The ecosystem approach, broadly understood as a legal and governance strategy for integrated environmental and biodiversity management, has been adopted within a wide variety of international environmental legal regimes and provides a narrative, a policy approach and in some cases legally binding obligations for States to implement what has been called a ‘new paradigm’ of environmental management. In this last respect, the ecosystem approach is also often considered to offer an opportunity to move beyond the outdated anthropocentric framework underpinning much of international environmental law, thus helping re-think law in the Anthropocene. Against this background, this book addresses the question of whether the ecosystem approach represents a paradigm shift in international environmental law and governance, or whether it is in conceptual and operative continuity with legal modernity. This central question is explored through a combined genealogical and biopolitical framework, which reveals how the ecosystem approach is the result of multiple contingencies and contestations, and of the interplay of divergent and sometimes irreconcilable ideological projects. The ecosystem approach, this books shows, does not have a univocal identity, and must be understood as both signalling the potential for a decisive shift in the philosophical orientation of law and the operationalisation of a biopolitical framework of control that is in continuity with, and even intensifies, the eco-destructive tendencies of legal modernity. It is, however, in revealing this disjunction that the book opens up the possibility of moving beyond the already tired assessment of environmental law through the binary of anthropocentrism and ecocentrism.

Applying much needed legal and social sciences perspectives, the book provides in depth analyses of lessons learned and remaining challenges associated with making the Ecosystem Approach fully relevant and operational in various fields of marine governance.

This book increases the visibility, clarity and understanding of ecological law. Ecological law is emerging as a field of law founded on systems thinking and the need to integrate ecological limits, such as planetary boundaries, into law. Presenting new thinking in the field, this book focuses on problem areas of contemporary law including environmental law, property law, trusts, legal theory and First Nations law and explains how ecological law provides solutions. Written by ecological law experts, it does this by 1) providing an overview of shortcomings of environmental law and other areas of contemporary law, 2) presenting specific examples of these shortcomings, 3) explaining what ecological law is and how it provides solutions to the shortcomings of contemporary law, and 4) showing how society can overcome some key challenges in the transition to ecological law. Drawing on a diverse range of case study examples including Indigenous law, ecological restoration and mining, this volume will be of great interest to students, scholars and policymakers of environmental and ecological law and governance, political science, environmental ethics and ecological and degrowth economics.

'Human laws must be reformulated to keep human activities in harmony with the unchanging and universal laws of nature.' This 1987 statement by the World Commission on Environment and Development has never been more relevant and urgent than it is today. Despite the many legal responses to various environmental problems, more greenhouse gases than ever before are being released into the atmosphere, biological diversity is rapidly declining and fish stocks in the oceans are dwindling. This book challenges the doctrinal construction of environmental law and presents an innovative legal approach to ecological sustainability: a rule of law for nature which guides and transcends ordinary written laws and extends fundamental principles of respect, integrity and legal security to the non-human world.

The ecosystem approach embodies a concept of the environment which emphasizes the integrated components of nature as complex adaptive systems. This book examines the relationship between the architecture and design of environmental law and the implementation of the ecosystem approach as a means to maintain ecological integrity. The main issue addressed is: in which manner and to what extent does fragmentation and administrative discretion in environmental law impede the implementation of an ecosystem approach? This is explored through analysis of several questions: what is an ecosystem approach and how could it be implemented; how can economic evaluation of ecosystem services contribute to the debate; to what extent is environmental law fragmented and how does this affect the implementation of the ecosystem approach; to what extent does environmental law contain administrative discretion and how does this affect the implementation of the ecosystem approach; is there a need for greater consistency, coherence and a stronger rule of law in environmental law in light of the ecosystem approach? The main focus is on Europe, with additional international comparisons where appropriate. The book concludes by providing a normative portrayal of future environmental law as protective, systemic and predictable.

This cutting-edge book considers the functional inseparability of risk and innovation within the context of environmental law and governance. Analysing both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ innovation, the book argues that approaches to socio-ecological risk require innovation in order for society and the environment to become more resilient.

The past twenty-five years have seen a significant evolution in environmental policy, with new environmental legislation and substantive amendments to earlier laws, significant advances in environmental science, and changes in the treatment of science (and scientific uncertainty) by the courts. This book offers a detailed discussion of the important issues in environmental law, policy, and economics, tracing their development over the past few decades through an examination of environmental law cases and commentaries by leading scholars. The authors focus on pollution, addressing both pollution control and prevention, but also emphasize the evaluation, design, and use of the law to stimulate technical change and industrial transformation, arguing that there is a need to address broader issues of sustainable development. Environmental Law, Policy, and Economics,which grew out of courses taught by the authors at MIT, treats the traditional topics covered in most classes in environmental law and policy, including common law and administrative law concepts and the primary federal legislation. But it goes beyond these to address topics not often found in a single volume: the information-based obligations of industry, enforcement of environmental law, market-based and voluntary alternatives to traditional regulation, risk assessment, environmental economics, and technological innovation and diffusion. Countering arguments found in other texts that government should play a reduced role in environmental protection, this book argues that clear, stringent legal requirements--coupled with flexible means for meeting them--and meaningful stakeholder participation are necessary for bringing about environmental improvements and technologicial transformations.

In the groundbreaking Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Law, leading environmental legal scholars Mary Jane Angelo, Jason Czarnezki, and Bill Eubanks, along with five distinguished contributing authors, undertake an exploration of the challenging political and societal issues facing agricultural policy and modern food systems through the lens of environmental protection laws. Through this exploration, the authors seek to answer difficult questions about the need for new approaches to agricultural policy and environmental law to meet 21st Century concerns surrounding climate change, sustainable agriculture, accessibility to healthy foods, and the conservation of natural resources and ecosystem services. This is the first book to examine both the impact of agricultural policy on the environment and the influence of environmental law on food and agriculture. The authors present a brief historical overview of agricultural policy as it has adapted to satisfy shifting demands and new technologies, and its role in shaping not only the current farming system and the rural economy, but also the value which we ascribe to our natural resources relative to agricultural production. The authors then explain in detail the components of the current farm bill; analyze the ecological impacts of the modern farming system encouraged by our nation s agricultural policy; and examine the interplay between agriculture, food production and distribution, and existing environmental and related laws. They conclude with several concrete proposals to reform agricultural policy that serve as models of how to enhance sustainability in our farming and food system. This book supplies a comprehensive, timely, and cohesive guide on the intersection of agriculture and the natural environment. It achieves this goal through an interdisciplinary lens, engaging diverse perspectives to provide both a practical and academic examination of the environmental impacts of current farm policy, the applicability of environmental regulatory mechanisms to agriculture and food, and reform proposals to combat environmental harms while protecting farmers economic interests as well as the rural communities they bolster. As a result, this work serves as the quintessential text for bringing these issues to the classroom in a variety of fields, including law, public policy, agricultural economics, and environmental science.

The central aim of this publication is to consider the key elements of a modern, comprehensive, and effective legal framework for successful management of protected areas. They provide practical guidance for all those involved in developing, improving, or reviewing national legislation on protected areas, be they legal drafters and practitioners, protected area managers, interested NGOs, or scholars. These guidelines include fifteen case studies, eight dealing with the protected area legislation of individual countries and six cases dealing with specific sites providing fundamental solutions that stand the test of time.

This research collection offers a comprehensive investigation into ecological approaches into environmental law. It brings together a kaleidoscope of different articles to examine the critique of environmental law, the ethical dimensions, and methodology before exploring the key issues focusing on rights and responsibilities, property and the commons, governance and constitutionalism. It also presents work that looks into the theory of Earth Jurisprudence. Together with an original introduction, this collection is an indispensable reference for anyone interested in ecological approaches to environmental law.