Inspired by recent litigation, this book identifies and critically appraises the manifold and varied approaches to calculating compensation for damage caused to the environment. It examines a wide range of practice on compensation – in general and specifically for environmental damage – from that of international courts and tribunals, as well as international commissions and regimes, to municipal approaches and other disciplines such as economics and philosophy. Compensation for Environmental Damage Under International Law synthesises these approaches with a view to identifying their blind spots, bringing clarity to an area where there exists broad discrepancy, and charting best practices that appropriately balance the manifold interests at stake. In particular, it is argued that best practice methodologies should ensure compensation serves to fully repair the environment, reflect the emerging ecosystems approach and any implications environmental damage may have for climate change, as well as take into account relevant equitable considerations. This book is essential reading for academics, practitioners and students working in the field of environmental law.

"This book analyzes the regulation of environmental loss and damage. It does so from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, examining both public and private law aspects. It delves into conceptual and specific legal issues concerning liability, compensation and restoration of damage in different sectors and jurisdictions, as well as taking into account the contributions of economic analysis in this field of regulation. Specific attention has been devoted to the role that liability and insurance may play in terms of mitigation and adaptation to climate change, as well as the prevention of damage from natural hazards. The scope of analysis encompasses national as well as supranational and international regimes. In particular, there are two interrelated and very promising developments in the evolving understandings in this field that merit special focus: possible legal transplants and "cross-fertilization" between legal systems, on the one hand; and the current dialectic between global and local law in the environmental field, on the other."-- Page 4 de la couverture.

There is a growing interest at different decision-making levels (EU, international and national) in using liability as an element in solving the legal problems of environmental harm. The interest is founded on the necessity to take into account of complex inter-dependencies and interrelationships between the environmental media at global, regional and national levels. In an effort to implement the aims of sustainable development, new views of the traditional liability instrument have to be applied. The book focuses on the Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/EC (the so-called “ELD”) on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage, and evaluates as to whether the ELD has achieved its goals and maintained its ambitions in terms of environmental protection, and what the optimal level of harmonization in terms of environmental protection is. In order to address the question of research of this book, an interdisciplinary framework of analysis and methodology combining political science and law are developed. Since environmental damage is a multidimensional and multidisciplinary problem, par excellence, a multidisciplinary approach is required. Consequently, the use of a multidisciplinary method, combining together in a systematic and rigorous fashion, law, political science, technical elements of economy, insurance law and natural science, is, in the research design of this study, necessary, in a view of tackling the topic in a scientific problem solving-oriented approach. The book draws the overall conclusions by suggesting proposals for amendments and recommendations to be utilized for possible redrafting of the ELD’s provisions for the time when the ELD will be object of a procedure of revision. This book will be of interest to practitioners in EU law and EU Environmental law, international environmental law, legal experts on the law of environmental liability, specialists within international organizations but also by political scientists, economists, insurance law specialists, and natural scientists.

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.

The environmental devastation caused by military conflict has been witnessed in the wake of the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and the Kosovo conflict. This book brings together leading international lawyers, military officers, scientists and economists to examine the legal, political, economic and scientific implications of wartime damage to the natural environment and public health. The book considers issues raised by the application of humanitarian norms and legal rules designed to protect the environment, and the destructive nature of war. Contributors offer an analysis and critique of the existing law of war framework, lessons from peacetime environmental law, means of scientific assessment and economic valuation of ecological and public health damage, and proposals for future legal and institutional developments. This book provides a contemporary forum for interdisciplinary analysis of armed conflict and the environment, and explores ways to prevent and redress wartime environmental damage.

This cutting-edge book invites readers to rethink environmental law and its critical role in ensuring a sustainable future for all. Illustrating narratives of successful developments in environmental law, contributors draw out key lessons and practices for effective reform and highlight opportunities by which we can respond to environmental challenges facing the planet.

Providing a comprehensive analysis of environmental liability law in Europe, this book offers a general introduction to the status of environmental liability in Europe. It describes the relevant international treaties and the EC-Environmental Liability Directive and discusses the conflict of laws issues regarding transfrontier environmental damage. It also contains the results of a comparative project covering 14 jurisdictions in 13 European countries (Austria, Belgium, England and Wales, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Scotland, Spain, Sweden) on the private law aspects of environmental liability. It addresses the main problems of the application of tort law in environmental law, such as the availability of non-fault liability, the establishment of causation, the scope of available remedies and the issue of legal standing. Due to the very limited harmonizing effect of the EC-Environmental Liability Directive national tort law will keep its importance in the field of environmental liability.

This study considers the problems of defining and valuing "environmental damage" from the perspective of international and comparative law. The need for a broad and systematic evaluation of this issue is illustrated by the number of topics presently on the international law-making agenda to which it is relevant, including the UN Compensation Commission's decisions on compensation for environmental losses suffered by Kuwait in the Gulf War, nuclear and oil pollution liability regimes, the development of an environmental liability protocol to the Antarctic Treaty and other agreements on bio-safety and genetically modified organisms. It is thus an important element in contemporary efforts to strengthen legal remedies for environmental harm which does not necessarily come within traditional categories of legally protected personal or property rights.

At present there is no clear model under international law with which to determine compensation for environmental damage. After showing that no existing standard of compensation defined by the theory and practice of international law is adequate to cover all cases involving environmental damages - and that such a broad standard or set of standards may in fact be ultimately unachievable - the author of this important book develops a 'fair compensation' regime from an analysis of existing international dispute adjudication mechanisms, and presents this model as the best possible current approach to the conciliation of international responsibility and environmental interests.

Written by two internationally respected authors, this unique primer distills the environmental law and policy of the United States into a practical guide for a nonlegal audience, as well as for lawyers trained in other regions. The first part of the book explains the basics of the American legal system: key actors, types of laws, and overarching legal strategies for environmental management. The second part delves into specific environmental issues (pollution, ecosystem management, and climate change) and how American law addresses each. Chapters include summaries of key concepts, discussion questions, and a glossary of terms, as well as informative "spotlights"—brief overviews of topics. With a highly accessible structure and useful illustrative features, A Guide to U.S. Environmental Law is a long-overdue synthetic reference on environmental law for students and for those who work in environmental policy or environmental science. Pairing this book with its companion, A Guide to EU Environmental Law, allows for a comparative look at how two of the most important jurisdictions in the world deal with key environmental problems.