National, sectoral, and international approaches to environmental law education are integrated in this comprehensive resource on environmental law in Asian and Pacific countries. A broader definition of sustainable development that incorporates social, cultural, and economic dimensions facilitates consideration of social justice and equity in environmental law. The jurisprudence of environmental law is outlined with attention to impact assessment, implementation, and dispute resolution in this first volume.

Laws in the twentieth century were based on economic growth and development. This new century calls for the reassessment of all laws from an environmental perspective in consideration of such looming environmental concerns as global warming, degradation of biodiversity and pollution. This book captures some provoking thoughts raised during a symposium on second generation environmental laws held in Japan in 2002. The wide range of articles will promote greater understanding of what has been achieved with the first generation of environmental laws, what is needed for the second generation, and how to bridge the two.

The legislation of five countries on environmental and natural management is examined and analyzed in terms of its effectiveness in addressing the major environmental issues existing in each country. Practical recommendations are made, building on the findings of the review carried out by SPREP with the technical assistance of IUCN, and support from the ADB.

The purpose of this book is to assess the development of international environmental law in the Asia Pacific. Consideration is given to the impact upon the region of global, regional and subregional environmental law. An assessment is also undertaken of how certain states, and groups of states, have responded domestically and within their own subregions to these developments. For the purposes of this book the Asia Pacific is defined as essentially the states which comprise East and Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the island states of the Southwest Pacific. Occasional consideration is also given to the states of South Asia.

International Environmental Law is a new textbook written for students, practitioners, and anyone interested in the subject. The overall aim of the book is to provide a fresh understanding of international environmental law as a whole, seen in the light of climate change, biodiversity loss, and the other serious environmental challenges facing the world. The book has also been kept deliberately manageable in size by careful selection of topics and by adopting a cross-cutting synthesis of regulatory interaction in the field. This enables the reader to place international environmental law in the broader context of public international law in general, revealing at the same time that international environmental law is experimental ground for developing new legal approaches towards global governance. To this end, the authors have combined theory and practice. Apart from discussing concepts, rule-making and compliance, the book looks at options for improved coordination, harmonisation and even integration of existing multilateral environmental agreements, analysing how conflicts between various environmental regimes can be avoided or, at least, adequately managed. The authors argue that an appropriate management of international environmental relations must address the North-South divide, which continues to be a major obstacle to global environmental cooperation. Furthermore, the authors emphasise the growing human rights dimension of international environmental law. This book is an ideal 'door opener' for the further study of international environmental law. Focusing on 'international environmental governance' in a comprehensive way, it serves to explain that each institution, each actor, and each instrument is part of a multi-dimensional process in international environmental law and relations.

This volume examines environmental law and governance in the Pacific, focusing on the emerging challenges this region faces. The Pacific is home to some of the world’s most astonishing biological and cultural diversity. At the same time, Pacific Island nations are economically and technically under-resourced in the face of tremendous environmental challenges. Destructive weather events, ocean acidification, mining, logging, overfishing, and pollution increasingly degrade ecosystems and affect fishing, farming, and other cultural practices of Pacific Islanders. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to understand and analyse the role of law and governance in responding to these pressures in the Pacific. Drawing on academic and practitioner expertise from the Pacific region, as well as Europe and the United States, this unique collection navigates the major environmental law and governance challenges of the present and future of the Pacific. Environmental Law and Governance in the Pacific discusses 21 Pacific Island countries and territories, including Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Samoa, and a broad range of themes, such as deep-sea mining, wetlands and mangroves, heritage, endangered species, human rights, and access to justice, are addressed, thus providing a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of environmental law and governance within specific jurisdictions as well as across the Pacific region as a whole. This volume will be essential reading for students and scholars interested in environmental law and governance in the Pacific region, as well as policy-makers, practitioners and NGOs involved in the development and implementation of environmental law and policy.