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It is widely understood today that nothing is more urgently needed that
international agreement on the scale, application and enforcement of
environmental law. This outstanding book – a major contribution to the debate
– demonstrates that existing international judicial bodies have already taken
giant steps toward overcoming the insufficiency of international law
enforcement with standards, compliance mechanisms, and new law development in
the field of environmental law. The author not only presents a detailed
analysis of a wealth of relevant case law, but also outlines a model
suggesting that a commitment to international judicial control can be used to
contain deviance within acceptable limits, ensure harmonized interaction among
regimes, and clarify the meaning and application of environmental norms.
With pervasive attention to the differing demands of inter-State relations and
State-individual relations, and of the varieties of “soft” and “hard” control,
the book considers the ways in which the proposed judicial control could move
powerfully toward minimizing damage in such legal environmental areas as the
following:
• Conservation of marine living resources;
• Obligation not to cause transfrontier pollution harm;
• The human rights challenge to state sovereignty;
• Equitable utilization of international watercourses;
• Noise; and
• Nuclear risk.
Among the international judicial regimes examined are the GATT/WTO
judiciaries, the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal
for the Law of the Sea, The European Court of Justice, The European Court of
Human Rights and other regional human rights courts and commissions, decisions
of arbitral tribunals, the Montreal Protocol Non-Compliance Procedure, and the
Human Rights Committee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
It is no exaggeration to say that the environment has taken centre stage in
international affairs, and this book’s provocative proposal cuts through the
much-lamented ineffectiveness of international law where it matters most. In
its clear-headed recommendations of practical ways to resolve ambiguities,
confront recurrent non-compliance, and cure the absence and defects of
applicable rules, it will be of immeasurable value to policymakers,
practitioners and academics concerned with international environmental law.
Preface.
Foreword.
Acknowledgment.
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. Introduction.
Chapter 2. Preparatory Considerations.
Chapter 3. Standard Setting
Chapter 4. Compliance Control.
Chapter 5. Law Development.
Chapter 6. Synthesis of the Analysis.
Chapter 7. Bibliography.
Table of Cases.
Table of International Instruments.
Index.