This ground-breaking volume provides analyses from experts around the globe on the part played by national and international law, through legislation and the courts, in advancing efforts to tackle climate change, and what needs to be done in the future. Published under the auspices of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL), the volume builds on an event convened at BIICL, which brought together academics, legal practitioners and NGO representatives. The volume offers not only the insights from that event, but also additional materials, sollicited to offer the reader a more complete picture of how climate change litigation is evolving in a global perspective, highlighting both opportunities, and constraints.
In the last two decades, Indonesia has seen a dramatic proliferation of environmental disputes in a variety of sectors, triggered by intensified deforestation and large scale mining operations in the resource rich outer islands, together with rapid industrialisation in the densely populated inner island of Java. Whilst the emergence of environmental disputes has sometimes attracted political repression, attempts have also been made in recent times to explore more functional approaches to their resolution. The Environmental Management Act of 1997 created a legal framework for the resolution of environmental disputes through both litigation and mediation. This book is the first attempt to analyse the implementation of this framework in detail and to assess the effectiveness of litigation and mediation in resolving environmental disputes in Indonesia. It includes a detailed overview of the environmental legal framework and its interpretation by Indonesian courts in landmark court cases. The book features a number of detailed case studies of both environmental litigation and mediation and considers the legal and non-legal factors that have influenced the success of these approaches to resolving environmental disputes.
Resolving Environmental Disputes presents detailed case studies from the key contemporary themes in resource management and environmental protection, such as: access to the countryside for recreation, sustainable forestry, pollution and risks to health, and coastal zone management. The book spans both theory and practice in assessing the relationship between public participation and mediation. It is structured around detailed case studies from Britain, the USA and the Netherlands, which are interspersed with chapters providing explanation and interpretation of the theoretical and practical issues involved. In reviewing the state of environmental conflict resolution, the author examines how and why conflicts occur and whether approaches to conflict resolution based on consensus building could be more widely applied.
'The alleviation of poverty and the protection of the environment are both critical challenges for the vindication of basic human rights for all of humankind. This relationship is however not necessarily an easy one. While there is an inextricable link between poverty and the degradation of the environment, a sophisticated analysis of a problem needs to deal with those cases where the need to increase economic opportunity for poor communities may appear to conflict with fragile ecosystems or the preservation of traditional practices. This collection provides the most sustained engagement with these problems. Drawing on the expertise of a range of distinguished authors, this book presents the reader with an integrated global engagement with these problems. In doing so, it represents a landmark effort towards the creation of a coherent literature to deal with one of humankind's most pressing challenges.' – Dennis Davis, Judge of the High Court, South Africa 'The complex, uneven and challenging relationships between poverty alleviation and environmental regulation are impossible to trace in a single book but this collection brings a carefully selected set of policy-relevant, context-responsive, practical legal analyses to bear in a fresh examination of the present and future challenges involved. This is a timely contribution in the search for regulatory responses that alleviate rather than exacerbate the myriad forms of adaptation apartheid now so painfully evident in the relationship between poverty, injustice and environmental degradation.' – Anna Grear, University of Waikato, New Zealand 'The subject of poverty cannot be ignored by environmentalists as the poor are the most affected by the diverse impacts of environmental degradation and climate change such as on water, natural resources and cultural heritage sites. In addition, slum dwellings exacerbate the plight of the poor. The book is a collection of diverse topics by renowned environmental legal experts which deal with the relationship between the alleviation of poverty and the protection of the environment. Each writer addresses the challenges raised in various issues and recommends solutions which range from linking with human rights, the need for public participation, the role of environmental courts and other mechanisms.' – Koh Kheng-Lian, National University of Singapore This timely book explores the complex relationship between the alleviation of poverty and the protection of the environment. There is every reason to believe that these issues are in many ways interdependent. However this book demonstrates that there are situations where alleviation of poverty and the protection of the environment appear to be in a fraught relationship. The contributing authors illustrate that the role played by law in this relationship, whether at the international or national level, will vary depending on the situation and will be more successful at pursuing environmental justice in some cases than in others. This interdisciplinary study will appeal to academics and students in environmental law and other environmental disciplines, environmental policymakers and NGOs interested in issues of poverty, environment and indigenous peoples.
Providing in-depth coverage of each article of the Paris Agreement, this Commentary offers a comprehensive, legal analysis of this most recent and important international instrument on climate change. This provision-by-provision textual analysis examines the commitments that parties to the Agreement have made to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects, whilst providing additional support to developing countries.
Litigating International Law Disputes provides a fresh understanding of why states resort to international adjudication or arbitration to resolve international law disputes. A group of leading scholars and practitioners discern the reasons for the use of international litigation and other modes of dispute settlement by examining various substantive areas of international law (such as human rights, trade, environment, maritime boundaries, territorial sovereignty and investment law) as well as considering case studies from particular countries and regions. The chapters also canvass the roles of international lawyers, NGOs, and private actors, as well as the political dynamics of disputes, and identify emergent trends in dispute settlement for different areas of international law.
"This report lays out a decision-making framework for creating an ECT [environmental court and tribunal] that can be useful in different legal cultures and political situations. It provides the tools and support necessary to enhance access to environmental justice in countries around the world that, in turn, will advance the principles of environmental protection, sustainable development, and intergenerational equity through the institutions responsible for delivering environmental justice"--Introd.
Environmental conflict resolution has been used since 1974 and an official part of policymaking since the mid-1990s. This book describes the kinds of disputes where it has been applied and critically investigates its record and potential, drawing on political science, anthropology and more.
