This book anchors its arguments in Article 20 of the Watercourses Convention and explores consistencies and inconsistencies in parallel definitions, substantive and procedural obligations and institutional arrangements in IWL, and the Ramsar and Biodiversity Conventions with respect to the protection and preservation of ecosystems of shared inland waters. Dr. Yang Liu argues that the all-around informed and integrated application of IWL and MEAs is essential for the effective protection and preservation of shared inland water ecosystems. However, the degree of cross-fertilization of parallel provisions should be examined on a case-by-case basis in light of the legal analytical framework deployed in this study.

Human activities are depleting ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. In spite of nature conservation efforts worldwide, many ecosystems including those critical for human well-being have been damaged or destroyed. States and citizens need a new vision of how humans can reconnect with the natural environment. With its focus on the long-term holistic recovery of ecosystems, ecological restoration has received increasing attention in the past decade from both scientists and policymakers. Research on the implications of ecological restoration for the law and law for ecological restoration has been largely overlooked. This is the first published book to examine comprehensively the relationship between international environmental law and ecological restoration. While international environmental law (IEL) has developed significantly as a discipline over the past four decades, this book enquires whether IEL can now assist states in making a strategic transition from not just protecting and maintaining the natural environment but also actively restoring it. Arguing that states have international duties to restore, this book offers reflections on the philosophical context of ecological restoration and the legal content of a duty to restore from an international law, European Union law and national law perspective. The book concludes with a discussion of several contemporary themes of interest to both lawyers and ecologists including the role of private actors, protected areas and climate change in ecological restoration.

In March 1998, the Social Security Admin. (SSA) issued a revised continuing disability reviews (CDR) plan that reflected the experience gained during the first 2 years of the CDR initiative & incorporated additional CDRs for certain children receiving SSI disability benefits. This report determines (1) whether SSA's plan to process 8.1 million CDRs during FY1998-2002 will result in CDRs being done for all beneficiaries for whom CDRs are required by law & (2) whether the disability determination services's (DDS) CDR processing capacity & the CDR funding for FY1998-2002 will be sufficient to process the CDRs required by law.