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.

This Handbook is the first comprehensive account of comparative environmental law. It examines in detail the methodological foundations of the discipline as well as the substance of environmental law across countries from four vantage points: country studies from all continents, responses to common problems (including air pollution, water management, nature conservation, genetically modified organisms, climate change and energy, chemicals, waste), foundational components of environmental law systems (including principles, property rights, administrative and judicial organisation, command-and-control regulation, market mechanisms, informational techniques and liability mechanisms), and common interactions of environmental protection with the broader public, private, and criminal law contexts. The volume brings together the foremost authorities in this field from around the world to provide a concise, self-contained, and technically rigorous account of environmental law as a single overall system.

"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.

The role of law in responding to global environmental problems and the interplay between different levels of regulation and governance is becoming increasingly relevant in the field of liability and reparation for environmental damage. This book examines the relationship and reciprocal influences between the EU and the international legal order in a multilevel and comparative perspective, in relation to the ongoing efforts to elaborate effective regimes of liability and reparation for environmental damage. It offers a comparative analysis of legal developments in the field of environmental liability within the EU and at the international law level and addresses questions concerning the impact of such interaction on the development, implementation and enforcement of appropriate responses to environmental damage within the respective legal orders and on a global level. Given the book's focus and the transnational legal dimension of the issues covered, this volume will be of great interest to legal academics and researchers working in the environmental law field from an EU law and international law perspective, as well as more generally to scholars interested in the study of the relationship between EU and international law. Outside academia, the book will also be of great interest to practitioners wishing to get insights into the application of the law of environmental liability in the EU and at the international law level.

The Chernobyl disaster, "Amoco Cadiz" oil spill and the Colorado River dispute are examples of an activity conducted by one state which has serious adverse effects in the territory of another or in global common areas. This book details the international rules and compensation procedures for governmental officials, international lawyers and jurists. It covers existing laws on international liability and the underlying legal issues that require further development.

By adopting a theoretical and comparative approach, this text asks whether, through increased protection of private interests, tort has the ability to provide a useful additional means of environmental protection to regulatory controls.