the conservation of biological diversity. Also addressed are the linkages between agricultural production and the environment. Part III examines the integration of environmental considerations with respect to other areas of international law and the influence of those areas on the development of international environmental law, including a new chapter examining the relationship between armed conflict and the environment, and health and the environment, as well as chapters exploring international trade law, and the financing of sustainable development. Part IV provides an overview of the international legal system, including the international institutions and governance issues concerned with international environmental protection, as well as international dispute settlement. Throughout, the book explores the incorporation of international environmental law principles and treaty obligations into national judicial decisions and legislation. In addition, this new edition includes exercises for students in every chapter.

Climate Change Law is the first book to offer a concise, readable treatment of this entire rapidly evolving body of law. Climate law runs the gamut from state and local regulations to federal policies and international agreements and includes both public and private sector involvement. This issue is just too important to leave to specialists alone. The focus is on core concepts of climate change law rather than all of the complex details. The book begins by discussing the scientific and policy issues that frame the legal scheme, including the state of climate science, the meaning of the social cost of carbon, and the variety of tools that are available to reduce carbon emissions. It then covers in turn the international, national, and state efforts in this sphere. Finally, the book turns to the challenge of adapting to climate change, before exploring the concept of geoengineering and the potential challenges associated with using geoengineering as a tool for addressing climate change. The new edition covers major developments such as the Supreme Court's decision in West Virginia v. EPA, Trump Administration rollbacks and their subsequent fates, climate litigation brought by state and local governments, and the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The book is designed to be accessible to a broad range of readers, not just those who have backgrounds in climate science, environmental economics, or law.