ENVS 60: Environmental Law

Environmental law is the law concerned with environmental problems. It is a vast area of law that operates from the local to the global, involving a range of different legal and regulatory techniques. In theory, environmental protection is a no brainer. Few people would actively argue for pollution or environmental destruction. Ensuring a clean environment is ethically desirable, and also sensible from a purely self-interested perspective. Yet, in practice, environmental law is a messy and complex business fraught with conflict. Whilst environmental law is often characterized in overly simplistic terms, with a law being seen as be a magic wand that solves an environmental problem, the reality is that creating and maintaining a body of laws to address and avoid problems is not easy, and involves legislators, courts, regulators and communities. This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the main features of environmental law, and discusses how environmental law deals with multiple interests, socio-political conflicts, and the limits of knowledge about the environment. ...

Environmental principles - from the polluter pays and precautionary principles to the principles of integration and sustainability - proliferate in domestic and international legal and policy discourse, reflecting key goals of environmental protection and sustainable development on which there is apparent political consensus. Environmental principles also have a high profile in environmental law, beyond their popularity as policy and political concepts, as ideas that might unify the subject and provide it with conceptual foundations or boost its delivery of environmental outcomes. However, environmental principles are elusive legal concepts. ...

In the 21st century, anthropogenic (human-caused) environmental change is widespread and serious on the global, regional/transboundary, and local levels. Emphasizing the environmental, social, and human damage caused by non-sustainable development, International Environmental Law and Policy for the 21st Century provides readers with an incisive and integrated approach to the political, economic, scientific, and technological realities and challenges facing international environmental law and policy today. ...

This edition of Principles of International Environmental Law offers a comprehensive and critical account of one of the fastest growing areas of international law: the principles and rules relating to environmental protection. Introducing the reader to the key foundational principles, governance structures and regulatory techniques, Principles of International Environmental Law explores each of the major areas of international environmental regulation through substantive chapters, including climate change, atmospheric protection, oceans and freshwater, biodiversity, chemicals and waste regulation. ...

Over the last decade, the world has increasingly grappled with the complex linkages emerging between efforts to combat climate change and to protect human rights around the world. The Paris Climate Agreement adopted in December 2015 recognized the necessity for governments to take into consideration their human rights obligations when taking climate action. However, important gaps remain in understanding how human rights can be used in practice to develop and implement effective and equitable solutions to climate change at multiple levels of governance. This book brings together leading scholars and practitioners to offer a timely and comprehensive analysis of the opportunities and challenges for integrating human rights in diverse areas and forms of global climate governance. ...

The “Untidy Intersection” of Insolvency and the Polluter Pays Principle and Recommended Reforms to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act

Regulatory Calculations Handbook addresses the environmental concerns of individuals by presenting the basic fundamentals of many environmental regulatory topics. Featuring an overview of the history of environmental problems, the current regulatory framework, and problems/solutions of practical problems in the field, this handbook comprehensively brings the potential calculations and information on regulations into one single-source reference. ...

Tropical coral reefs are important ecosystems. They are economically important to coastal communities living in predominantly developing countries, and also provide shoreline protection, catalyse land formation enabling human habitation, act as a carbon sink and are a repository for genetic and species diversity rivalling rainforests. In the face of mounting man-made pressure from pollution, climate change and over-exploitation, these ecosystems increasingly need action to be taken to ensure their conservation and long term sustainable development. International Environmental Law and the Conservation of Coral Reefs breaks new ground by providing the first in-depth account of the ways in which multilateral environmental treaty regimes are seeking to encourage and improve the conservation of tropical coral reef ecosystems. ...

This authoritative Handbook examines the current state of and the future challenges for international law in addressing the key activities that pose threats to the marine environment. It provides a critical analysis of, and constructive solutions for, the international legal regime for the protection of the marine environment and identifies areas of vital research need for the future. ...

Taking Back Eden is a set of case studies of environmental lawsuits brought in eight countries around the world, including the U.S, beginning in the 1960s. The book conveys what is in fact a revolution in the field of law: ordinary citizens (and lawyers) using their standing as citizens in challenging corporate practices and government policies to change not just the way the environment is defended but the way that the public interest is recognized in law. ...