All too often, international environmental law is presented as a kind of guided tour of different treaties and environmental problems. Professor Hey succeeds beautifully in articulating the themes that connect all of these disparate areas, an effort that both students and scholars will appreciate.' - Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley, US'This volume presents a superb overview of international environmental law by a long-time observer. Ellen Hey shares her deep insight into the historical, environmental, technical and policy context of the law, and introduces the reader to regulatory techniques and choices, the main legal tools at actors' disposal, and the key developments in the field. The result is an accessible, yet sophisticated introduction to the evolution of the field, and its expanding modes of action and range of participants.' - Jutta Brunee, University of Toronto, Canada 'This is a significant contribution from a leading figure in the field. Of particular note is the effort to embed international environmental law in its broader context, not only through the detailed analysis of its foundational principles or of its deep interactions with other fields of international law but, more generally, through the overarching theme of the Anthropocene. It is to be thoroughly recommended.' - Jorge E. Vinuales, University of Cambridge, UK Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. This accessible and concise introduction provides a salient overview of contemporary international environmental law as well as a critical assessment of the controversies that arise when trying to achieve environmental protection through international law. Covering the origins, content, institutional structure and accountability mechanisms of international environmental law, in their social-economic and political context, Ellen Hey discusses substantive and procedural fairness, thus exploring questions of distributive justice, accountability and legitimacy. Providing an invaluable entry point to this complex area of the law, this book enables a rapid understanding of the core principles of this multi-faceted topic. Key features include: - Concise and compact overview - Discusses contemporary developments - Examines IEL's relationship to other areas of international law - Considers the social-economic context.

All too often, international environmental law is presented as a kind of guided tour of different treaties and environmental problems. Professor Hey succeeds beautifully in articulating the themes that connect all of these disparate areas, an effort that both students and scholars will appreciate.' - Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley, US'This volume presents a superb overview of international environmental law by a long-time observer. Ellen Hey shares her deep insight into the historical, environmental, technical and policy context of the law, and introduces the reader to regulatory techniques and choices, the main legal tools at actors' disposal, and the key developments in the field. The result is an accessible, yet sophisticated introduction to the evolution of the field, and its expanding modes of action and range of participants.' - Jutta Brunee, University of Toronto, Canada 'This is a significant contribution from a leading figure in the field. Of particular note is the effort to embed international environmental law in its broader context, not only through the detailed analysis of its foundational principles or of its deep interactions with other fields of international law but, more generally, through the overarching theme of the Anthropocene. It is to be thoroughly recommended.' - Jorge E. Vinuales, University of Cambridge, UK Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. This accessible and concise introduction provides a salient overview of contemporary international environmental law as well as a critical assessment of the controversies that arise when trying to achieve environmental protection through international law. Covering the origins, content, institutional structure and accountability mechanisms of international environmental law, in their social-economic and political context, Ellen Hey discusses substantive and procedural fairness, thus exploring questions of distributive justice, accountability and legitimacy. Providing an invaluable entry point to this complex area of the law, this book enables a rapid understanding of the core principles of this multi-faceted topic. Key features include: - Concise and compact overview - Discusses contemporary developments - Examines IEL's relationship to other areas of international law - Considers the social-economic context.

In 2015, the United Nations established seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that aimed 'to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all' by 2030. The chapters within this collection address each of these SDGs, considering how they relate to one another and international law, and what institutions could aid their implementation. Development has been a contentious topic since the decolonization period after World War II, and issues surrounding sustainable development are necessarily impacted by the multifaceted relationship between the Global South and Global North. Confronting the context and challenge of sustainable development, this collection outlines how the international economic system problematizes the attainment of the SDGs. Introducing a novel, cosmopolitan approach, this book offers new ways of understanding sustainable development and suggests potential solutions so that we might finally achieve it.

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.